One, Two, Stomp!

Stomp your feet to the beat! For many, dancing is a disciplined art, expressing one's emotions through articulated body movements. Be it classical, modern, or ethnic, people love to dance the night away. Also, dancing is considered one of the best ways to do exercise, making use of all body parts to burn those unwanted fat.

I myself had a fair share of embarrassing moments dance performances, back in grade school. Showing off my dancing prowess is not an easy thing to do - especially when I realized that I really have no dancing skills at all (believe me!).

The irony of it all! How about us who can't dance? 

Pump It Up: Hope for Humanity

Pump It Up Fiesta, released in 2010

Technological advancements paved the way for new ways of enjoying simple activities. As for dancing, several dance arcade machines came into existence. One of the most widely known and successful dance arcade machines is Pump It Up, or simply PIU, developed by Nexcade and released by Andamiro. From its first launch in South Korea in 1999, Andamiro released different versions of the famous video dance game, with the noticeable improvements on stepchart accuracy and level of difficulty, as well as the variety of songs used on it. As compared to the conventional Dance Dance Revolution, it uses 5 pads per player, with the same goal of stepping on the pads with precise accuracy. Some advanced levels require the use of all 10 pads to play the game.

Through the years, the PIU fever spread all over the globe, forming communities of dancers (and non-dancers), having the same interest of playing the game. Local and international  competitions blossomed, paving the way for different communities to merge as one.

Not a Couch Potato's Game

Gotta bring sexy back!

In contrast to most video games, PIU requires physical involvement: stepping, jumping, running (and sometimes break dancing) to accomplish each level. Players are generally categorized in to two groups: the crazy monsters speeders, who are more inclined in playing difficult stepcharts of the game, and the show-offs freestylers, or those that do choreography and/or break dancing as they step on the pads. This inclination to do actual dancing on the machine itself is what sets PIU from the rest – you can enjoy the game while you're stomping into the beat!

In other a perfect way of doing exercise the fun way, especially people who are not born athletic, like me. Playing with friends is how I started with Pump It Up five years ago, and up until now, I still find time to break some sweat with this awesome game. It just started as a group joke – to see who sucks at eye-feet coordination, but it eventually led to a healthy way of spending my free time. All those hours spent on sweating out definitely paid off. After several months, I became a true-blooded speeder, and after a year of playing PIU, I managed to lose about 50 lbs of my weight, which is really life-changing. How I ended up gaining those 50 lbs back and how I will go about losing weight a second time ihall be discussed in another blog entry. Hopefully.

Along with the physical exercise involved with the game, PIU also trains the brain to function a lot faster and accurate than usual. My patience, as well as my determination, really improved after I started this activity. for me, this is a total workout of mind and body.

Never Say Never! (Not JB's Song!)

Like in any sport, or game, the quitter is always the one that loses. If played moderately, Pump It Up can be a way to express one's dancing skills, and at the same time a form of regular exercise. You'll never know what's in it for you, unless you try. If this is really not meant for you, try to look for another sport or activity that will develop you as a person. 

Don't just seat there  – move it! Life is too precious to be spent in front of the computer screen all-day long.