Yes, we’re talking to you. We’ve seen you at weddings, at bars, at clubs. You’re a little shy at the beginning of the night, but a few drinks turn you into a bobbing, gyrating eyesore in the middle of the dance floor. We’re glad you’re having a good time (honestly!), but for all our sakes, please take a hint from researchers who’ve put the stamp of science on what we all know: you’re a really bad dancer.
Psychologists from the University of Northumbria have identified the concrete differences between good and bad dance moves (can we have their job?), which means guys no longer have an excuse to flail around like a dying fish on a trampoline.
Male test subjects were asked to dance to a simple drumbeat for thirty seconds while they wore motion capture equipment. Their routines were then animated into faceless avatars—to remove the men’s outward appearance—and shown to female subjects who were asked to grade the dancing. (To check out an example video, click here.)
The results showed that those judged to be good dancers varied their movements and included more gestures that involved tilting and twisting the torso and neck. In contrast, those judged to be bad dancers tended to employ highly repetitive moves with only their arms and legs (but not the rest of their bodies.)
“It’s rare that someone is described as a good dancer if they are flinging their arms about but not much else,” said Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, the head researcher of the study. “When you see brilliant dancers, you’ll see their bodies, heads, and necks are all doing ever so slightly different things in time to the music.”
Not a good dancer? No worries. Bud Light still salutes you.