It’s that time of night. The lights are low. The room is hot. Bubbly alcohol tickles your lips and your bloodstream in the most pleasing way. Bride and Groom are adorably sweaty and happy. Celebration is in the air and everyone is stuffed with cake. Then, it happens. A bobbing DJ plays that song. The song you’ve all been waiting for. Maybe it’s the familiar electronic beats of the Electric Slide coming through the speaker, or the fast and funky rhythm of the Cupid Shuffle. Maybe V.I.C.’s Wobble get’s you out of your seat or the sassy Cha Cha Slide (“two hops this time!”). The point is you’ve felt that effervescent feeling that is beyond explanation when you join with a group and dance in synchrony.
Scientists confirm this euphoric sense of unity and self-transcendence is more than just the alcohol at work. In fact, psychologist Kelly McGonigal, says, the neurochemistry that makes moving in unison euphoric also bonds strangers and builds trust. (McGonigal, Kelly. The Joy of Movement. Avery, 2019.) So what is really going on when we dance together all sweaty-happy at weddings? And why should event planners care?
Collective Joy
This feeling–what modern researchers refer to as collective joy, is a tricky thing to explain according to McGonigal. She quotes A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, an anthropologist who has spent a lifetime studying dance rituals, on the topic. “As the dancer loses himself in the dance, as he becomes absorbed in the unified community, he reaches a state of elation in which he finds himself filled with energy or force immensely beyond his ordinary state, and so finds himself able to perform prodigies of exertion.” (McGonigal, Kelly. The Joy of Movement. Avery, 2019.) This explains why “the worm” suddenly becomes no trouble at all when you’re livin’ it up at a wedding reception. Another piece of research from The Joy of Movement states that dancers who moved in synchrony also felt a strong increase in pain tolerance. This tolerance is due to the unusually high uptick of endorphins produced through the pain-relieving sandwich of physical movement paired with social bonding. Endorphins also help us create social bonds which is why we make fast friends with workout buddies and fellow wedding guests.
Why Event Planners Should Care
The goal of every event planner is ultimately to plan an escape for attendees where guests reach the euphoric state of joy described above. An event where guests feel so free, they laugh easier, walk away with new friends, and refresh a part of themselves they had forgotten. That is an event worth coming back to, meaning, whoever planned said event will get hired again and again to recreate the magic. Successful events are also defined by careful organization and attention to detail. However, if you really want to take the experience to the next level, science says synchronized dancing is the ticket.
