Spanish adults avoid the dance floor, except in Asturias

FEW Spanish adults enjoy hitting the dance floor, especially in public – but those living in the northern region of Asturias are more likely to do so, according to a survey.

Even then, only 28% say they 'enjoy dancing very much'.

Brand manager for the video game Just Dance, Ubisoft, was curious to find out why this was the most-sold game in Spain over the last two Christmases, and decided to conduct a survey.

Ubisoft interviewed 2,275 people who had bought or been given a Just Dance game and found that 84% of teens aged 11 to 16 enjoyed dancing and 55% of these did so at least once a week, at discos or parties.

From age 17 to 24, those who used to hit the dance floor in their early teens fell to 43% of the total, and from mid-20s to mid-30s, to 34%.

Only one in three Spaniards aged 36 to 50 said they ever danced in public and just one in five of the over-50s.

Of those who do not, 42% said they never had time to go out and dance, 31% said they felt they were not very good at it, 24% were too embarrassed, and 9% said they were too lazy, but only 15% claimed they did not enjoy it.

Ubisoft has therefore concluded that although the people of Spain have a global reputation for being party animals with a love of festivals, and although 85% do enjoy – or do not mind – dancing, between 57% and 80% do not like doing so where others can see them, with reluctance to do it increasing with age.

Although in the main, those living in Mediterranean and southern Spain are more likely to hit the dance floor – 26% in Catalunya and the Balearics, a quarter of those in Andalucía and Extremadura, and slightly lower for Valencia and Murcia – Asturias on the north coast had the highest number of residents who enjoy a bop and a jive, with 28% saying they were very fond of doing so.

On a scale of 0 to10, with 10 representing the most enjoyment dancing gives them, these 28% gave it a 9.

But Asturias is the exception, because in the north-west and in central Spain, adults were less keen on showing off their fancy footwork.

In Cantabria, only 14% of the over-16s say they like dancing, and 15% of those in Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha.

And those who were the most likely to dance in public felt they were better at it.

Whilst 21% of people living in the Balearics and Catalunya claimed they were better dancers than most other people, this went up to 23% in Asturias.

And 34% of residents in Aragón believed they danced far worse than anyone else, as did 35% of those interviewed in Madrid and Castilla y León.