Any Infomaniac will know that dancing is a popular activity in SL, probably only second to anything related to sex! As you travel around SL, take note of the number of dance floors you see; they seem to be set up on just about every flat surface. Why is that, I wonder? What is so fascinating about watching avatars perform scripted motions that resemble dances that makes it so popular? I mean, a search on Youtube for “secondlife dancing” gets you 1630 hits, for heaven’s sake! (I’ve included some links to Infomaniac dance videos at the end of this blog entry.)I was prompted to ponder the above question when I saw the latest issue (June 2008) of Scientific American; on the cover was mention of an article “The Neuroscience of Dance”. Now I don’t know how many of you are going to find this interesting, but as it combines my interest in neuroscience (my undergraduate thesis was concerned with the neurophysiology of olfaction) and dancing (in SL, anyway), I had to read it. It starts off with the sentence “So natural is our capacity for rhythm that most of us take it for granted: when we hear music, we tap our feet to the beat or rock and sway, often unaware that we are even moving.” It sometimes seems that, in SL, we do something similar. Many of us are known to spontaneously start up a dance anim whenever a group of us gathers to chat, whether we’re near the Den or not. I won’t go into all the neurophysiological details, but there seem to be specific parts of the brain devoted to both dancing and watching dancing. Another part of the article explores why people dance in the first place (it’s possible role as an early form of language is one theory).
So why is dancing in SL so popular? It gives us something cool to do with our avatars while we chat? Possibly. It does give those of us with two left feet and three right ones the ability to at least approximate poetry and grace in motion without the social stigma attached to doing it badly in RL. It also gives those who are members of couples the ability to do something together that singles cannot do. It is very much a group activity for us Infomaniacs, that’s for sure. Does it define us as a group? Partially, I suspect; it’s also true that the group dancing in the Den is a signal to others that drop by that says “Here is a bunch of people who regularly get together to chat, have fun, and revel in each other’s company”. Here’s to the Den of Inquiry – may it live long, prosper and keep on dancing!
SL dance videos on Youtube:
plus a non-Infomaniac video
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