# How much you like to dance. Correlation with gender and sexual orientation. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394 "2010-11-21T01:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/21 "2010-11-21T13:49:27Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > 1. Move about in ways you enjoy I don’t enjoy anything about it. I _can_ dance - I did three years’ dance training when I was at uni. But I am so bloody self-conscious that I hate every second of it, unless I’m absolutely wankered drunk or on Class A drugs, or the room is nearly pitch dark. There is no free expression in what I’m doing either; I have to concentrate very hard to coordinate all my limbs and not neglect moving one or two of them, and I tend to have to copy what someone else is doing. I hate it. Like **MichaelEMouse** I prefer a dance with a known set of steps. I don’t mind ceilidhs and the like. But a club setting? It’s a horrible experience for me. Fuck that shit, I’ll be at the bar looking grumpy. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/22 "2010-11-21T13:56:10Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > My problem I guess is that **I don’t get this randomly moving about business**. When I was in the reserve, I liked drill, which is a type of very choreographed dance. I might like some other dances you learn. But flail my arms this way and that, why? There isn’t anything to get - the unstructured movement and getting into the music is part of the enjoyment. I’ve occasionally broken out into dance sequences in a club because I can (just recycling things from my dance class) and sure it’s great to be able to do, but you can’t do an entire evening of that because routines are only intended to last for about a minute unless you’ve been learning them for weeks. > [@jjimm](#): > > But a club setting? It’s a horrible experience for me. Fuck that shit, I’ll be at the bar looking grumpy. Yeah, that sounds far more fun. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/23 "2010-11-21T14:31:20Z")
I wish the grumpy drinkers hanging at the bar would keep out of clubs. They take up valuable space, and I don’t know why they don’t just go to, say, The Dew Drop Inn for dollar beers and watch the game or something. It’s quieter and they don’t have to feel intimidated. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/24 "2010-11-21T14:52:45Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > A man that will dance? He’s automatically elevated in my book. Yes! He would get one zillion instant brownie points forever. I have a male friend who, like me, thinks it’s always an acceptable time to break out into song and dance. Of course, he’s gay. Waaah! Why don’t straight men like to dance? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/25 "2010-11-21T14:54:28Z")
Male, straight, _white_. I wonder if there’s additional correlation there, because there’s a perception (including my own perceptions) that blacks and Latinos tend towards dancing more than white folk. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/26 "2010-11-21T14:58:24Z")
I think you’re right about that. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/27 "2010-11-21T15:05:04Z")
Seriously, it’s better for me to be grumpy at the bar than uncomfortable on the dancefloor. Neither experience is fun. > [@salinqmind](#): > > I wish the grumpy drinkers hanging at the bar would keep out of clubs. They take up valuable space, and I don’t know why they don’t just go to, say, The Dew Drop Inn for dollar beers and watch the game or something. It’s quieter and they don’t have to feel intimidated. I would happily do that, and I avoid clubs as much as feasible, but occasionally parties, going-away dos, company events, and so on end up with a club visit. Either I call it a night and go home, or go to the club and endure it before the party carries on elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/28 "2010-11-21T15:41:46Z")
Straight male and I love to dance. I won a dance contest in the 5th grade and have loved dancing of all types ever since. My wife and I love being the first on the dance floor as it gives us a lot of room. We won several Disco contests in our younger years. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/29 "2010-11-21T16:29:15Z")
I love to dance. Haven’t really done it in a couple of years owing to small children. I like club dancing and I took about eight years of bellydance classes. I went to goth clubs, where the dancing tends to be much more, um, athletic and weird, but fun. My husband, a straight white guy, is quite a good dancer and likes to do it. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/30 "2010-11-21T16:31:32Z")
Straight woman, LOVE to dance. I’m not a \*good \*dancer, but it’s not about that at a bar or club. It’s about having fun, enjoying the music, and the crowd, and just the pure physicality of dancing. Guys, I really can’t emphasize enough that being willing to dance ups your shot at getting laid about 837%. We don’t need you to be Baryshnikov, we just want you to be game. Fortunately, most of the guys I know get this. At the very least, they get the fact that “Hey, that girl you’ve been watching dance all night? She’s busy _dancing_, so if you want to talk to her, you’re gonna have to get out there.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/31 "2010-11-21T16:43:48Z")
Dancing is at the bottom of my favorite ways to sweat. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/32 "2010-11-21T17:20:45Z")
Straight male. I like club dancing. I’m good enough that I’ve gotten compliments from various people. It’s also been said that I lack a gene that makes me self-conscious and embarrassed. I pretty much have no shame. That probably helps. I usually just think of my body as a set of joints. Then I move those joints in sync with the music in either circles, lines, or arcs. I usually don’t think of it as, say, “my legs”. It’s more like “OK, knees in alternating circles…now reverse…here comes the big bass note, so slide left in 3, 2, 1…” How do you guys think of it? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/33 "2010-11-21T17:25:14Z")
It seems to me that people who grow up listening to dance music develop an ear that allows them to develop into good dancers. The best dancers, be they amateur or professional, _feel_ the music. That can’t be taught. Show me a person who can dance well – let’s take Justin Timberlake, for instance, because he’s a white hetero dude – and I can guarantee you that he grew up listening to music. Or, look at the pictures of little kids dancing on YouTube. Even toddlers can rock it out if they’ve been exposed to it early. They intuitively hear, and respond to, the beat and the nuances of the songs. Cultures with heavy musical infuences – Africans and Native Americans are two – all seem to produce more than their fair share of good dancers. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence. Unfortunately for Americans, most of us descended from cultures that didn’t place an emphasis on music and dancing. No African drums or folk tales acted out to music for us. And, whoa boy, can you tell when you go to a dance club. 🙂 P.S. I love to dance. My dad loved listening to all kinds of music, and it wasn’t a stretch for me to translate my love of music into dancing. I’ll dance at home to music any chance I get. I find it to be joyful and relaxing. And it’s a cardio workout, which is a plus! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/34 "2010-11-21T17:37:46Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > It’s also been said that I lack a gene that makes me self-conscious and embarrassed. I pretty much have no shame. That probably helps. Word. For many, it seems dancing might be embarrassing if they’re not doing it right, so they abstain altogether, which is the same reason why these same folks become dancing fools after the fourth round. > [@PunditLisa](#): > > …let’s take Justin Timberlake, for instance, because he’s a white hetero… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/35 "2010-11-21T17:46:00Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > :dubious: I agree. He’s a brother. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/36 "2010-11-21T17:57:04Z")
White, male and straight - I love dancing, but don’t get to do nearly enough of it ☹ I used to love big raves where you could get your hands in the air and totally lose it to the music, but now I’m over 30 those days are gone and I’m stuck throwing shapes with my two-year-old to Disney songs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/37 "2010-11-21T17:57:07Z")
Straight male likes to dance but rarely does anymore now that I’m married and older. There are a lot of dance clubs on Long Island in New York. As a teenager in the 80s, a group of us went clubbing every weekend. We would dance for hours. I could move fairly well but was not considered that exceptional. Around this time (the 80s), I went to Europe and went clubbing. I was surprised how few people could dance well there and was shocked at the reaction I got there. In clubs in Spain and Hungary, women literally flocked around me as soon as I got on the dancefloor. In New York, where there are a lot of great dancers, no one really paid attention to me. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/38 "2010-11-21T18:02:15Z")
Male, straight, white. Love dancing, hate clubbing. Partly it’s that I like the satisfaction of doing something right, i.e. nailing whatever dance you’re doing, and clubbing doesn’t do that. Mostly, though, it’s that I really hate crowds, and too-loud music. Gimme a swing/line/contra/ballroom/English/jazz/salsa/tango dance over a club any day. I also do the listening-to-music-dancing-around-the-house-thing. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/39 "2010-11-21T18:09:22Z")
Gay female (only one to vote so far!) and I love to dance. I’m not a great dancer, but I manage, and I’ve never been anywhere where people are actually judging you on your dancing. > [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > I agree. He’s a brother. Wiki says he’s of English ancestry with unconfirmed Native American possibly in there somewhere. Or am I being whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394/40 "2010-11-21T18:51:06Z")
I think the :dubious: was at his heterosexuality, which I personally see no reason to question (just because he’s an entertainer doesn’t make him gay and he doesn’t ping my dar at all). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-you-like-to-dance-correlation-with-gender-and-sexual-orientation/561394.md?page=3)