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Peter Lovatt

Dance Psychologist

Peter Lovatt was a professional dancer who performed on the international circuit before switching gears and embarking on an academic career, earning degrees in psychology, computational neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Now he has garnered international recognition for his research into the psychology of dance and its relationship to health, self-esteem, thought and emotions.

Lovatt is a reader in cognitive psychology and a principal lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. One of hisrecent studies examined the dancing styles of over 13,600 people and showedthat confidence in dancing changes as a function of sex and age; another explored the link between hormones and dancing ability. Now he and a collaborator, Lucy Arnett, are looking into whether dance can help alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

In addition to his research, Lovatt continues to choreograph, teach dance and attend dance classes, engaging with as many different forms of dance as possible, including jazz, tap, ballet, ballroom, Latin, disco, salsa and jive. He has lectured at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the Science Museum in London, and the Wellcome Collection, and he is currently filming for a television program to be broadcast in the UK in thefall.

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