Do you prefer the classical discipline of ballet? The hard-core energy of krumping? Or the percussive release of tap? Your personality can have a big influence over what style of dance you most enjoy. Let's take a look at a few examples:
Expressive/dramatic personalities - love drama and expression? You may take to dance styles like contemporary or hip hop, which give you ample opportunities to express strong emotions and to improvise according to your mood.
Social/gregarious personalities - while you should get the opportunity in most dance classes of any style to interact with your classmates and to perform together, some types of dance are just more social than others. Ballroom dancing and Swing; where partners are swapped throughout the dancing session, are a couple of very social forms of dance. The emphasis is often more on having fun than necessarily impeccable technique.
Disciplined, traditionalist personalities - ballet is the perfect dance style for those who appreciate the history and tradition of the art form. In ballet, technique is crucial and it therefore helps to have a certain degree of self-discipline in your personality.
Sensual personalities - it's hard to go past Latin dance styles if you want to express sensuality and romance - think the Bolero and the Bachata as a starting point. However, sensuality can be expressed in numerous forms of dance; it's all how you interpret the music!
While the above list may be true, don't limit yourself to a certain dance style because you think it matches your personality and it feels 'safe'. While it might be outside your comfort zone, your favourite dance style may be the one that helps you tap into a side of your personality you didn't even know was there!
Dancing has that effect; your personality spills into the way you move.
Did You Know Your Personality has a Big Influence on the Way You Dance?
Finnish researchers undertook a study published in 2012 which found that the way you dance says a lot about your personality; and about sexual attraction!
For their study, the researchers used a personality test known as the Big Five Inventory to categorise volunteers into particular personality types. The 60 volunteers selected were asked to dance spontaneously to music from six genres: rock, techno, Latin, jazz, funk and pop.
The researchers found some interesting things including that personality influences the types of moves you make while dancing and how synchronized those moves are.
They also found that:
- People who tested as high in neuroticism tended to dance in a jerkier fashion than other personality types.
- People who tested as high in conscientiousness moved around on the dance floor much more and favoured elaborate hand movements
- People who tested as highly open minded tended to like moving up and down in the one spot rather than traversing the dance floor.
How Well do You Know Your Personality?
If you're interested in exploring your personality type to understand what style of dancing may best suit you, personality tests abound online. Popular personality tests like the Myers-Briggs test may give you insight into your personality. However, word of caution it's wise to take all personality tests with a rather large grain of salt, many scientists and psychologists dismiss many if not all of them as unreliable.
Want to try out different dancing styles to see what suits you?
At Dance Discovery we offer classes in:
- Classical Ballet
- Jazz,
- Tap,
- Hip Hop,
- Contemporary,
- Acrobatics and
- Performance team classes
Contact us today to try out a class.