Speak Life, drama in dance, held at Fellowship Tabernacle, Half-Way Tree Road, on Sunday, January 21. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

It was recorded as early as the seventh century in Europe that it was possible for groups of people to be caught up in a frenzy of dancing that continued until they dropped. Later labelled St. Vitus dance, we must note that this is not the movement of which we speak today.

Instead, we speak of movement which has life-giving properties and of the therapeutic value of moving to music.

Researchers note that in the field of psychology, aerobics and sit-ups are noted for lifting people's spirits. Dancing, or the exertion involved in moving to music for long periods of time, causes the brain to release the mood-lifting neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine.

Simultaneously, these researchers claim, proteins are produced within brain cells that spur the growth of new neurons and new cell connections, literally making minds more supple.

Emotional high

But, why do we dance? According to Montego Bay-based musicologist and medical doctor Winsome Miller-Rowe, "All of nature vibrates, from objects that appear stationary, to subatomic levels only seen with powerful microscopes, the entire universe is vibrating and producing energy.

"There is a law in nature whereby the rhythm of one vibration can be 'overcome' by another stronger vibration-causing it to vibrate at a similar rate or being in sync with the stronger or similar vibration. This is called entrainment.

"External rhythms also affect our body rhythms. Human beings are all equipped with a physiological mechanism which reaches out to go in sync or reunite with a greater pulse than their own."

Musical rhythms therefore call forth an instinctive impulse to 'get in the groove'.

"This is entrainment. Rhythm is infectious because of entrainment. It causes us to tap our feet or bob our heads to upbeat rhythms.This is why music causes us to dance," explains Dr. Miller-Rowe.

Other things that happen during dance include:

Music activates the brain's pleasure circuits.

Dancing bonds people. MRI scans show that watching someone dance activates the same neurons that would fire if you yourself were doing the moves.

Dance help people process feelings they may have trouble dealing with in conscious, verbal terms, says Gabrielle Kaufman, a Los Angeles dance therapist.

Dancing releases endorphins, brain chemicals that promote satisfaction, euphoria, and high pain tolerance.

Dance boosts mood more than does exercise alone. In a study at the University of London, researchers assigned patients with anxiety disorders to spend time in one of four therapeutic settings: a modern-dance class, an exercise class, a music class, or a math class. Only the dance class significantly reduced anxiety.

In one Italian study, cardiac-rehab patients who enrolled in waltzing classes not only wound up with more elastic arteries, but were happier than participants who took up bicycle and treadmill training.

- Partial sources: www.psychology today.com and www.britannica.com