One important issue in the dance world is one of inhibitions and an unavailability of dance to non-dancers. Many people might enjoy dancing but can be intimidated by it or do not feel as though they have the proper tools or resources to explore it. There have been gaming initiatives and research carried out to further explore this.
Keyani et. al. (2005) carried out research in this area by developing DanceAlong, a system in which members of a senior community center could dance to well-known movie dance scenes by following projected steps of the choreography. This type of system is an initiative to develop more social interaction as well as physical activity in a community of people where dance is not very accessible.
Keyani et. al. (2005) carried out research in this area by developing DanceAlong, a system in which members of a senior community center could dance to well-known movie dance scenes by following projected steps of the choreography. This type of system is an initiative to develop more social interaction as well as physical activity in a community of people where dance is not very accessible.
A more widely known and used system is Just Dance, a game originally developed with Wii, where users can use the remote control to track their movement while watching and following along with choreography matched with popular songs and projected on one's television screen. In an article on Eurogamer, "The Science of Just Dance", which described the reasoning behind the game's development, Gregoire Spillmann, the creative director of Just Dance said "our concept was to inspire people to overcome their inhibitions and encourage them to actually dance... We forced ourselves to achieve a meaningful level of rhythm and movement detection using the Wii Remote alone. We wanted complete freedom of arms and legs". The producer of Ubisoft, Florian Granger, said "making a game simple and accessible doesn't mean forgoing making it rich and deep. Those factors can all coexist happily, and that's something we were aiming for in Just Dance, at every stage of development" (2013). These days, people do not need a game console, they can play Just Dance simply with a smartphone and an internet-connection screen! To do this you download the Just Dance Now app on your smartphone, go to justdancenow.com, link your phone to the page, choose the song for which you'd to learn the choreography, and dance your heart out! |
While there are exciting opportunities such as these, there is still progress to be made in the dance world to incorporate true accessibility to intellectually different people and those other than wealthy and able bodied folks. This article discusses the use of the SubPac to allow deaf dancers to learn choreography by feeling the beats on their body. New uses of technology such is this seem to be emerging for dancers with different abilities to stay involved.