The Giant Study Showing How Dancing Affects the Brain

Dancers and audience members alike talk about synchrony - a feeling of being connected with the dancers, others in the audience, and the dance. They describe it as “the ‘knowing’ that can happen in the moment; it’s something you sense, bypassing language.” Using neuroscience technology, such as electrodes, researchers can now capture “inter-brain synchrony, when people’s brain activity aligns, signaling that they’re focusing on the same thing.” Among both dancers and audience, they expected the brainwave patterns associated with paying attention. Instead, they found them in the slower waves “associated with internal concentration, meditation and tuning into each other during social interactions,” like “collective daydreaming.” One of the scientists said, “You might have a sense that you’re connected with someone, but we can show that this magic is actually happening.”

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