If you were a fan of early video games, you embraced how rudimentary they were. Then technology drove designers to create more and more realistic worlds. The technological advances almost made it to the point where we didn’t know where the real world stopped and the gaming world took over. Or vice-versa. Where would it go from there?
Ubisoft came up with the idea of turning their massively popular video game Just Dance into a live event. And they turned to a man who has a vast resume with live events, but someone who also had no awareness of the game: Kim Gavin. The result of their collaboration is Just Dance Live which begins a brief run at the Hollywood Palladium tomorrow, March 29th and continues through March 31st. The show uses songs by Pharrell Williams, Jessie J., Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and others.
A quick glance of Gavin’s resume shows he has been the director behind the Closing Ceremonies for the London Olympics, The Concert for Diana, Party at the Palace and has regularly directed tours for the band Take That.
I recently spoke with Gavin in the gap between Just Dance Live completing its run in Houston and just prior to its opening at the Hollywood Palladium.
What are you looking for in a project that prompted you to take on Just Dance Live?
I love a blank sheet of paper. I love when I’m approached with “we want to do something, but we’re not quite sure what it is. We’d like to have a great show and we came to you for it.” It was completely new. I had never seen the game and wasn’t aware of it. Ubisoft gave me a couple of games and I realized there was already a lot of creative content to create these games and moves. They wanted an experience rather than just a show. The challenge has been to take the show and involve the audience, keep them dancing, let them meet the people they never thought they’d meet. It’s an unusually fun and colorful world that was attractive.
This is a game commonly played at home either by oneself or with a couple friends. How does that experience translate to a live show?
I think it’s similar to when you buy an album of a band you really love. You get into it and hear it in your car. You sing the words to it. Then you go to a concert with 10,000 other people who are like-minded and you are singing all the words with them.
The first version of Just Dance Live was produced in Paris in April 2016. What did you learn from that experience?
Even though we knew there was a community out there, it was a test. What would their reaction be like? We’ve got a thing called the red carpet. It was to put famous coaches from the games to meet the people as they came in. The people coming to the event are the people walking down the red carpet – they are the ones we care about. Will they be mesmerized by the coaches? And they were. [If, like Kim Gavin was, you aren’t familiar with the game the coaches are Panda, Fox, Chihuahua and Moose.]
We allowed them do bring their phones. We thought we’d do a competition through their phones. If they held them in their hands they would dance and we’d get a winner. And they didn’t really want to get their phones out. They just wanted to dance the next song. They wanted to meet the coaches and be under the cool lights.
Video games have a goal of creating as realistic a world in 2D to mirror the real world. Now you are directing a show that’s offering a 3D experience of a 2D game. Does this represent a shift in entertainment?
I don’t think that realistic thing will ever go away. With Just Dance Live the audience is going into a party atmosphere and you are part of it and you are ready to dance and you don’t have to wait for the first person to go on the floor. It is a very colorful and fun world.
I think if you did Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed, it’s a dark subject and I don’t know how interactive it would but. But because this is a dance game, it’s a natural progression.
You were a ballet dancer when you were younger. From your point of view, what form of catharsis does dancing provide?
Dance must be releasing something good into the bloodstream. The endorphins that come out when you are dancing is a fantastic thing. When I was at the Royal Ballet, I used to dread to do it sometimes because I did it for 90 minutes every morning and I would dance other times through the day. But as soon as I was five minutes in I felt lifted. That’s the great thing about dance. I don’t think that will ever go away.
Photo Credit: Kim Boyle
