Is the way you dance written in your DNA?
What does the way you dance say about you? Or more specifically, what does it reveal about the quality of your genes - your 'fitness' as a potential mate?
It's a question that's obsessing cognitive psychologist Dr Peter Lovatt and his team at the University of Hertfordshire. But now he thinks he's come up with the perfect experiment to test the links between genes, physical attraction and dance.
A former professional dancer, Peter Lovatt has put together a series of short videos demonstrating subtly different styles. By varying both the scale and complexity of the moves (and blurring his own features to rule out the influence of factors like hair or eye colour), he believes he's developed a model to which men can compare themselves, and crucially, by which women can rate them.
It turns out that women prefer small to medium size movements, and enjoy a level of complexity that includes an apparently random element. Perhaps unsurprisingly John Travolta's controlled flamboyance wins out over David Brent's monster of the dancefloor approach in "The Office".
It might seem bizarre, but scientists have known for some time that there's a strong correlation between physical features like the symmetry of men's ears and limbs, the length of their fourth finger as compared to their second, and their exposure to elevated levels of testosterone in the womb - widely regarded as an indicator of overall genetic quality.
And it seems that women are pre-disposed to pick up on these subtle cues, consistently rating men with the most symetrical features (and longest fourth fingers) as more attractive. But what about cultural rituals like dance? Could our genes be quietly advertising their suitability through the shapes we cut on the dance floor?
Peter Lovatt certainly thinks so, but to prove it he needs your help. Armed with the results of his research into what women like, he wants to know if it's the men with the highest exposure to prenatal testosterone who are delivering on the dancefloor.
If you want to take part in the survey watch the video below to assess your own style of dancing and then click on the link to fill in a simple questionaire. At the very least you should be able to pick up a few pointers that could help with your technique.
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I'm Tom Feilden and I'm the science correspondent on the Today programme. This is where we can talk about the scientific issues we're covering on the programme. 
Comment number 1.
At 13:01 21st Oct 2008, Chris Brown wrote:I have trouble even comprehending dance.
Coerced onto the dance floor on occasion, when younger, I attracted a comment from an expert:
"You dance like a chieftain tank with one track missing."
A tank development engineering expert, not an dance expert...
Given my social life, I could well put a datum on attractiveness and dancing ability fairly well out on the graph!
Four years ago, aged 48, I got a very late diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome.
Interestingly, there is at least a suggested correlation between the incidence of autistic-spectrum conditions, low EQ scores (loosely, poor social connectivity and empathy) and low foetal testoterone.
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Comment number 2.
At 19:52 21st Oct 2008, fantstic flower lady wrote:AT 80yrs i can still dance all the dances from the 40,s my advice? stay supple dont freeze up, eat well ,and exercise anyway you can, Gardening is best
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Comment number 3.
At 23:09 21st Oct 2008, Diamonddavej wrote:I also have Asperger's, though I am not clumsy (unlike ~70% with AS), my dancing style is described as "unique".
Actually,researchers found a correlation between high prenatal testosterone and autism spectrum disorders, not low prenatal testosterone.
One of first things Hans Asperger noticed, way back in the 1940s Austria, was, a large number of men with Asperger's were thrown out of the Army because they could not copy the movements of fellow soldiers on parade (a lack of mirror neurons, thus a "unique" marching style). There is also a greatly increased rate of clumsiness in Asperger's.
I have no doubt that dancing is a very clever method that evolved purposely to weed out men who have too high/low testosterone and other anomalies. Its extremely effective at identifying people with Asperger's who can't dance at all, who's condition is manifest by subtle clumsiness and difficulty mirroring.
I suspect the results will show that men with moderately high testosterone are most attractive, but there will be a rapid decrease in attractiveness beyond a certain point.
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Comment number 4.
At 08:54 22nd Oct 2008, Sue Hewitt wrote:The genetic link to dancing style and women's choice of man is very interesting and does warrant further study.
I love to dance, classing myself as extra large and complexly co-ordinated. For me its an exuberant energetic activity and I do use it as a fitness training tool. An hour dancing to rock gives me a total body workout much more taxing than than running.
I have also watched people dancing for years, in a bid to select a man. My rigorously controlled scientifc study tells me that the ability of men on the dance is directly connected to their ability in the bedroom. I think its something about the rhythm.........
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Comment number 5.
At 13:46 22nd Oct 2008, SheffTim wrote:`My rigorously controlled scientifc study tells me that the ability of men on the dance is directly connected to their ability in the bedroom. I think its something about the rhythm` Suehewitt
Oddly enough Sue, as a male, I`ve noticed the same thing about women. However sexual attraction on the dance floor isn`t just simply about how you move. Age, height, size, body shape (and `tribe` when young), clothing and other factors come into it too.
How you dance can undeniably reveal a lot about someone: extrovert/introvert, if they`re body conscious, confident, coordinated or not and so on. As someone who could dance reasonably well (i.e. know steps to individual songs, adapt styles to genres) when younger I can also say that sometimes you graviate towards someone that can also dance well on the dance floor, just for the fun of having a good dance partner, even if there`s no real sexual attraction. And if anyone would like to be a better dancer a) take some lessons at a dance studio and b) stay sober(ish) on the dance floor. Like a lot of things it can be learnt or improved upon.
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