Disco Bitch: the ‘Dance in Second Life’ Challenge

Oh, this is a handy meme, since I don’t even need to log in to do it! XD

Today Berry wants to know if I can boogie. Why, yes, sir. I can boogie, but I need a certain song…

*koff* Okay, that’s enough of the cheesy 70s disco guff, only not quite, because cheesy 70s disco guff is exactly what I had playing when I did the following video shoot a few weeks ago (hence the ‘not needing to log in’ thing). I was actually featuring this incredible SL disco ball, but since I couldn’t have a disco ball without dancing my butt off under it, that’s exactly what I did. So, I present the best disco ball in SL:

Full size here, if you wanna see Skell shaking his shiny, silver butt in HD ;-)

Which dance are you sharing in the image/video and where is it from?

It’s one of the long, looped free dances from Humanoid. From memory, I think it’s the Claire one. I will say this: just as I’m not afraid to wear some clothing and accessories intended for female avatars, so I’m not afraid either to hop on female dances to try them out. In fact, a load of my dances are ladies’ ones. You have noooooo idea how HOT SineWave’s “OMG” dance is until you’ve seen it danced by a gorgeous guy ;-)

And this was the cheesy disco music I was playing:

Which is your favorite dance in Second Life?

God, that’s a tough one. It’s a split between AKEYO’s “Ben Break 3” and 3FX’s “Passion of Shuffle”. I’m a huge fan of shuffle-type dances (lots of legwork and footwork, minimal arms-waving-in-the-air) and, while “Ben Break 3” has some arm-waving it really works with the dance and isn’t just random flailing.

UPDATE: Okay, I just logged into SL and shot some quick video using the free version of FRAPS, and then used the (again, free) Handbrake program to massively reduce the file size. So here’s a quick video of AKEYO’s “Ben Break 3” –

 

(Press the icon in the lower-right of the embed player toolbar to view full-screen.)

And here’s 3FX’s “Passion of Shuffle” (which probably just edges out the AKEYO dance as my favourite) –

 

Aw hey, bonus dance image (SineWave’s “Danish”), since I’ve just uploaded this Telephone  spoof onto Flickr:

What are your favorite dance animation stores in Second Life?

Currently, Humanoid (SLurl) is my go-to for dances. I’m not sure if 3FX is even around any more – EDIT: I just checked, and it is! (SLurl) – but they have some really great shuffle-style dances. But yeah, Humanoid is the one for me. If AKEYO bring out new dances then I’ll check them out, but nothing’s really struck me from there as an instant-buy in recent times. Not in the way that so many of the Humanoid dances have. Again, I highly recommend not sticking to the dances mocapped by RL people of the same gender as your avatar. Ladies, try out the male dances, and guys give the girls’ dances a try out (you can always go in the wee small hours PST, when there’s hardly anyone on the sim *g*).

Are you a frequent dancer in Second Life?

Oh god, yes, all the time. I usually play the animations locally, so nobody but me sees them, but absolutely. I’ll chuck some banging dance music on through my headphones, set Skell off on a cascade of dances, and just chill out.

A long time ago, back on the original SL forums, someone asked the following question (and I’m going to C/P from the original post, which is still archived here if you want to read the whole thread) –

Why Dance in SL? A Sad Commentary on Life.

I can’t understand this appeal of “dancing” in sl. Why do it? Okay, I understand its potential for chatting while picking someone up, but avis can’t send body signals and facial language to each other in sl like we can in real when we are on the dance floor and “in da groove”. In sl, a relatively short movement sequence is repeated ad infinitum and clumsily at that. I also appreciate that people who are confined by a disabiliy can expeience something of the “dance experience”.
But really, people, why submit yourself to the horrors of lag and self-abuse by waving a pixil hand around and doing a St. Vitus dance imitation when you could be having sex with your partner in comfort of a private sim or a public nude beach?

My answer was this:

Because it makes me happy. I don’t need any other reason.

Simple, and true. And a lot of people agreed with me.

Are you a frequent dancer in the real world?

I used to be, far more than I am now. Sadly, I’ve got seriously fucked-up knees, so I can’t dance for long, but occasionally I’ll do something utterly daft like playing this old Top of the Pops video of MUD’s “Tiger Feet” performance and do the dance along with them, because it never fails to cheer me the hell up when I’m feeling low. By the time I’m done, I’m knackered and giggling like a kid:

You might laugh, but just try it. It’s an awesome workout and a great bit of fun. And every time that damn song comes on the radio at work, the urge to wave my arms around like a lunatic has to be suppressed pretty damn hard. And yes, if I’m working on my own in there… I have been known to just go into a corner where I can’t be seen by anyone outside and do the damn thing anyway. Like I said, it makes me laugh like an idiot XD

The other one I love to do (because it’s another brilliant work-out; try it and see!) is try to keep up with this old 60s “How to dance Ska” video. The video is out of sync with the audio, but give it a go anyway:

As the original Flickr version of the image I featured at the top of the post said: “Sometimes ya just gotta dance, no matter where you are…”