Many seemingly baseless rumors have passed through the halls of ELHS about a new club that was in the making. However On the 16th of December those same rumors were proven to be true with the emergence of the Dance Dance Revolution Club. This young and hopeful club is centered around the popular Dance Dance Revolution video game franchise, in which players use a specialized pad to follow the directions displayed on the screen. The club members play two person matches, and use a projector to display the game on a white board so that all attending members can see.

To find out more about this club I interviewed its founder Jessica Staples, and what I heard both interested and enlightened me. According to her the club members are welcome to have competitive matches, but she prefers to promote a more noncompetitive atmosphere that is very “chill and relaxed.” This way those new to the club or game don’t feel inadequate. “If people aren’t having fun then what’s the point? You can’t even learn how to play if your not having fun,” said Jessica Staples. When asked why she said, ” Well, you see, our goal is to first have fun and then teach others how to play so we can have fun with them.”

While I watched the club members play I noticed that they were working up a fairly good sweat. So I asked if the activity had any health benefits. “Of course it does! A guy lost over 100 pounds playing DDR!” she energetically exclaimed. She then explained to me that there are exercise routines built into the game that are designed to burn calories. So even though it’s not a sport, it’s still a fun and physical activity for all to enjoy.

In the future the club hopes to spread their influence not just across their school, but also through out other schools. They hope to convince the Phys. Ed. faculty that DDR is an acceptable activity for their classes. The also hope to inspire similar clubs in other schools in the state so that they might have some interscholastic competitions.