Hollywood Producer Sells Motion-Captured Routines of Celebrity Dancers Like Alexander Chung to Second Life Avatars

Video courtesy Paragon Dance Animations

Alexander Chung is a renowned dancer and choreographer with a huge following on Instagram and YouTube, and now thanks to an indie producer in Hollywood, you can buy his real moves for your Second Life avatar.

While there are many Second Life brands that sell motion-captured dance moves, Paragon Dance Animations is the first I'm aware of -- at least in recent years, long after Second Life's boom days -- to create and sell dances taken directly from real world, renowned dance stars. Chung's moves are first to be offered in the SL marketplace, but Paragon has also motion-captured Liz Lira, Latin choreographer for Dancing with the Stars, and plans to sell her branded dances as well.

Paragon Owner/Producer Jon Nakagawa pitched Chung the prospect of dancing for avatars after a studio class.

Chung moves demonstrated by SL YouTuber Isabelle Cheren

"I also went through his agent as standard protocol as there are legalities behind a licensing contract (which is two part: use of name/likeliness and use of creative work)," Nakagawa tells me. "His agent at Bloc LA has been great to work with it and as a producer it is important to have a good relationship with the major talent agencies." He declines to discuss details of the deal, but notes that well-known choreographers can “command upward of at least $1000/day as a day player as per Screen Actors Guild scale.”

But does selling avatar dance moves from a real world dance star increase sales?

"This is something we would like to know ourselves," Nakagawa acknowledges. The Chung dance moves have only been on the Second Life market for a short time, and his studio won't do another release of male dance moves (not from a celebrity) to make a direct comparison. But right now, his top seller is not Chung's moves, but a dance pack called Tori, a non-celebrity female dancer:

"That release was a hot seller who outsold both our first Miguel unisex salsa dance and Alex's dance combined in just a few days. When I saw figures like that, I really now know why most SL businesses focus on products for women. The true test is getting a female celebrity and when brand is more established as a better indicator. Right now it is just too early to tell."

Update, 6:00pm: Clarification to the last paragraph from Nakagawa: "I do plan to release more male influencers/celebs in the future and invite Alex back, but that will most likely be next year."

Comments

[Mony Birman]

cool !! i love be blogger of this store their dances are so fabulous !! am so happy be part of this !! keep up that good work ! all my admiration for you

[_camx2]

I feel this dance is the coolest dance of the moment in SecondLife's existing dance animation. I like this dance best.
Unfortunately, the animation appears jerky when there are not enough frames per second for the fast movements of the dancers.That's why some SL dancers don't buy them. I hope this will be improved in the future.