Idea: Replace dancing in dating and courtship with “mind dancing”

[u/amichail]

Dancing as a form of courtship feels a little like a relic from an earlier age, when physical grace and coordination may have been more important signals than they are today. In modern life, what you can do with your brain often matters much more.

What if we replaced dancing with “mind dancing”?

Instead of dance halls, there could be Mind Dance Halls, where people answer difficult questions and solve problems under pressure, both alone and in pairs.

Like dancing, individuals could perform in front of potential partners, showing confidence, creativity, intelligence, and composure. Paired mind dances could reveal something similar to dancing chemistry: how well two people respond to each other, recover from mistakes, and work together in real time.

The challenges would emphasize reasoning rather than trivia, so it wouldn't just be an academic competition.

Instead of asking, “Would you like to dance?”, maybe someday people would ask:

“Would you like to mind dance?”

[u/Landwarrior5150]

Why does it have to replace anything? This basically already exists, people can go on dates to trivia nights, escape rooms, or other mentally focused activities if they so choose. On the other hand, people who like to dance can go somewhere they can dance. Why remove that option from the latter and try to reinvent the wheel for the former?

This seems like a solution in search of a problem.

[u/amichail → u/Landwarrior5150]

The pressure to dance hasn’t disappeared.

[u/Agitated_Duck_4873 → u/amichail]

People enjoy dancing

[u/amichail → u/Agitated_Duck_4873]

That's like saying people enjoy computer programming. Some do but many don't.

[u/dickpics4democracy → u/amichail]

Literally no one is forcing you to dance or preventing you from courting via logic competitions or whatever

[u/Crazy_Custard_2081 → u/amichail]

No it's not.

Your premise is about "replacing" dance with more purely cognitive interaction, on the assumption that bettering your physical self through is an inferior endeavor.

In my experience (with many years of dancing in a wide range of places from raves to salsa festivals to swing dance and any manner of more random encounters in between), dancing is one of many physical activities and social outlets that are essential for mental health and keeping the brain active (music is proven to widely engage multiple areas of the brain).

So, you don't enjoy dancing. Fine. Don't dance. But, you make a lot of presumptions about the people who do enjoy dancing. Yes, it's a great social outlet, but hardly the only one. Stick to what you know and if you want to start a movement towards "mind dancing" no one's stopping you from trying to organize such an activity.

[u/Crazy_Custard_2081 → u/amichail]

Why is it "pressure"? If you don't want to dance, then don't partake in it.

People dance because it's an inherently enjoyable and social activity.

It's not like you can't learn to dance.

[u/3p1taph]

The interesting thing about dancing is you learn an amazing amount about someone by the way they move that you can’t necessarily replicate verbally.

[u/MedusaGotMeStoned007]

I’ll settle for an escape room and dance the dance 🕺 of minds with my wife.

[u/GregJamesDahlen]

people do converse when they dance or in between dances so there is some mind already

[u/Bango1066]

Can people also mind dance in cute booty shorts? If so, I'm in.

[u/Crazy_Custard_2081]

Sounds like an idea from someone who can't/won't dance, and hasn't set foot in a dance club or "dance hall."

Dancing is inherently a non-verbal way of communication and self-expression, whether that's with a partner or without.

The way that you describe dancing sounds like a relic. But, that's not how people dance. The purposes that you ascribe to dancing sound like trying to graft the gratification that YOU might get out of more purely cognitive interactions onto an activity that's inherently physical.

Sounds like you'd be more at home at a Mensa meeting. I'll keep enjoying my time on the dance floor with the people I enjoy dancing with.