Researchers study what dance moves are considered attractive

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Scientists have figured out what are the best dance moves for a woman.

An on-screen avatar gyrating on screen exhibits the perfect dance moves for a woman and moves that are not perfect at all.

Professional dance instructor, John Cassese, also known as the "Dance Doctor," gives his diagnosis of the avatar's freestyle movements.

"If I was out on a dance floor and looking for a good dancer, this would not be attractive to me," Cassese said.

Cassese does not need science to tell him what good dancing looks like, but for the rest of us, there's science to back up what he already knows.

Researchers at Northumbria University set out to identify movements that get a female dancer noticed. The goal is to get more understanding into the psychology of dance.

Scientists recorded dancers and turned them into on-screen avatars. They asked 200 men and women to rate them.

The best dancers had arm and leg movements that varied just enough. Too much symmetrical movement signaled robotic stiffness.

Another key attractive trait? Staying in step with the music.

Scientists remind us there's an evolutionary reason for being a good dancer.

Study authors speculate that certain dance moves, especially big hip swings, show off a woman's reproductive quality.

"If you're really showing yourself off as a good dancer, people are going to want to come over and ask you to dance," Cassese said. "When a person is very inhibited, they're not going to be moving very much at all. If a person is really confident and extroverted, they're going to be going at it."

Researchers pinned down the scientific basis of what makes dance moves attractive. The next step is to apply these findings to trickier questions about human psychology.