This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/06/arts/dance/tiktok-dancers-imitating-video-game-characters.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Dancers and Video Game Characters Merge in the Uncanny Valley Dancers and Video Game Characters Merge in the Uncanny Valley
(3 days later)
Watch a TikTok video by @dem_bruddaz, and you might feel a queasy mixture of recognition and disorientation.Watch a TikTok video by @dem_bruddaz, and you might feel a queasy mixture of recognition and disorientation.
You’ll see, say, a person running down a street. But wait — is it a person? Why does he turn at such precise 45-degree angles? Why are his gestures so oddly exaggerated? And is that a Grand Theft Auto theme song playing in the background? Maybe this is a clip from a video game. Or is it some A.I.-generated approximation of a video game?You’ll see, say, a person running down a street. But wait — is it a person? Why does he turn at such precise 45-degree angles? Why are his gestures so oddly exaggerated? And is that a Grand Theft Auto theme song playing in the background? Maybe this is a clip from a video game. Or is it some A.I.-generated approximation of a video game?
Though select commenters refuse to believe it, @dem_bruddaz actually are people, the real-life brothers Orlando Murayire, Fernando Shami, Freddy Sheja and Aristide Shema. Based in western France, they’ve built a global following by imitating, with disquieting accuracy, the ambiguously human movements of characters from the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.Though select commenters refuse to believe it, @dem_bruddaz actually are people, the real-life brothers Orlando Murayire, Fernando Shami, Freddy Sheja and Aristide Shema. Based in western France, they’ve built a global following by imitating, with disquieting accuracy, the ambiguously human movements of characters from the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
There’s a reason they’re so good at capturing the idiosyncrasies of the game’s animation: They’re dancers, accustomed to identifying and replicating subtle shadings of movement — the kinds of details that make their videos so unsettling.
However unreal the clips seem, making them “feels comfortable to us,” said Shema, who with his brothers grew up immersed in hip-hop, Afrobeat and dancehall. “They just feel like dancing.”