Is dancing an NT thing?

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i have never understood why people like to dance. dancing seems meaningless to me.
people do not contribute anything to the music by moving their bodies around.

when i was a child, i thought that people who could actually play musical instruments, and "dance" with their instruments (like electric guitarists and sax players etc), had the only true reason to "dance". i thought that people who "danced" without an instrument in their hand were people who had no ability to play music, so the best they can do is move around crudely to the beat empty handed.

i can not see any entertainment value in watching dancing either. if i was forced to watch the bolshoi ballet, i would be panicking with mental claustrophobia in a darkened theater where i could not find anything else to see.

maybe a factor in my inability to understand the reason that dancing is considered fun by most people, is that the instrument i play best is piano, and one can hardly dance around the stage with a piano.

i do tap my foot and drum my fingers on the table to the rhythm when i listen to music i would like to contribute to, and they are the 2 actions that i perform while i play the piano, so they are the only 2 bodily movements that i perform naturally in response to my immersion in good music.

I HATE dancing in public, in clubs or anything- will run a mile.

I did ballet for about 15 years as I was so badly coordinated as a kid- really helped as now not so clumsy.

For me, dancing on my own gives me a way of expressing emotions/feelings that I just can't put into words, so when I'm super stressed, I go home, close the curtains, put music on and dance the stress away.

I'd love to explain why people dance. But, frankly, the logical part of my brain doesn't understand it, which makes it rather impossible to explain beyond "I enjoy it".

I will say that, for me, dancing does add to my experience the music. Not always. And then I don't dance. But often. Not contributing anything to the music in general. Not contributing anything to anyone else's experience. But it adds to my experience.

Though, I could add as a point of fact, dancing actually can contribute to the music, if it's a live band. The band sees people responding to the music, and that's meaningful for them, and thus their performance becomes better in response. That only applies to live music. That's a side point, though. I don't dance for that reason. I just do it because I like it.

I don't think it's strictly NT, I like social dancing and could love to go to a rave one day.

I had a dream where I was dancing at a party in a sewer and it was awesome, but I wouldn't dance in real life.

I have AS and I love to dance, just as long as it's the type of dancing that I can do without a partner.

What good is music if it is not appreciated by the human mind?

Our minds are the places where music truly resides. The musicians craft sounds that are detected by our ears then passed on to our brains for processing. It is there, with all of the appreciation and processing, that the listener creates the music inside his or her head.

Dancing is a similar thing. It is a cascade of stimuli that go to the brain, and thence the mind. When I combine dance with music, they cannot but help be changed by the other, all inside my head. Therein lies the "meaning" of dance. That is also what dance and the dancing listener gets to contribute to the music.

In a previous post on this thread, Australien linked through to a YouTube video of a scene from The Big Bang Theory in which the character of Penny is dancing in the kitchen.

Although I have never used Shania Twain's music like that (I prefer U2, REM or something like Isabel Bayrakdarian) Penny in that scene could easily be replaced by me.

Dancing like that releases a number of hormones through the body. Endorphin levels rise, leading to a natural feeling of pleasure.

I suppose I am making it sound as if I am some kind of junkie with this, but for some, dancing can be pleasurable.

I feel that dance is a form of "stimming" I can use (in private) to regulate my anxieties and other stress reactions.

Apart from stress management, I also feel that my dancing helps me to move muscles and sinews I'd only rarely use (given my largely sedentary working life) and it helps me to keep my weight under better control. It really is a good exercise method.

Then finally, there is the "time dilation" effect.

Three hours of housework when I have danced my way through it never seems to be as long as three hours.

Not everyone will get these things from dancing like that, but I can say that I do.

What exactly does NT mean? I feel kind of silly for asking, but I like clarity I do have to force myself to dance a lot and I do think that everyone looks really silly and I don't see the point in doing it but I try it anyway It takes a lot of effort and beating self consciousness as I have dyspraxia as well. I'm trying not to let anything hold me back in life and this is one of the only things that my peers can do that I can't, so I'm determined that I wil do it! I love pop music (except the rude stuff in it) so I find it fun singing along to it while dancing, I find it draws attension away from my terrible dancing...mind you I'm a terrible singer too

NT means 'neurotypical', a reference to people NOT on the autism spectrum.

You are in no way silly, by the way. I tell my students that there are no silly questions, and I believe that.

Thank you You're a good teacher then.

I'm the one black girl who can't dance or play sports...at all.

You know that rule in which throwing the vollyball over the net gives the other team a point? I forgot it....twice....while playing vollyball in junior high. Always picked last for teams in P.E. and was universally derided by all the other classmates.

There's nothing like not being able to live up to the one positive stereotype people have about my race.

I have good coordination but I detest dancing, especially in nightclubs. Very loud shite music with lots of people doing the same repetitive movements over and over and over. There is a hell.

I'm super-clumsy, but I like to jump up and down and wave my arms around in time with music. I'll do it alone. With my dog. With my husband. Even with a group of friends, knowing i'll get indulgent 'isn't she adorable' smiles and enough personal space not to injure anyone.

It's fun!

I don't know if it's an NT thing but it definately ain't my thing!

#1 I don't understand the theory behind dancing, and I have no concept of what kind of reward or pleasure could possibly come from it. However, I respect that others do find it fun, so no offense...

#2 I cannot connect the rhythm to the dancing. It's always out-of-sync.

#3 I cannot get past 2 or 3 dance steps before tripping or stepping on the partner's feet.

#4 Dancing usually involves a crowded room and noise, and that's enough to put me off right there!

Charles