Dance, dance, evolution is gamers' code for fun

Zhou asked him how to do it.

She told him she'd danced for years. He taught her.

"I was clumsy," Zhou recalls.

"I needed to follow the onscreen instructions and use the (footboard) according to a required tempo. That's different from dancing naturally."

She felt comfortable after a week.

"The machine provides a relaxing arena for us to dance. And it's exciting to play in front of many people in an arcade."

Lin and Zhou like to wow the crowd.

Zhou enjoys the feeling of "playing a game" rather than "dancing to a song".

They joined the 2017 China Electronic Game Super League. Then, they won fifth prize at the E5 Dance final in November.

The league's organizing committee operations director Xiong Yunqi contacted Zhou and recruited her as an officially certificated e-dancer for the league.

Xiong created an official account called "e-dancer" on Meipai in 2016. It has served as a video-sharing platform for all E5 Dance gamers in China.

"Countless gamers play in a huge number of arcades nationwide," Xiong says.

"But players weren't cohesive. This account gives gamers a platform to display their skills and provides them with tutorials. It also helps to strengthen their identification with the community."

The league has certified 13 e-dancers, who are all in their 20s. They will tour the country to perform in various arcades.

Chen Moyan, one of the most popular e-dancers on Meipai, boasts nearly 600,000 followers on that platform alone.

The 21-year-old college student had 3,000 followers a year and a half ago. One of her E5 Dance videos has since received over 5 million views.

"I'm just a dance lover who wants to promote the game's spirit," she says.

"I understand it as: 'Feel free to show yourself. Enjoy the game. Keep fit.' People should re-evaluate their stereotypes about arcade games. The dance game saves us from a sedentary life."

Chen is taking her love of dance to a new level.

Her online popularity enabled her to open her own dance studio in Jiangsu province's Suzhou this summer.

It seems, indeed, to be a dance, dance, evolution.