Peter Lovatt

Peter Lovatt, (born 30 October 1964) better known as Doctor Dance, ^{[1] [2]} is a UK based author ^[3] and a Dance psychologist. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Early life and education

Lovatt overcame a significant reading disability to pursue degrees in Psychology & English, Neural Computation, and Experimental Cognitive Psychology after working as a professional dancer in musical theater. ^[7] He is a PhD in Experimental Cognitive Psychology.

Professional career

Lovatt founded the Dance Psychology Lab at the University of Hertfordshire in 2008. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Lovatt co-founded Movement in Practice, a methodology that enhances the human experience in social care, education, business, and health. ^{[11] [12]}

Peter has participated in keynote addresses with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sir Richard Branson, Steve "The Woz" Wozniak, Geena Davis, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama. ^[11]

In 2022, Lovatt and Dame Darcey Bussell introduced the Move-Assure Dance for Mental Wellbeing program. ^{[11] [13]}

He is a former pro dancer and lecturer at The Royal Ballet Academy in London. ^[14]

Lovatt is the Director of Dance Psychology at Movement in Practice. ^[15]

As an author

• The Dance Cure: The Surprising Science to Being Smarter, Stronger, Happier (2020) ^{[16] [17] [18]}
• Dance Psychology (2018) ^[19]
• Strictly Come Dancing - Empathizing or Systemizing? (2010) ^[20]

Published articles

• The Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index (Gold-DSI): A Psychometric Tool to Assess Individual Differences in Dance Experience (2022) ^[21]
• A general procedure to measure the pacing of body movements timed to music and metronome in younger and older adults (2021) ^[22]
• The BASES Expert Statement on the Use of Music for Movement among People with Parkinson's ^[23]
• Comparison of Spontaneous Motor Tempo during Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping and

Stepping on the Spot in People with and without Parkinson's Disease (2020) ^[24]

• Music and Metronomes Differentially Impact Motor Timing in People with and without Parkinson's Disease: Effects of Slow, Medium, and Fast Tempi on Entrainment and Synchronization Performances in Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping, and Stepping on the Spot Tasks (2019) ^[25]
• Mood changes following social dance sessions in people with Parkinson's disease (2016) ^{[26] [27]}
• Many hands make light work: The facilitative role of gesture in verbal improvisation (2016) ^{[26] [28]}
• Breaking away from set patterns of thinking: Improvisation and divergent thinking (2013) ^[29]
• Dance confidence, age and gender (2011) ^[30]
• Gender, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: Correlates of Internet Use (2005) ^[31]
• Phonological Memory and Rule Learning (2005) ^{[32] [33]}
• Output Decay in Immediate Serial Recall: Speech Time Revisited (2002) ^{[34] [35]}
• Re-evaluating the word-length effect.(2001) ^[36]
• The Word-length Effect and Disyllabic Words (2000) ^[37]
• A Computational Account of Phonologically Mediated Free Recall (1995) ^[38]

See also

• TEDxObserver 2011 video: Peter Lovatt ^[39]

References

1. Menke, Birger (2010-01-21). "Sexual Politics of Dancing: The Secrets of Looking Good on the Dance Floor". Der Spiegel. ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 2025-07-05.
2. "Strictly Dad Dancing". 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
3. "The scientific reason why you're missing dancing in clubs so much". Metro. 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
4. Tucker, Ian (2011-07-30). "Peter Lovatt: 'Dancing can change the way you think'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-07-05.
5. "Dancing Is Much Better for You Than You Think". VICE. 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
6. "Nervous or Mentally Knackered? Try Dancing". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
7. "Dancing Benefits Brain Function Teamwork and Health, According to a Neuroscience Ph.D." Inc.com. Archived from the original on 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
8. The Week Staff (2018-10-09). "The science behind the Strictly Come Dancing curse". The Week. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
9. its-good-for-you "Dance like Nobody's Watching, Science Says It's Good for You". Goodnet. Retrieved 2025-07-05.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
10. "How to dance like an alpha male". The Telegraph. 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
11. "Dr. Peter Lovatt | Summit on Promoting Well-being and Resilience in Healthcare Professionals". clinicianwellbeing.osu.edu. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
12. Perkins, Andrea (2021-04-15). "Dance Is Medicine in "The Dance Cure" by Dr.…". Spirituality+Health. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
13. "Darcey Bussell and Dr Peter Lovatt: In Conversation and Dance". Norwich Science Festival. 2025-02-22. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
14. "Why Dance Is The Feel-Good Exercise You Never Knew You Needed". Grazia. 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
15. Square1. "Why are we afraid of dancing in public?". Newstalk. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
16. Lovatt, Dr Peter (2020-04-02). The Dance Cure: The surprising secret to being smarter, stronger, happier. Octopus. ISBN   978-1-78072-412-6.
17. "We are built to groove".
18. "Emotions in motion | BPS". BPS. Archived from the original on 2024-08-18. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
19. Lovatt, Peter (2018-01-09). Dance Psychology. Lulu.com. ISBN   978-0-244-96056-8.
20. "Strictly Come Dancing - Empathizing or Systemizing? | Psychology Today United Kingdom". www.psychologytoday.com. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
21. Rose, Dawn; Müllensiefen, Daniel; Lovatt, Peter; Orgs, Guido (2022). "The Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index (Gold-DSI): A Psychometric Tool to Assess Individual Differences in Dance Experience". Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. 16 (4): 733–745. doi: 10.1037/aca0000340 .
22. Rose, Dawn; Ott, Laurent; Guérin, Ségolène M. R.; Annett, Lucy E.; Lovatt, Peter; Delevoye-Turrell, Yvonne N. (2021-02-05). "A general procedure to measure the pacing of body movements timed to music and metronome in younger and older adults". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 3264. Bibcode:2021NatSR..11.3264R. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-82283-4. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   7864905 . PMID   33547366.
23. "The BASES Expert Statement on the Use of Music for Movement among People with Parkinson's" (PDF).
24. Rose, Dawn; Cameron, Daniel J.; Lovatt, Peter J.; Grahn, Jessica A.; Annett, Lucy E. (2020-01-31). "Comparison of Spontaneous Motor Tempo during Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping and Stepping on the Spot in People with and without Parkinson's Disease". Journal of Movement Disorders. 13 (1): 47–56. doi:10.14802/jmd.19043. ISSN   2005-940X. PMC   6987525 . PMID   31986868.
25. Rose, Dawn; Delevoye-Turrell, Yvonne; Ott, Laurent; Annett, Lucy E.; Lovatt, Peter J. (2019). "Music and Metronomes Differentially Impact Motor Timing in People with and without Parkinson's Disease: Effects of Slow, Medium, and Fast Tempi on Entrainment and Synchronization Performances in Finger Tapping, Toe Tapping, and Stepping on the Spot Tasks". Parkinson's Disease. 2019 6530838. doi: 10.1155/2019/6530838 . ISSN   2090-8083. PMC   6721399 . PMID   31531220.
26. Lewis, Carine; Annett, Lucy E.; Davenport, Sally; Hall, Amelia A.; Lovatt, Peter (2016). "Mood changes following social dance sessions in people with Parkinson's disease". Journal of Health Psychology. 21 (4): 483–492. doi:10.1177/1359105314529681. ISSN   1461-7277. PMID   24752558.
27. "Mood changes following social dance sessions in people with Parkinson's disease".
28. "Many hands make light work: The facilitative role of gesture in verbal improvisation".
29. "Breaking away from set patterns of thinking: Improvisation and divergent thinking".
30. "Dance confidence, age and gender".
31. "Gender, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: Correlates of Internet Use".
32. "Phonological Memory and Rule Learning".
33. Williams, John N.; Lovatt, Peter (2005). "Phonological Memory and Rule Learning" . Language Learning. 55 (S1): 177–233. doi:10.1111/j.0023-8333.2005.00298.x. ISSN   1467-9922.
34. "Output Decay in Immediate Serial Recall: Speech Time Revisited".
35. Lovatt, Peter; Avons, S. E; Masterson, Jackie (2002-01-01). "Output Decay in Immediate Serial Recall: Speech Time Revisited" . Journal of Memory and Language. 46 (1): 227–243. doi:10.1006/jmla.2001.2806. ISSN   0749-596X.
36. Andrade, Jackie, ed. (2002). Re-evaluating the word-length effect. doi:10.4324/9780203194157. ISBN   978-0-203-19415-7.
37. "The Word-length Effect and Disyllabic Words".
38. "A Computational Account of Phonologically Mediated Free Recall".
39. "TEDxObserver 2011 video: Peter Lovatt". The Guardian. 2011-04-04. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-07-05.

External links

• Peter Lovatt on YouTube