Laughter in the making: social bonding and coordination in dance practices

Laughter is a ubiquitous human behavior with distinct social functions and evolutionary value. And yet its role in artistic and cultural practices has rarely been investigated, except in explicitly humorous performances. This study highlights laughter's central role in the participatory and developmental phases of dance. Grounded in social function frameworks, we argue that laughter functions as a vital mechanism of layered coordination, supporting group dynamics beyond verbal interaction. Through a multimodal analysis of three distinct dance contexts, an amateur line dancing lesson, a Norwegian folk dancing session, and professional duo improvisations (co-located and remote), we investigate how and why laughter emerges in real-time creative and learning processes. Using video, physiological (heart rate, core body motion), and phenomenological data, we show that laughter is not a break in action but an integral, embodied tool for coordination development. Our exploratory study demonstrates that laughter serves to acknowledge mistakes, negotiate decisions, express difficulty, and share joyful success in dance. Critically, the quality and shared nature of laughter instances were shaped by the available communication channels, the modalities involved, and the direction of interaction. We conclude that laughter is a powerful, efficient form of embodied communication that helps dancers navigate uncertainty, build interpersonal synchrony, and co-construct shared understanding. These results underscore the importance of studying the evolutionary and social value of artistic practices as lived, co-created experiences beyond their most professional and elite forms.