Dancing is undoubtedly great for the soul.

Sometimes, you just want to let your hair down and bust some moves to some great tunes, whether alone in your bedroom or with a group of friends in a club.

On other occasions though, you may be hoping to attract a mate, and if you do it right, your moves on the D-floor can help you lure them in.

In fact, a new study has discovered just exactly how a woman should dance if she hopes to appear sexy and attractive - the secret is to swing your hips and let the movement flow freely through your arms and legs.

Researchers from the University of Northumbria used 3D motion-capture to record 39 women whilst they danced to a basic rhythm, then turned their movements into computer-generated avatars (with any traces of their actual physical appearance removed).

Video clips of the 39 women’s dance styles were then watched and rated for ‘dance quality’ by 57 men and 143 women.

The study concluded that there are three types of dancing that contribute to top female moves: “greater hip swing, more asymmetric movements of the thighs, and intermediate levels of asymmetric movements of the arms.”

The researchers suggested that the reasons these traits are so attractive is that hip swing is feminine and the ability to move limbs asymmetrically (that is, independently of each other) “may attest to well-developed motor control.”

If you’re struggling to compute what all that actually means, here’s a handy video of what a good female dancer should look like:

You can almost tell she feels at home on the dance-floor.

Contrastingly, this video shows exactly what not to do:

She’s just not letting loose and going for it.

If you’re wondering why the researchers only analysed women’s ability to bust a move, it’s because they did so for men back in 2014.

In the study - which was judged only by women - they discovered that large, variable movements of the head, neck and torso made a man more attractive, as well as bending and twisting of the right knee.