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When You Just Gotta Dance

Have you ever seen one of those guys at a wedding reception dance who has absolutely no rhythm and has had one champagne too many? This poor schlub flails his arms like a psychotic chicken. He has no idea what to do with his feet, so he just moves from side to side while trying to remember what John Travolta did in that movie. He’s so bad that you are mortified for him. It’s painful.

Well, I’m that guy.

At least I used to be. Now, I’m fabulous. It all has to do with Dance, Dance Revolution.

One of the side benefits of writing this blog is that I get to work with the GameBike and GamePad crew and they let me tag along on as many special events as I want. We go to huge fitness trade shows in nice places like San Francisco and we also go to lots small, neighborhood and civic events in nice places like Memphis and Corpus Christi. Whatever the venue…we bring a couple of GamePads and a few GameBikes and the crowd goes nuts.

Our job at these events is to make sure everyone who wants to, gets to try out the bikes and pads. There is never a problem getting willing participants. In fact, there is always long line of kids and adults ready to test their eye-to-foot coordination. Doing these events over the past five years, I have finally learned HOW to play Dance, Dance Revolution (DDR) and those 10 year old girls who used to laugh at me are now giving me the reluctant respect that I have earned.

The DDR game software was developed by Konami, a Japanese technology company. The GamePad is the platform on which the actual movements take place and are tabulated on the game monitor. Basically, the GamePad has little buttons that are sensitive to pressure from you feet and as you move your feet to the directions on the DDR images, this pressure determines whether you are following the “dance” directions or if you are a doofus like I was before I found rhythm religion.

One of the great things about GamePad and the DDR program is that participants get a rigorous workout while playing the game. In fact, the aerobic benefits of the DDR program were the subject of a recent scientific study which was commissioned by the American Council on Exercise.


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