Choreographer Ahn launches virtual dance game
Eun Me Ahn Company, ran by dancer and choreographer Ahn Eunme, will release an educational dance game named “Until Die Thanks Dance,” Feb. 28.
The game shows how the internationally renowned choreographer is forging ahead amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, exploring possibilities of staging dances online and welcoming virtual audiences.
“Ahn Eun Me Festival,” which was scheduled to be held at Yeongdeungpo Art Hall in Seoul last year, was canceled due to the pandemic. Ahn’s international project “Dragons,” featuring young dancers from different Asian countries in the year 2000, which falls into the Chinese zodiac of the dragon, also came to a halt due to the restrictions in international travel and gatherings in public spaces.
Instead of sitting on her hands, Ahn tried to navigate the future of dance as the pandemic prolonged.
Eun Me Ahn Company collaborated with developers Gamenv and The New Feature to create the game constructed the Yeongdeungpo Art Hall in the virtual world using motion recognition technology.
Users can dance on the virtual stage by using a camera detecting
their motion as part of Ahn’s existing dance repertoires on the stage of the Yeongdeungpo Art Hall. Users can also operate their characters without cameras and watch other users dance.
Users can choose from seven dance repertoires of Eun Me Ahn Company as well as a wide range of costumes and music to dance on the stage with up to 30 players simultaneously.
“The game ‘Until Die Thanks Dance’ provides a place for communication and bonding in virtual reality, regardless of nationality or language. Participants can achieve pure joy without competition by moving their bodies and watching other people dance. Each user is a creator on the stage via one’s avatar, suggesting a new form of remote education,” the company’s PR person said.
“Ahn’s philosophy is to bring unfamiliar contemporary dance to daily life and we combined the idea with contact-free project amid the pandemic. We expect this game to relieve the sense of isolation many people feeling in the era of social distancing.”
Born in 1963, Ahn danced with the Korean Modern Dance Company and the Korean Contemporary Dance Company before establishing Eun Me Ahn Company in 1988. Ahn’s major dance pieces are known for featuring unlikely performers such as elderly women in “Dancing Grandmothers” and people with dwarfism in “Daeshim Dance.”
Ahn is an associated artist of Theatre de la Ville-Paris, France from 2018-2019. In 2019, Ahn held a solo exhibition “Known Future” at Seoul Museum of Art, looking back onto her 30-year career as an eccentric dancer and artist.
Last year, Ahn hosted an online dance workshop “1 Minute 59 Seconds Around the World,” collaborating with 40 different people across the globe.
The game will be available for free at the company’s website at www. aemc.co.kr.