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How to Play Dance Central for Xbox Kinect

Dance Central was one of the first games available for the Xbox Kinect system. The Kinect uses video cameras to record body movement, and turns the player into the controller for the games. In Dance Central, players have to mimic dance moves that are performed on screen to get points. The game is broken up into two main sections, an instructional mode called "Break it Down", and the actual game mode called "Perform It."

Instructions

- 1
  Position yourself 6 to 8 feet in front of the Kinect sensor as Dance Central loads, so that it can recognize you.
- 2
  Wave your right hand to activate the Kinect after the system has finished loading. Hold your right hand out in front of you and move it until the hand icon hovers over "Play Dance Central." Hold your hand there until the circle around the icon fills in and the game starts.
- 3
  Move your right hand from your right to the left to bypass the Dance Central opening movie. Repeat this motion to access the main menu.
- 4
  Hold your right hand out and move it up and down until the "Dance" option is highlighted. Then move your hand to the left in one quick, smooth motion.
- 5
  Select a song from the list of songs that appears using your right hand, using the same motions you used to choose the "Dance" option. Choose "Break it Down" from the next menu to enter the learning mode of the game.
- 6
  Move your body in the same manner as the avatar on the screen. During the "Break it Down" section of Dance Central, each dance move is performed one at a time. If you get the move right on the first go, you go on to the next move. Otherwise you have to perform the specific move correctly at least three out of six times. If you need to make the avatar move more slowly to make it easier to learn the moves, stick your left hand out and move it to the right. After you have learned all of the moves, you will be given a brief quiz and taken to the previous menu.
- 7
  Use your right hand to choose "Perform it." Then select a difficulty level and, if you desire, an avatar and location for the performance.
- 8
  Perform the dance moves as they appear in the pictures on the right side of the screen. The move highlighted in the middle of the screen is the current move and the ones just below it are the upcoming moves. Each correct move gets you an additional multiplier on your score, up to five times. During the middle of each song there is a "Freestyle" section, where you can dance however you like without it affecting your score. When the song ends, there is a special finishing move that was not taught in the "Break it Down" section; copy this pose for extra points.
- 9
  Choose another song when you are done. The songs are divided into groups of four based on difficulty, with the easiest being at the top of the list and the hardest at the bottom. Each group of dances also has a "Challenge" dance listed that gets unlocked when you have successfully completed all dances in the group. Select this option to perform bits from all four dances in the group in one long performance.

Xbox 360