People who know how to dance are generally more pleasant and outgoing than those who are static, according to an analysis by the German research institute Max Planck, which followed professional and amateur dancers in Germany and Sweden.
Dancers are also less neurotic than others, but so are musicians who aren't very good at dancing, according to a study in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences.
"Both dancers and singers show a high level of extroversion in their personality, which may be due to the fact that their body is a means of expression when they dance and sing, and this is a very exposed social situation, more so than expressing yourself through an instrument,” says lead study author Julia F. Christensen.
The study also found evidence of personality differences between dancers of different styles. For example, swing dancers are less neurotic than Latin dancers. But personality differences in different dance styles have yet to be explored, the researchers say.
"Dance school managers, a special group of people who are both entrepreneurs and dancers, are generally more outgoing and agreeable and less neurotic than dancers and non-dancers", concluded the research team.