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Nature 423, 221 (15 May 2003) | doi:10.1038/423221c

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Making a song and dance about emotion

Rupert C. Marshall1

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK

The idea that dancing rids the body of nervous emotion was an old one even in 1953, as pointed out in '50 years ago' (Nature 422, 673; 2003).Alfred Wallace, arguing against Darwin's notion of sexual selection in his book Darwinism (MacMillan, London & New York; 1889), suggested that "the act of singing [by male birds] is evidently a pleasurable one and probably serves as an outlet for superabundant nervous energy and excitement, just as dancing, singing and field sports do for men".