By Lindsay Poisson
Special to The State News
A dark International Center was filled with flashing lights, a large crowd and frenzied dancers during the Univeristy Activities Board's first Dance, Dance Revolution Tournament on Friday.
About 50 students competed in the new form of dance.
In the dining area of Crossroads Food Court, tables and chairs were pushed aside to make room for the three machines loaned by Pinball Pete's, 220 Albert Ave. The winners received a $50-100 Best Buy gift card.
UAB Chairperson of Spirit and Traditions Tahera Sakarwala said before this tournament, such dance-offs were confined to a smaller scale, such as within residence halls.
"It's the first time the UAB has taken on an event like this," she said. "It's something we hadn't done before."
The event was open to all MSU students and, in preparation, the UAB held preregistration for a couple weeks.
Advertising freshman Derek O'Leary said he came for "the fun of it."
"I used to play it at my old arcade," he said. "It's fun. I think you get better at dancing."
Dance, Dance Revolution, or DDR, is an arcade game that is composed of a screen and a platform with two stepping pads.
The goal, Sakarwala said, is to "stomp on arrows that correspond on arrows that are on the screen."
The amount of precision while stepping to the beat will determine the amount of points scored. Players can score anywhere on a spectrum from "perfect" to "boo."
Participants could play with a partner or by themselves and chose skill levels.
For the tournament, the competitors played directly against each other, dancing side by side. The competitors were broken into three groups: novice, standard (intermediate) and masters.
The competition started with a qualifying round that ranked players from best to worst.
Taking these ranks, Sakarwala said the judges pit the best player against the worst, the second best against the second worst and so on in what she referred to as the bracket round to make sure the best really is the best.
Starting at 9 p.m. and ending after midnight, the competition was a long night of dancing. For spectators, the UAB provided board games to keep non-competitors occupied, and Sparty's Convenience Store stayed open for students to buy refreshments.
No-preference freshman Kim Stemp said she likes to play DDR, but decided not to compete.
"I haven't played in awhile. I used to play regularly during the summer, but it's an expensive habit to keep," she said. "I could have done it, but I'm too scared to compete in public."
"I just came because I wanted to play, but I'm going to wait 'til they're done and all tired out."
Early Saturday morning, the winners were: novice winner Ryan Hover, an economics junior, intermediate winner Kenith Konarzewski Jr., Oakland Community College freshman, and Masters winner Dan Yuang, a mechanical engineering sophomore.
"It was really fun this year - really put together well," Yuang said.
According to Sakarwala, there are no current plans to have another DDR tournament.
"I hope to see these kinds of events in future years," she said.
