291 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
291 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
news
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newstopics
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howaboutthat
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3179332
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-----
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# John Travolta-style dancing is the way to a woman's heart
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## His dancing style has inspired cringeworthy moments at weddings and
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nightclubs, but it seems John Travolta knew what he was doing when he strutted
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his stuff in Saturday Night Fever.
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460
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259
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TelegraphPlayer-3184604
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[Link to this video][1]
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By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent 6:44PM BST 11 Oct 2008
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The Hollywood actor's flamboyant dance moves from the cult disco film are of
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the kind that is the most attractive to women, new research by scientists has
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revealed.
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Researchers studied the freestyle dancing techniques commonly deployed by
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hapless men in nightclubs, to determine which were most likely to impress
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female onlookers.
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Among their findings they concluded that exaggerated "dad" dancing, as
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demonstrated by David Brent in the television comedy series The Office, was
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the least attractive.
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Another style unlikely to win a woman's heart was "the shuffle", where self-
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conscious males shift from foot to foot accompanied with the occasional
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uncomfortable hand-wring.
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Highly-co-ordinated and complex dance moves, such as the point-and-shake moves
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employed by Travolta's character Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever, were
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deemed the most attractive.
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## Related Articles
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* [Nice guys get the girls, according to research][2]
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12 Oct 2008
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* [Dance moves you][3]
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14 Nov 2010
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Dr Peter Lovatt, a psychologist of performance at Hertfordshire University,
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explained that dancing in nightclubs was the modern human equivalent of
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courtship displays used by birds and other animals.
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"It is all about how we communicate through dance," he said. "There is an
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evolutionary reason why we dance in a particular way - as Darwin suggested,
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dancing is a bit like a courtship ritual to catch the eye of a high-quality
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member of the opposite sex.
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"I wanted to examine which features of the dances we see in nightclubs make
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men seem more masculine, dominant or attractive."
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Dr Lovatt, who was a professional dancer before he went into academia, filmed
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15 short video clips of himself performing different dance moves and blurred
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out his physical features so that only his movements were visible.
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He showed the videos to 55 women and asked them to rate how masculine,
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dominant and attractive each dance move was. He found that timid dancers who
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shuffle from foot to foot in small movements were deemed to rate lowest for
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all three characteristics, while large, unco-ordinated movements were also
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deemed unattractive but were thought to be most dominant.
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Highly-co-ordinated, complex movements that were of medium size were found to
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be the most attractive.
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Dr Lovatt said he hoped his work would provide some tips for those who
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struggle on the dance floor, whether they are teenagers or older dancers.
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He said: "Increasingly we are seeing more divorced and single men going out to
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salsa nights and clubs in the hope of finding a woman. In other studies, we
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found older men rate themselves as poor dancers.
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"Not everyone can pull off the co-ordinated and complex moves. It is thought
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this might be linked to the amount of testosterone we are exposed to while
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still in the womb.
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"So for those people who dance with small movements, the best thing they can
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do to is to put in a few random movements. This was seen as being
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significantly more dominant and attractive, as you become more eye-catching by
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putting in movements that people don't expect.
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"Large random dance movements, where arms and legs were flying all over the
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place, were very unattractive. The most effective thing those people can do to
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increase their attractiveness is to keep things simple - open and close their
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legs and arms in time to the music."
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Dr Lovatt and his colleagues are to demonstrate some of their research at
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Health and Human Sciences Research Institute Showcase at Hertfordshire
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University later this month.
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Men attending the event will be invited to have their testosterone levels
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measured before having their own dancing skills rated. The team will then
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offer them tips on how to improve the way they appear on the dance floor.
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But Dr Lovatt maintains that not all dancing is intended to make men appear
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attractive, and that some dance styles instead convey different messages.
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He said: "Hip hop dancing contains a great deal of very large, asymmetric and
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what might appear random movements, so dominance is clearly expressed.
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Ballroom dancing is more difficult as there are carefully-prescribed moves,
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while salsa combines a freestyle element."
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Sue Goodman, artistic co-ordinator of the Step into Dance project at the Royal
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Academy of Dance, which teaches young people how to dance in schools, said
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people often forget about the messages that dancing can communicate about
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their personality.
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She said: "Dancing style very much reflects what is going on inside a person's
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head. If they are self-conscious, that will be reflected in the way they
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dance.
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"For men in nightclubs, if they are doing big controlled movements, they are
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giving off a sense of strength and control. That sends the message they are
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feeling good about themselves.
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"In our project, we often find at the end of the year that the school children
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we work with gain in confidence and feel happier after learning how to dance,
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so it is clear the difference this can make."
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To have your own dancing rated visit [www.healthshowcase.co.uk][4]
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[What are these?][6]
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* Share: [Share][5] [ ][7] [ ][8]
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[Tweet][9]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3179332/John-Travolta-
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style-dancing-is-the-way-to-a-womans-heart.html
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Telegraph
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## [How about that?][10]
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* ### [News »][11]
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* ### [UK News »][12]
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* ### [Telegraph TV »][13]
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In news
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[![The week in pictures][14] ][15]
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### [The week in pictures][15]
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[![Rock climbing with tents: climbers hang off the sides of vertical cliffs
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sleeping in tents][16] ][17]
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### [A tent with a view][17]
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[![][18] ][19]
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### [A bug's life][19]
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[![Lion steals photographer's camera][20] ][21]
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### [Lion steals camera from photographer][21]
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[![Barack Obama UK visit: trip well received in US media: US President Barack
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Obama high-fives with British Prime Minister David Cameron as they play table
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tennis ][22] ][23]
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### [Obama and Cameron team up for ping pong doubles][23]
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][6]
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Share:
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][7]
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* [ ][8]
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* [Tweet][9]
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* Advertisement
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![][24]
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Advertisement
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[Follow The Telegraph on Social Media »][25]
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