The Neuroscience of Dance

Scientific American has published a fascinating article on dance and the latest research on the brain aimed at understanding how, and even perhaps why, we dance. The article describes in detail both the questions asked by the research team, as well as novel approaches to identifying the areas of the brain involved with various rhythmic activities.

Their research points to areas of the brain specialized to detect rhythm, as well as to coordinate body dynamics to a beat. Instead of just coordinating various areas of the brain, dance has specific regions dedicated to its expression.

Over hundreds of thousands of years, rhythm has been so central to our existence that our brain has evolved around it.