I find this so interesting. The simple form of the game is rhythm and eye/foot coordination. What the people in some of these vidoes have done is take it to a whole new level. One has to (presumably) start with getting the patterns down and then finding different ways to execute them.
I did a paper on my observations of DDR in an arcade and came to the conclusion that it was not dance. However what the people in some of these videos are doing is clearly dance...and technology.

My passion is dancing, but I have to tell you how even though I am happy that my 20 year old enjoys and is good at DDR, I am sad that his dancing is done almost always ALONE! Except for when a friend might come over.

I too believe that dancing can revolutionize the world....

...now if we can just get all the DDR enthusiasts to get together LIVE with other dancers, then maybe we will see a REVOLUTION!??

Great Blog!

MUAH!
xoxox

Shoshana Rose
Dance Missionary

Thanks Boris and Shoshana for your comments!

Boris I'm interested to know what factors led you to conclude DDR wasn't dance in your research. I agree that these videos show the ability of people to take a highly restrictive movement game and make it artful and idiosyncratic. It shows an interesting organic evolution of humans with machines, and a humanizing effect that has mutated the game into something more than just eye/foot coordination in a prescribed rhythm.

Shoshana, I agree that the solitary aspect of this game is worrisome to me. I feel like dance lives best as an experience of moving with other people. However, most of the videos I watched were of players in a social setting with audiences that they were performing to. Also the "doubles" form of the game is like a dance duet, or a b-boy or b-girl "battle" in hip hop culture. I think to get to the point where you can take the game to a performance level is pretty difficult and rare, and most players are just playing by themselves. However, like all art forms, practice is central to an artist's development, and often this is done alone. Dance is a little different from most arts because we practice in groups, but not always. Flamenco is generally a solo dance form, I think of Butoh as a solo experience (at least in the training and practice of it). I do hope that DDR can serve as a gateway for people to get into other forms of dance. If nothing else, I think it will make many people more movement literate, aware of their bodies, and less intimidated to try dancing. This may be the best message for the dance community to take away. There are a huge number of people now who have some dance skills and don't even know it. We need to reach out to them and make them feel welcome and invited to dance.

Matt at quodlibet has posted some interesting comments in response to this entry. His knowledge of the history, practice and culture of DDR is quite large. Thanks Matt for shedding more light on this topic for the uninitiated!

Go to: http://quodlibet.tumblr.com/post/14378779 & http://quodlibet.tumblr.com/post/14705070

Also, my friends Zach & Tom told me about this crazy thing at Burning Man this year called Dance Dance Immolation. Check out the youtube vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2W-KHWetG8
The players are wearing flame retardant suits and if they make a mistake they get shot at with flames!

I know I'm coming late to this post, but I really wanted to thank you for posting it. When I lived in San Francisco, I used to go to movies at the Sony Metreon, which has a huge arcade. When we had free time, we would go see people playing DDR, and it was exhilarating to watch.

When I would play it, I could manage nothing more than robotic stomping, but the teenagers that were really rocking it? They were *dancing*.

Looking back on it, the thing that strikes me about DDR as a gateway to dance is that is is probably the best tool I can think of for learning how to physically find the rhythm in music. When I started out bellydancing, I had the same problem as almost every other adult-starting student, the dance is very strongly tied to Arabic hand drumming, and I couldn't get my moves to happen on the beat. To get the super-high scores on DDR, it's not enough to do the right moves, but you have to do them at the exact right moment, on beat with the music.

Anyway, I had fun watching all the videos!

Great story Natalia! I've been to the Metreon in San Francisco, and was glad I wasn't prone to epileptic seizures from flashing lights. Now I wish I had ventured in the arcade more to see the DDR players! Matt Gough wrote in his post that most of the really good DDR players he knows of are dancers first. This gives them an edge. I'm curious if the DDR phys ed programs in schools turn more kids on to dance. If nothing else, it may as you suggest, give more people rhythm and a physical connection to music.