Study: Men think their dancing improves with age - 20-Dec-2009 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Dec-2009

Study: Men think their dancing improves with age

This study is oblivious to generational issues.

This study purports to show that men become better dancers (or think they do) suddenly at age 65.

The research was conducted in 2008-09 by Dr Peter Lovatt at the University of Hertfordshire. Here's the description:

"The Dance Style Questionnaire was completed by almost 14,000 people and the results show that although up to the age of 16, men lack confidence in their dance moves, after that their dance confidence rises steadily with men over the age of 65 having higher ratings than men between the ages of 55 and 60."

This study has gotten quite a bit of publicity in the UK. Here's how it was described in The Telegraph:

"The cringeworthy "dad dancing" witnessed at wedding receptions every weekend may be an unconscious way in which ageing males repel the attention of young women, leaving the field clear for men at their sexual peak.

"The message their dancing sends out is 'stay away, I'm not fertile'," said Dr Peter Lovatt, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire who has compared the dancing styles and confidence levels of nearly 14,000 people. His research has backed up scientific studies showing a connection between dancing, hormones and sexual selection.

Men between the ages of 35 and 60 typically attempt complex moves with limited co-ordination – an observation that will be obvious to anyone who saw George W Bush shake his stuff with a troupe of West African performers in 2007.

Dr Lovatt pointed to research showing that women could gauge the testosterone levels of their dance partners by the style and energy of their moves, and suggested that "dad dancing" may be a way of warning women of child-bearing age that they might be better off looking elsewhere.

"It would seem completely unsurprising to me that since middle-aged men have passed their natural reproductive age, and probably have a family already, evolution would act to ensure they are no longer attractive to 18-year-old girls," Dr Lovatt said.

"It's like an apple that is going brown – you want a fresh green one instead.""

The problem with all this is that Dr. Lovatt finds that everything changes once a man gets past age 60. He's a disaster on the dance floor from ages 35 to 60, according to Lovatt, but suddenly gets much better at age 65. He attempts various pseudo-psychological explanations for this phenomenon, but misses the most obvious explanation.

Age 65 is almost exactly the boundary that separates the Silent generation from the Boomer generation.

The Silent generation grew up during the Great Depression and WW II and, more importantly, the time of the Big Band Era.

During the 1930s and 1940s, millions of unemployed musicians formed bands and played music in dance halls around the country. Dancing was the favorite pastime to escape from the worries and anxieties of joblessness and the war. Couples developed very complex and very romantic dance steps from the Fox Trot to Swing.

By the 1950s, complex dance steps were passé. Counterculture Boomer music was rock 'n' roll, and complex dance steps were out. Dancing consisted of moving your legs back and forth in a simple repetition that never varied.

So now Dr. Lovatt is finding that men who grew up in the 1930s-40s are great dancers, while those who grew up in the 1950s-60s are lousy dancers, and he's completely oblivious to these generational differences.

As I keep saying on this web site, journalists, analysts, academics and politicians are apparently incapable of grasping even the simplest generational explanations for things, no matter how obvious.

Dr. Lovatt has appeared on numerous talk shows, demonstrating good and bad dance styles. For some "news you can use," here's a video of Dr. Lovatt's appearance on Graham Norton Show:

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Music and Generations thread of the Generational Dynamics forum.) (20-Dec-2009) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Dec-2009 Study: Men think their dancing improves with age

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 20-Dec-2009
Study: Men think their dancing improves with age