Dance along to Rasputin and more during our Just Dance dance night! Think you have what it takes to be the ultimate dancing star? Put yourself to the test in a night of fun and rhythm!

Dancing has always played a big role in our pop culture, from film to television to games. 80s movies are a great example of this, with many featuring legendary dances that are remembered to this day. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze’s performance to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" in Dirty Dancing is a classic. We can see ourselves in the not-yet-famous actors as they share their coming-of-age moment on screen, experiencing sheer euphoria as Baby flings herself into Johnny’s arms during the iconic lift. And in Footloose, a rebellious Kevin Bacon seeks to change a conservative town that has banned dancing and rock music. By the end of the movie, the town’s high school students freely dance the night away at their senior prom, with an iconic final dance to the title song Footloose.

Television also has its own famous dances. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air introduced the Carlton dance to the world, thanks to Carlton’s joyous routine to “It’s Not Unusual” in season three. In The Office, Jim and Pam’s wedding entrance, filled with some interesting dance moves from the Dunder Mifflin employees, left not a dry eye in the house. But not every dance has to be good to be iconic. Take Elaine’s frankly awful dance scene in Seinfeld.

And then there are video games. Dance and rhythm games blew up in popularity during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Dance Dance Revolution and Just Dance are two of the most famous ones. Both were originally published in Japan, where dance and rhythm games are extremely popular in arcades. There is even a subculture there for extreme fans of DDR, with its addictive music, lights, and stomping arrow pads. Meanwhile, Just Dance is the most popular rhythm game in the West, played with or without a console and featuring hundreds of songs. You get to follow along with the routine of the special Just Dance coaches, who can take the form of people, animals, and even robots or aliens! Anyone can have a good time moving and grooving along to their favorite music and melodies.

So if you’re interested in dancing the night away, come to Just Dance night at the SLC on January 31st at 7:00 pm. You don’t want to miss the fun that the Game Committee has put together!

Writer: Sarah Moloney

Artist: Sophia Jusino