Scientists at Northumbria University break dancing down.

Are you a man whose dance repertoire features flailing wildly about the dance floor, punctuated by vaguely rhythmic jerks and windmilling arms? Take heart – you might still be attractive to the opposite sex.

According to a team of psychologists from the University of Northumbria, women are more attracted to male dancers who use big movements, body variation and fancier footwork than men whose dance moves involve repetition and minimal movement. “It’s all about body movement. Tilting forward, backwards, left and right and twisting around. It is all about big movements and variation,” Dr. Nick Neave told The Telegraph. “What it shows is strength, suppleness and creativity all of which shows you are a good catch. It is showing off but it really works. What the dancer is saying is ‘I am young, strong, healthy and fit’.”

Watch the BBC‘s interview with Neave.

The news comes from a study, published in the Royal Society Biology Letters, aimed at determining whether humans use “peacock” behaviours to attract the opposite sex. Researchers filmed 19 men between the ages of 18 and 35 dancing to a single beat, and modeled their movements onto an avatar in a 3-D programme. The researchers then asked a group of 35 women to rate the dancing avatars. The study found that women found dancers who exhibited a lot of movement from the torso, as well as dramatic hand gestures and movements with the arms and legs, to be the best dancers. In terms of evolutionary psychology, Neave said, “Dancing mimics what happens in the wild with birds and other animals showing off to potential mates. Like humans they have to prove that they are good parenting material.”

Could David Brent’s Flashdance-MC Hammer fusion be a hit with the ladies? Neave says no: Though Brent is moving around a lot, which women like, his core remains rigid. Not a good sign.