"Enter the Danceverses" is a playlist from Just Dance 2023 Edition. The playlist features all routines featuring the main promotional coaches of Just Dance 2023 Edition. It also serves as a story playlist for the game.
A sequel, "Dance with the Swan", appears as the story mode of Just Dance 2024 Edition.
Development[]
The development of the story is hinted at as far back as Season 1: Once Upon A Dance during Just Dance 2021’s lifespan, where the Traveler appears as a mysterious cloaked figure throughout the background of the season trailers for Season 1: Once Upon A Dance, Season 2: Versus and Season 3: Festival!. Additionally, promotional materials also feature the Traveler's cloaked figure before revealing himself as well as the game that he is set to feature in; Just Dance 2022. Likewise, Si’Ha Nova is teased at the end of the trailer of Season 4: The Traveler, with additional hints of them being a couple. This is later utilized in Save Your Tears (Remix), where both coaches are the central figures in the routine’s subtle story.
The main villain of the story, Night Swan, was hinted at early in the season trailer for Season 1: Astral, where she is seen in one of the tarot cards with "XXVII" written on the top and "X" written on the bottom. Pre-release materials such as the gameplay teaser for Locked Out of Heaven and the early release of Can’t Stop the Feeling! features her prominently in the background, giving strong hints of her importance to the story before her reveal. This is further acknowledged in a post from the official Just Dance Twitter account.[1]
Furthermore, one of the main characters of the story, Wanderlust, is heavily hinted at in a promotional comic titled "A Day in a Life", where it features Si’Ha Nova. The eventual release of Can't Stop the Feeling! features Wanderlust’s appearance, with the connected details revealing that he is the son of both The Traveler and Si’Ha Nova.
Plot[]
Backstory[]
Far in the distant past, a mysterious cloaked figure is sighted in different locations; from a ballroom of a castle into the urban environments and even to a lively festival. Passing through more and more dimensions, the figure takes off their hood and is revealed to be the Traveler, an enigmatic being capable of inter-dimensional travel within universes that are collectively known as the Danceverses. Going on in his search, he eventually comes across a blue-skinned alien woman named Si’Ha Nova, and the two eventually take an interest towards each other. Their romance flourishes and they eventually settle down together after an unknown amount of time has passed. During that time, Si’Ha Nova became pregnant with a child, who would eventually become Wanderlust.
Main events[]
The story properly begins with a group of friends watching over a television screen, featuring a blue-skinned man in a mishmash of outfits playing with a disco ball.
Sara is a young woman who hangs out with her friends in the living room, watching the blue-skinned man dancing and playing on the screen. This man is named Wanderlust and he plays the sentient disco ball named Discoball via playfully bouncing it. The Discoball bounces forward and out of the screen, manifesting as a greenish-teal orb that lacks power. Sara slowly picks it up and looks at the screen, where Wanderlust is now looking through the screen and at her, slowly extending his hand, which manifests out of the screen in a beckoning gesture. As Sara smiles and slowly offers Discoball back, it begins to activate as Wanderlust’s hand touches it, dragging Sara with him and into their adventure toward the Danceverses.
They first land in a laundromat within a city, where Liza Friday is seen walking into the scene to observe and dance with the duo. Afterwards, they reach an icy planet, where they encounter Temperature (P2) in one of the ice platforms. In two different parts of the choruses, they encounter I Like It (P3), who is in an eccentric tropical resort and beach bar by himself, and Lysara, who lives in a sci-fi outer space "ringed" metropolis that is situated near to an alien planet just as a giant kitten in an astronaut suit floats around.
Towards the end of their routine, Sara, Discoball, and Wanderlust reunite with the other four coaches. However, their celebration is cut short by the arrival of a massive female humanoid adorned with feathers and sharp talon-like claws, who emerges from the horizon and covers the sunset. With her powers, she engulfs Lysara, I Like It (P3), Liza Friday, and Temperature (P2) and whisks them away to the Swan Tower. By fear or instinct, Wanderlust quickly takes Sara's hand and escapes with a portal to a mall, the Luz Solar Retail Therapy, in another location.
As the duo escapes from the giant sorcerer's sight, a purple eye is cut to show the reflection of a head of an ominous statue, with hot pink eyes. However, the pupil turns to gold, obscuring the reflection from any additional details. This eye belongs to Night Swan, the sorceress who abducted the four coaches and left the other two escaping. Sitting on her throne, she is accompanied by a dark red-haired well-dressed man, who looks on solemnly as the sorcerer sits on her throne. Night Swan slowly stands up and approaches the center of her throne room, a central platform that exudes black inky energies in a ring. Lysara, I Like It (P3), Liza Friday, and Temperature (P2) are shown to be standing by the edges of the platform, in a state of trance and oblivion as Night Swan users her dark powers to drain their colors in a pair. As she unleashes her magic once more, all four of them are transformed into black humanoid entities, becoming part of her army.
Night Swan begins a ritualistic dance that causes all of her minions to move erratically and become active. She then summons portals toward the other Danceverses, with her army marching into each portal. The dark magical energy begins to swirl around and into each portal arch, corrupting them while her soldiers pass through them. With her dance finished, the dark magical energy continues to corrupt the arches while Night Swan raises her arms up in triumph.
Meanwhile, Sara and Wanderlust arrive at the Luz Solar Retail Therapy, where they see a large crowd of civilians engaging in an impromptu dance performance led by Brezziana, a dance coach who uses the Flow to move the crowd to their feet for fun. Brezziana joins Sara and Wanderlust in their quest, landing into the Temple of Master Panda to see a pink-haired shaman with a panda paw-printed circular emblem on their shirt. This shaman is Mihaly, who went on a journey to master the techniques of the Flow. Under the training of the Master Panda, they are gifted with some of the Flow and a sign prior to his departure, which is the emblem on their shirt. As the now-newly formed trio arrives, Mihaly joins in on their quest as well.
The scene switches to flashbacks of a young boy with red hair. He is practicing a move on his lonesome, in a darkened room with a single mirror by his side. Far in the background is the silhouette of his mother, Night Swan, who looks at his practice with a light shrug on her shoulder. The boy slowly looks down for a brief moment before he looks up. This boy eventually grows up to be the man seen next to Night Swan, a celebrity named Jack Rose. As an adult, Jack Rose rose to prominence as a celebrity singer in the city's population. While he gathers fans in his concert, his mother looks into his performance in silent approval via screens. During one of the concerts, Jack Rose is performing to a large group of fans within a large arena, with the fans all cheering to his songs and stage performance. During the climax of his concert, the building behind the stadium slowly parts ways to show a giant statue of Night Swan, looming over the city and the stadium. At the post-concert performance, Jack Rose returns backstage again, similar to how his childhood memory is depicted. Night Swan is present once again, clapping shortly over what he has done before dismissing him to tend with other matters. As Jack Rose is left standing in his place, a rectangular portal manifests itself next to him, where Mihaly, Sara, Brezziana, and Wanderlust emerge from it.
The group of friends, now known as the Just Dancers, emerges from the Temple of Master Panda in a casual and friendly display, in stark contrast to Jack Rose's far and distant glances. Wanderlust sees the stoic Jack Rose, who introduces himself with a curtsy. Each of the Just Dancers performs an action to introduce themselves to Jack Rose, with Brezziana flexing her right arm, Sara waving hello to him, and Mihaly performing a polite bow. Discoball is more focused on floating around randomly before darting to somewhere else. Wanderlust attempts to approach Jack Rose in a friendly manner. However, all of his attempts are met with avoidance from the latter, who is wary of his presence. While the two are attempting to get closer despite the latter unsmiling in his attempts, the platform of where they stood begins to rise up, up into the stadium with legions of Jack Rose's fans. Unknown to everyone, Night Swan is shown on the screens of the stadium, performing hand-based incantations. Just as the two slowly become comfortable with each other, Night Swan unleashes her dark transformative spell once more, transforming her son's fans and Wanderlust into her minions as her dark magical energies corrupt the city, leaving Jack Rose in surprise and shock.
In the ensuing dance battle between the Just Dancers and the Night Swan's army, Jack Rose is shown to be in a distant argument with Night Swan, over the actions that she did to his fans and Wanderlust. The two went to have a heated argument that results in Night Swan sic the transformed Wanderlust towards her own son, leaving him behind in a portal. The Just Dancers use their skills to transform the captive coaches back to their original selves, setting Lysara, I Like It (P3), Temperature (P2), and Liza Friday free. Between the fight of the transformed Wanderlust and Jack Rose, the latter is able to set the former free by clasping their right hands together and raising it, with Wanderlust returning back to normal.
With her army in reduced numbers, Night Swan faces Sara, while presenting herself regally and dramatically. Backed up and encouraged by her friends, Sara counters her rival's dramatic flair with bubbly and cute dance moves. With her friends cheering behind her, Sara is able to keep momentum against Night Swan, culminating in her blowing a kiss to Night Swan that drains her of her energy and leaves her defeated. Night Swan conjures a portal and retreats toward an ominous location, which has a purplish orange color and an ominous statue with pink glowing eyes. Sara, having bested Night Swan in the battle, is cheered on by her friends, with Discoball floating above her and starting to emit a bright white glow. It eventually dissipates to show them all to be inside a giant dance room filled with people and the coaches that they have saved. In celebration of this achievement, they all have a dance party.
After the party finishes, Wanderlust opens a portal that leads Sara back to her world. Once Sara crosses the portal back home, the screens on the wall above show Sara in her room, seeing her friends on the other side of reality. She gives them a heart sign as the rest of the Just Dancers wave at her, concluding their story.
Dialogue[]
A voiced monologue is present in the trailer video. It is heavily attributed to Sara, though the voice actor is unknown.
"Dance like no one's watching." Eh heh, that’s something that I usually let others do.
But still, when Wanderlust called for help, I am the one who answered.
Night Swan cursed the danceverses, turning coaches into minions. What a bummer!
We need to gather a team to stop this!
The skillful Mihaly can push us to improve our dance moves.
The invigorating Brezziana, she can fill the team with energy!
And Jack Rose, with Night Swan being his mother, can we really trust him?
If we combine our strengths, we might have a chance against... her.
So, "Dance like no one is watching" you say? Well this dance battle is definitely on!
Characters[]
Main[]
Major[]
Minor[]
- Liza Friday
- I Like It (P3)
- Temperature (P2)
- Lysara
Background[]
Backstory[]
Routines[]
The following routines are presented in order:
Trivia[]
General[]
- Enter the Danceverses is the first story created by Just Dance to properly span over several routines with continuity, instead of through just a single routine or through Easter Eggs.
- Enter the Danceverses is the first story to feature a major villain, in this case, Night Swan.
Story[]
- At the launch of Just Dance 2023 Edition and Enter the Danceverses, Liza Friday was the only minor character to be named, as opposed to the other three coaches.
- However, she was not named Liza Friday prior to Just Dance 2023 Edition, as she was previously referred to as Kery Party.
- There are some continuity errors present in the story:
- Conflicting accounts distort the fact of who is the exact creator of Discoball, with an "A Day In A Life" comic showing the Traveler creating Discoball while the "Coach of the Week" claims that Wanderlust creates Discoball instead.
- In the ending cutscene of Rather Be, Brezziana is seen with her jacket on, even though she had taken it off in her own routine before joining Sara and Wanderlust.
- Mihaly’s earbuds are suddenly removed in all of their subsequent appearances, in spite of the fact that they are not removed at the end of their routine.
- At the end of Locked Out of Heaven, the Just Dancers emerge from one of the background segments in the verses. However, at the start of Majesty, the Just Dancers instead emerge from the Temple of Master Panda, akin to the actual ending of Rather Be.
- There are some design inconsistencies present in the story:
- Despite being depicted with traditional white skin, The Traveler is shown with blue skin in an "A Day In A Life" comic.
- Mihaly’s early color scheme is featured in an "A Day In A Life" comic, even when their glove is purple, which is a color used for their finalized appearance exclusively in Rather Be.
- This inconsistency is also present in promotional materials for Just Dance 2023 Edition that feature Mihaly.
- Due to Locked Out of Heaven being unavailable in South Korea, the chronological events (while playing the game in the country) quickly cut straight to Majesty, effectively removing Jack Rose’s backstory.
Gallery[]
Lore[]
In-Game Screenshots[]
Others[]
Videos[]
References[]
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