The Dutch National Ballet and game studio Game Oven are developing Bounden, the first two-player dance game for smart phones giving mobile users a first in this form of dancing technology. Similar to that of Merce Cunningham’s use of technology to choreograph, most notably for one of his last works, Biped, Bounden lets people dance with each other.
In a mix of ballet and the well-known party game Twister, phones are used as a guide to dance or get entangled with someone else. In addition to using your thumbs to move in synchronisation to dance together, Bounden brings together programmers, choreographers, music composers, filmmakers, and visual artists. Each choreography is accompanied by classical music specifically composed for the game.
Ernst Meisner, the artistic coordinator of Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company, will be one of the choreographers from the company creating choreographies exclusively for the game. This will open up both mobile users and dance lovers to a whole new level of dance and the use of technology. Whilst Bounden is just a game there is a clear possible progression route from the game, using modern technology to greater avail within dance and performance.
Game Oven, the game studio in association with Dutch National Ballet, makes games that makes users sweat, previously such as Fingle, Bam fu, and Friendstrap. The company is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and consists of just four people that make games with new, weird and unique ways for people to interact with each other. For Bounden, dance is at the centre of their work.
Bounden is supported by the Dutch grant program Game Fund and will be available in May 2014 on iOS and Android.