Could parents finally have found the upside to video games? Well, sort of!
“Fortnite” is one the of the most massively popular video games ever created! It’s pretty simple: a bunch of players gather together and battle it out until only one remains. Each player is represented inside the game by an avatar, and each avatar can be customized in dozens of ways — for a price of course!
One of the most popular ways to customize your avatar is to develop your own “victory” dance. Players have dozens of choreographed moves to choose from, most of them drawn from real life, and some of them even familiar to many of us.
Consider the Charleston. In the game, it’s known as the Flapper, but most of us will recognize it as the wildly popular dance from the 1920s. Other recognizable dances come from the worlds of music videos, films and television shows.
This popular dance in the game is known as Dance Moves, but it was obviously inspired by the television series “Scrubs” and the dance scene performed by the character Turk. Here’s a handy side-by-side comparison from YouTube. The problem is, the makers of the game have never credited some of these dance moves and that has sometimes meant trouble.
The makers of Fortnite, a company called Epic Games, has been on the wrong side of several lawsuits from several celebrities who all claim the company stole their trademark moves and put them into the game, and of course, made money off of them. The game has really opened up a can of copyright worms!
So we’ve seen how real life has informed the game, but we are also seeing the game informing real life — especially in the world of sports.
It kind of makes sense as the dances in the game are considered victory dances. You’ll see it a lot in the world of soccer. But these dances are invading pop culture — even the world of ballroom.
Last year, the ballroom professionals from the hit BBC show “Strictly Come Dancing” took on the viral Fortnite Dance Challenge. Look at the pro take on some of the game’s most iconic moves.
So where’s the upside to all of this? Maybe it can be found in this gem of a video.
It seems as though instead of sitting in front of the video game and playing, this group of siblings spent a good part of their day planning and dancing their way to YouTube video fame — all with the help of some of their favorite Fortnite dances.
Maybe you can find a way to incorporate some of these smooth moves into your next ballroom dance class here at Fred Astaire Dance Studios. Give your local studio a call to find out!
