Video: Kosher Dance Game Making Waves

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step-it-up-dance-gameThe NY Post reports: Bust out the hora!  A new video game modeled after the arcade staple “Dance Dance Revolution” is rigged for Orthodox Jews who want to boogie down to techno versions of Hebrew and Yiddish songs.The game, “Step It Up,” is an alternative for religious Jews who might otherwise get their meshugeneh moves on non-Jewish music.

“The game meets our standards for modesty,” said Faigy Grossman, 25, the inventor.

“Many [Orthodox Jews] just won’t listen to non-Jewish music. They’re also offended by graphics showing women dancing in the background.”

Grossman’s version doesn’t feature any gyrating silhouettes or lyrics about “bluffin’ with my muffin.”

Instead, the screen displays shots of popular male Jewish music stars like Lipa Schmeltzer and Avraham Fried, who belt out their biblically inspired, techno-infused hits.

Grossman, a former teacher from an all-girls yeshiva, said she came up with the idea three years ago when she took her students on a trip and they got her to play “Dance Dance Revolution.”

“I thought it was really fun, and I was surprised I hadn’t heard of the game yet,” she said. “But the music just wasn’t appropriate.”

So she learned to program, and financed her own version, which hit Jewish-owned toy stores in Brooklyn and New Jersey earlier this month.

“It’s definitely one of our hottest items this season,” said Michael Tool, manager of Toys For Thought in Lakewood, NJ.

“In arcades, you see a lot of Jews playing [“Dance Dance Revolution”], but they wouldn’t feel comfortable bringing it home. Finally, here’s something that’s kosher.”

Even the big-name Jewish idols featured in the game are kvelling over it.

“In a world where everything is rushing and people are trying to do a million things at one time, here at least you have an opportunity to play a game, exercise and listen to your favorite music, which brings out spiritual messages,” Schmeltzer told The Post by phone from Tel Aviv.

“So you are doing four things at the same time.”

Click below to watch:


{NY Post/Matzav.com}


21 COMMENTS

  1. What a great idea!
    Let the world know that we are holy and will not succumb to inappropriate pictures and music. Kids and adults need exercise and this is great, for male and female.

  2. This is so exciting!
    I love the dance machine, but it’s really not for Jewish kids or adults.
    How much does the game cost, and where can it be bought?

  3. Children love to dance. Adults when they feel pure, innocent and free also love to dance. Dancing is a form of stress release. Whether it is the structured forms of the waltz, dervish, swing or ballroom to the unstructured forms of techno and trance it is a divine blessing. Only the stiffest and most restrictive of cultures abhors dancing.

  4. This product has blown my family and friends away…..its kosher and very professional at the same time…..it has all the features of the non-jewish one but with totally kosher music!!

  5. Oy Vey… read the article more carefully instead of being cynical… it says that the artists think it’s great. That means they approved it. Note the quote from Lipa. Really, do some people have to be negative about everything??? Anyway, fo all those who asked, the article also says where to get it… Toys For Thought, Lakewood, NJ.

  6. Chavi – I got it from Faigy (the person who made it) before it was in stores. I don’t know her personally, but someone else gave me her number. I think they raised the price on the dance mats and that’s why it is now 90 without shipping. You can try buying the mat separately, directly from ddr’s website and it is cheaper there i think.

  7. Is this Faigy Grossman that went to camp Bnos as a camper/staff?? major talent you have! i just got the dance machine and its the best thing ever! Hatzlacha

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