When I walk into my local silent disco, even after five years, I still feel a small pang of awkwardness at the door. It never stays. Under a soft glow of lilac, with sequins from bags catching the light and scattering it across the floor, the format is simple: settle the body, connect, and dance. The lightly guided movement at the start puts everyone on an equal footing. Discomfort dissolves.

For an outside observer, and silent discos always seem to draw a few, this might look like an individual activity because each person wears headphones. Yet the shared music, connection, and celebration of each other make it anything but an individual sport.

Dance helps people find small points of connection that can support belonging. Sophie Gill of POHSS Studio explains this clearly: "In our spaces people connect through the shared love of music and movement first and there is an 'unspoken' (literally) unity that occurs. The belonging comes from enjoying an experience together, firstly and then evolves into so much more. 'A community that moves together moves together' is what I often say." This shows how shared movement can help ease people into a group, as well as opportunities for belonging and social connection.

While the research base from across the lifespan is growing, there is converging evidence that dancing with others can support belonging in ways that are immediate and meaningful.

Across these studies, several consistent findings appear. People tend to adjust their movement in terms of timing and pace to those around them. Research refers to this as synchrony, where individuals........

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