It is a basic fact about us.

這是大家都會做的事情。

Indeed, there is no such thing as a culture which doesn't move to music.

世界上真的沒有任何文化，不會跟著音樂起舞。

In Zimbabwe, they dance the Dandanda; in Bohemia, the polka.

在辛巴威人們跳的是丹丹達舞；在波西米亞則跳波爾卡舞。

People in southern India dance the Bharatanatyam, and in Argentina, the tango.

在南印度人們跳婆羅多舞；在阿根廷則跳探戈舞。

Regardless of time, regardless of place, we find a way to bust a move.

無論在何時，無論在何處，我們都會想辦法跳支舞。

It's fun, sure, but that doesn't really explain things.

跳舞充滿樂趣，這是當然的，但其實這舉動本身不太合理。

Dance seems to be the ultimate frivolity.

跳舞似乎無敵愚蠢，沒有半點用處。

So how did it become a human necessity?

跳舞是怎麼成為人類生活中必要的一環呢？

The answer lies in our social nature.

答案是因為我們的社群本性。

We are born into groups: groups that already have ideas and customs and languages and symbols.

我們天生就屬於團體：已具備想法、有習俗、有語言與符號的團體。

We call these groups "societies" and they are essential to human flourishing.

我們把這些團體稱作「社會」，社會對人類的繁盛非常重要。

Yet jealousies, conflicts and disagreements also drive us apart.

不過忌妒心、衝突、意見不合也讓人漸行漸遠。

A century ago, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim set out to provide a scientific understanding of what glues societies together in spite of our differences.

一世紀以前，法國社會學家 Emile Durkheim 想用科學來解釋為什麼就算每個人都不一樣，卻依然能凝聚成社會。

A part of the answer is what Durkheim called "collective effervescence".

部分原因在於 Durkheim 所謂的「集體亢奮」。

This is, in his words, a sort of electricity.

他認為這是一種電流般的刺激。

It's that exhilaration, almost euphoria, that overtakes groups of people united by a common purpose, pursuing an intensely involving activity together.

正是這種近乎狂喜的刺激，讓一群人為了共同目的而聚合，一起全心參與某個活動。

Collective effervescence is a "flow", a joyfulness, loss of boundaries, a sense that your self is melding with the group as a whole.

集體亢奮是流動的，是一種喜悅、突破界線，一種自我與整個團體融合的感受。

The excitement of a group creates an intense force that lifts people up and draws them together on an almost spiritual plane.

團體的興奮感創造出一股強大的力量提振人心，並且幾乎是在性靈的層次上凝聚眾人。

And sure enough it's an experience that is found in religions across the world.

當然這種經驗在全世界不同信仰裡都可以見到。

And dance is the great accelerator of collective effervescence.

而舞蹈是促進集體亢奮的有效催化劑。

Dance – especially in its ritual and sacred forms – is a social glue.

跳舞，特別是用於儀式、神聖的舞蹈，是一種凝聚社會的憑藉。

Recently, Bronwyn Tarr, a trained dancer and evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford, has been testing Durkheim's ideas further.

最近牛津大學一位專業舞者與演化生物學家 Bronwyn Tarr 正努力進一步測試 Durkheim 的想法。

Dr Tarr has found that we humans have a natural tendency to synchronize our movements with other humans.

Tarr 博士發現人類天生傾向於調整自身動作與他人同步。

We find ourselves tapping along, nodding our heads, without even meaning to.

我們會發現自己不自覺地跟著打節奏、點頭。

It's as if we're all quietly searching for a common rhythm to share.

就好像是我們都默默地在尋找一種相同的旋律來共享。

When we observe another person moving, this activates a region in the brain which helps us make those movements ourselves.

當我們察覺另一人的移動，會激活大腦中的一個區塊，協助我們做出同樣的動作。

When we mimic our partner's movements, and they're mimicking ours, similar neural networks in both partners open up a rush of neurohormones, all of which make us feel good.

當我們模仿夥伴的動作、他們也模仿回來，會使雙方相似的神經網絡釋出神經內泌素，讓我們感覺良好。

This is the neurological basis to Durkheim's collective effervescence – the melding between "self" and "other".

這是 Durkheim 集體亢奮理論的神經科學基礎—使自己配合他人。

Cue the music.

來點音樂吧！

Even without dancing, music can leave us flush with feel-good chemicals: endorphins, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin.

就算不跳舞，音樂也能讓人體充滿提振心情的化學物質：腦內啡、多巴胺、血清素、催產素。

In fact, it can make us feel so terrific that our pain tolerance can rise appreciably when the tunes are flowing.

事實上音樂能讓我們心情極好，好到聽音樂時可以大幅提高疼痛忍受程度。

Just listening to music can create such a euphoric delight that it appears to activate opioid receptors in the brain.

光是聽音樂就能造成這麼多亢奮、開心的感受，使大腦中的鴉片類受體活躍起來。

Through that excitement, music gets people to dance.

透過這樣的興奮感，音樂讓人們跟著起舞。

As everyone whose been overtaken by the thrill of a great song knows.

如果你曾經臣服在一首好歌帶來的快感之下，就很清楚這樣的感受。

Bring all of these strands together: the music, the exertion, the synchronic swirls, and you can see why we so like to cut a rug.

把這些因素加在一起：音樂本身、用盡全力的感受、同步的旋轉舞動，你就知道為什麼我們這麼喜歡跳舞。

Keeping to the beat together, we feel exhilarated due to the neurohormones.

一起跟上節奏讓我們因神經激素分泌而感到亢奮。

And just as Durkheim intuited a century ago, we feel more tightly bound with our fellow dancers.

就如同一世紀以前 Durkheim 的直覺判斷，我們感覺到與身邊舞者的聯繫更緊密。

Such intensely shared experiences make the collective possible.

如此強烈的共同經驗讓集體成為可能。

Without it, we would hardly be human at all.

若沒有這樣的羈絆，我們大概就稱不上人類了。