ABSTRACT
Dance has been a focus of interest in varied ways in psychology since the beginnings of the field. Kate Gordon, preeminent in the establishment of principles of gender equity in the field, viewed dance in an evolutionary context as an elaboration of movements involved in fighting and other forms of social interaction. As psychology has evolved, both dance and music have been linked to the basic perceptual systems underlying language and also to social entrainment, the ability to form social bonds through imitative motion. Speculative experimentation might be carried out to determine whether, for example, people otherwise randomly assorted into groups might feel better about both themselves and the group after dancing. Dance rarely, if ever, exists without music, and a cultural tour through dance will inevitably involve contrasting cultural musical styles. Recent research in the psychology of music suggests more commonality than difference in music across cultures.
