Dance Moves That Attract Women According to Science, Dance Movies

(Sept. 8) -- Sorry flatfoot, but science confirms it: Women dig guys who can dance well. That's the finding of a new study published in the journal Biology Letters that is making the rounds on the Web today.

Researchers at Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne attached electronic sensors to 19 male students at the college, put on a thumping dance beat and told them to "shake it like a Polaroid picture." (Well, no, they didn't actually say those exact words, but you catch the drift.) The data from the students' spontaneous dance routines was then fed into a computer and rendered as a three-dimensional avatar, capturing the essence of each volunteer's dance moves, but importantly, not their likenesses, so as to keep relative physical-attractiveness out of the equation.

Then, a group of 39 heteroxsexual women were shown 15 selected clips of the anonymous male performances. The results? Here's how the researchers described it in the abstract of their paper:

Initial analyses showed that 11 movement variables were significantly positively correlated with perceived dance quality. Linear regression subsequently revealed that three movement measures were key predictors of dance quality; these were variability and amplitude of movements of the neck and trunk, and speed of movements of the right knee.

Indeed, the study concludes that for the women surveyed, a good male dance performance depended on upper-body and knee movement, and a good male dance performance made the man more sexually appealing.

Here is an example of what the women on the panel considered to be a display of good dancing:



And here is the avatar of a guy who should not count on getting a date based on his ability to cut a rug:



Of course, being die-hard fans of that very special guilty pleasure, the Hollywood dance film, the Surge Desk team already had ample YouTube evidence of what the Ph.D.'s in England are on about. So, with an eye on neck, torso and right knee movement, we humbly submit the following clips. Do they bolster the findings that women dig guys with good dance moves? You be the judge.

No film epitomized the transformative, floor clearing potential of guy dance than 1977's "Saturday Night Fever," which forever linked star John Travolta with the steps of the disco era.



In the 1984 film "Footloose," Kevin Bacon took angst-filled prancing to a new level, earning himself a legion of new female fans.



Like Darwinian survival of the fittest, sometimes male dancing is every bit as much of battle for female eyeballs as it is a contest to one up a rival crew. In no film was this more evident than in 2007's "Stomp the Yard."


Turning to the small screen for a moment, there are no shortage of dance performances gone wrong, as with Kenny Powers' satirical throw-down in the HBO series "Eastbound and Down."


But take heart, men of two left feet: In the right hands, even if you have the moves of a coat rack, you too may someday wow the ladies with your dance floor grace. Take it away, Fred Astaire ...