The memes and references in the Genshin Impact community are sometimes very intricate, and some of the more notable ones can be hard to trace back to their origins. So how do you dance in Genshin Impact and where does the dance come from?
Technically you can’t dance in Genshin Impact and most of the videos you see of dancing are created using software such as MikuMikuDance or Blender. The dance and song come from another title called Persona 4.
Let’s look at the history of the Genshin Dance and why Genshin players do it, as well as the origins of the backing music used as well as some techniques on how to dance in-game.
How to Make Your Character Dance in Genshin Impact?
Technically there isn’t a dance move or command you can do to make your character dance.
So naturally, you may wonder how people make their Genshin characters dance. There are three main methods that people use to make characters dance, using in-game animations in certain areas, editing in-game animations together, or using 3D animation software.
The first is to use the movements of the character in the game, particularly the climbing animation. Go to the bridge just north of Qingce Village and find the square wooden posts that have the ropes wrapped and attached to them.
Position your character facing the post (so your character’s back is facing you) so that the character is jammed right up against the post and the rope is touching the character’s left shoulder.
Try and climb the post, and the game won’t allow you to climb but will still trigger the climbing animation, making it look somewhat like a dance.
This works with every character except Paimon.
The other method is to just do ingame animations and then edit the footage together to make it look like the character is dancing. This is particularly effective when timed to music as it makes you see dancing when really it is not.
The movements are a combination of idle animations and character moves. Idle animations are programmed into the game so that the character will appear more natural when standing still with no input by the player.
It will involve them swaying, playing with their hair, checking their gear out and generally just fidgeting.
Character moves include their attacks and other buff or debuff actions which will also have animations that accompany it.
The idea is you do these moves and capture them from many angles, sometimes more easily done in cooperative mode, and then splice them all together.
The final technique is via 3D animation software. There are many choices for 3D animation software, but one of the most common is MikuMikuDance. This is specifically designed to help create anime-style characters and then have them animated.
It involves importing 3D models and then using the software to add motion such as dance moves. With the ability to use both Kinect and NVIDIA 3D Vision, as well as the included bone mechanism, you can create very realistic movements for your Genshin characters.
Another option is to use Blender, another free piece of software that has many functions including animating characters, modeling, rendering and editing.
You can specifically import premade Genshin models into this software to save you a lot of time, and then you can get to the task of animating them.
What Is the Genshin Dance Called?
The dance is referred to as the Specialist Dance but it has its origins in another game called Persona 4.
There is a theme in the game called Specialist that was rearranged and released in 2011. Yu Narukami is the main protagonist from Persona 4, and features heavily in many Persona 4 memes.
A spinoff game, Persona 4: Dancing All Night, featured the Persona characters dancing to various songs, and eventually, the two were put together.
Thus it took the name Specialist Dance, and expanded to other anime-style games such as Genshin Impact.
It particularly gained prominence as a good luck ritual that Genshin players would perform just before using the gacha mechanic in the game so that they could pull a rare character.
What Is the Genshin Dance Song Called?
The main Genshin Dance song is called Specialist. It was arranged by Atsushi Kitajo.
