h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For those wondering, I'm refferring to Dance Dance Revolution.

I'm still wondering!

What the...blazes...is that when it's at home?

I'd say not, it's just an arcade machine controlled with the feet to some music.

It will never be as good as shuffling your feet and snapping your fingers

Dancing in my mind is a set of steps that you can memorize and imporvise upon depending on the beat of the music or genre. Or it's a complete freestyle expression without boundaries that matches the beat.

It is NOT right, right, left/right, forward, backward, etc. as if it were a controller pad you use with your feet.

A fun game to play or watch someone play? Yes. A dance? No.

Well I'd say it's a bit elitist to declare that it's definitely NOT a form of dancing (I know what you're on about now - I've got the Play Station mat thingy at home)

Yes, it's limited in the amount of expression you can put into it (although your arms are still free, yes? And your face muscles for smiling/ grimacing etc)

But doing specified things with your feet, following instructions...well line dancing's a bit like that, isn't it? As are many other forms of dancing.

Why do you need to classify it definitively as a from of dancing or otherwise?

Well besides the dancing you`d do in a club, isn`t all dancing by instructions? Foxtrot, Waltzing, Tango and such. So this is hardly any different from having a dance instructor.

What I love, is watching the little Asian girls who've memorised every single dance routine from every single DDR or derivative thereof. They're, like, psycho on those things...

What I love, is watching the little Asian girls...

Couldn't agree more

Liam - awaiting moderation.

Hmmm, asian girls....

*Homer Simpson drool*

Bad Liam

Actually, I was waiting for B to come out with that one...

Loads of people all doing the same moves. If you ask me (which you havent) its a very bad thing. Line Dancing looks innocent enough but you change the movesa bit and youve got a Nazi rally.

Dancing should be self expression not dictated bunch of moves.

So where's that leave classical ballet then?

Or a set Irish Dance, say St Patricks Day, one of the first hard shoe dances learned by pupils, with steps going back hundreds of years, and largely unchanged across the centuries?

Or a line of Tiller girls doing high-kicks?

If you can squeeze some expression into traditional or classical steps good luck to ya, but all that "you must do it this way" stuff leaves me cold.

oh it should be, then it'd be like back in the 80s (or the 80s movies at least) when we'd all just merge into doing one funky dance on the dance floor!

*doesn't see the attraction in asian girls*

Brown skin,big chestnut coloured eyes, long eyelashes, silky jet black hair. No me neither Queeg.

I agree that expression is important in dancing.

In some styles of dancing, it is more important than in others. The flip side of the dancing coin is technique. Most exams and competitions for dancing award a set of marks for technical stuff (where yes you will be expected to do a dictated set of steps in a particular way!) and some other marks for expression.

It is not a 50/50 split.

It varies from one dance style to another, from one teacher to another.

In some cases - 80s movie style funk - expression is nearly all!

At the other extreme (this DDR of which you speak) a rehearsed set of moves leaves little room for expression (although as I said earlier, face and arms are free)

What 80s films are you on about anyway. Have you seen "Weird Science"