Taye is a character who appears in Dance Central, Dance Central 2, Dance Central 3, and Dance Central Spotlight. She is a member of Flash4wrd alongside her younger sister Li'l T.
History[]
Past[]
At some point before the Dance Central games, Taye became an older sister to Li'l T and formed a close bond with her. They were raised together in a house that they would later return to in Dance Central 3. Additionally, her mother made her take lessons in tap dance, which she did not enjoy.[1]
Dance Central[]
Taye first appears in Dance Central as a playable character with two outfits: Street Chic and Summertime. Street Chic is available from the start while Summertime is available once the player earns 25 Stars with her. She is the dancer used for the Legit Challenge.
In the beginning cutscene, Taye overhears Mo's promotion of a club and dances in celebration. She later gets in Angel's car, sitting in the backseat with MacCoy and Miss Aubrey. She is then seen partying at the club with most of the other characters.
Dance Central 2[]
Taye returns in Dance Central 2 as a part of Flash4wrd. She has three outfits: Crew Look, Street Style, and DC Classic. Street Style is unlockable by earning 36 Stars in Flash4wrd's songs in the Crew Challenge while DC Classic is unlockable by using a cheat code.
Taye giving Li'l T tough love regarding The Glitterati
In the Crew Challenge mode, Taye recognizes the player to be the talent Bodie mentioned to her and Li'l T earlier and offers them a chance to rep their crew. Once impressed, Taye wonders if their talent would be enough to battle The Glitterati. Li'l T makes a bold comment regarding them, but Taye reels her back and comments to say it again later at night without a nightlight present. She then gives the player their crew card, reminding them to stay focus and keep being themselves.
Dance Central 3[]
Taye returns in Dance Central 3 as a part of Flash4wrd. She has five outfits: Retro Fitted, Crew Look, Street Style, DCI Agent, and DC Classic. Retro Fitted and Street Style are available from the start while the rest are unlockable by leveling up.
In the Story mode, Taye became an agent for Dance Central Intelligence (DCI) alongside Li'l T. Flash4wrd was amongst the crews sent back in time to learn previous dance crazes in order to use them against Operation Lockstep, Dr. Tan's plan to take over the dancing world. When they were sent to the 90s, they visited their childhood home and created their own craze: the house party. When she and Li'l T return to the present, DCI HQ is in a state of emergency. After telling Li'l T that she does not need to worry about the consequences of their previous actions because she was not born yet, she questions the state the agency is in.
Later, Dr. Tan uses DCI's time machine to send Taye and everyone else who had been brought to their headquarters to the prehistoric era. After the player traps him in the time stream, she and the rest of the agents are recovered and sent back to the present. She is seen lounging with Mo afterwards in the end credits.
Taye introducing the player to their house party
Dance Central Spotlight[]
Taye appears in Dance Central Spotlight as a playable character. She is one of fourteen characters available to play as within the game, with her unlockable counterpart being Zeta.
Personality[]
Taye presents herself with lots of spunky attitude. She says stuff the way she sees it, and does not hold back in expressing it. She is an inspiration to her younger sister Li'l T, who wants to follow in her footsteps, but she also makes sure to show Li'l T to think with her head when speaking, as some of the statements she makes come off with little thought and big ambition.
Outfits[]
Dance Central[]
- Street Chic: Her Street Chic or DC Classic look consists of a white crop top with a red and black letterman jacket over it (the jacket also has a "P" on the left of it), dark jeans, and red sneakers accented with yellow. Her accessories consist of a belt labeled with her name on it, two gold bracelets, a gray and gold cap with a "S" on the front of it, and gold hoop earrings. The cap is not present in later renditions under the "DC Classic" name, having been given for Li'l T's Crew Look.
- Summertime: Her Summertime look consists of a green crop top with an unzipped camouflage and gold hoodie over it, green hotpants with her name on the left of it, and black shoes accented with gold. Her accessories consist of a gold necklace with two gold dog tags hanging on it and a black bracelet.
Dance Central 2[]
- Crew Look: Her Crew Look consists of a yellow top with a "T" in the middle of it, a green hoodie accented with white, jeans with her name on the right and star designs on both, and white and gold sneakers. Her accessories consist of a white belt, a gold chain with her name on it, and gold hoop earrings. Additionally, her nails are painted green.
- Street Style: Her Street Style look consists of a narrow black crop top with a denim vest over it, white jeans that are ripped up, and red and black boots. Her accessories consists of a black belt with a gold oval buckle in the middle, gold bracelets, a white pearl bracelet, a gold necklace, a gold ring with a green gem implanted in it, and a peacock feather earring.
Dance Central 3[]
- Retro Fitted: Her Retro Fitted look consists of a black bra with a yellow and purple jacket over it, baggy suspenders with her name on them, and black boots. Her accessories consists of various buttons towards the bottom of her outfit, a white fannypack, a wide silver bracelet, and gold hoop earrings.
- DCI Agent: Her DCI Agent look consists of a silk purple shirt exposing the shoulders, slightly rolled up black pinstriped dress pants, and open-toed shoes with silver gems on it. Her accessories include two black belts, a purple bracelet, a gold ring with a teal gem implanted in it, and a silver dangling earring.
Dance Central Spotlight[]
- Default: Her Spotlight look consists of a black crop accented in green and red with a multi designed white hoodie over it, denim hotpants, long white socks accented in pink, and multi-colored sneakers. Her accessories consists of a black and yellow cap with leaf designs on them, multi colored bracelets, two gold necklaces, and various gold rings.
Quotes[]
- Now you got somethin' to say? I didn't think so. BOOM, ha ha ha! I am SO good!
- Dang! Your girl is bringin' it! Do you see this? DO you see this?
- Kay, NOBODY can keep up with this. Haters, I see ya mouth open but ain't no words comin' out.
- And that's why everyone knows my name!
- That's how it's done! They're best at. I'll just do better next time.
- I'm swag, you should all know that.
- At the phone you know what to do, your girl Taye, T-T-Taye is chilling with her crew.
- You callin' Taye, but she aint' home, so leave a message, on this hear-phone
Songs[]
For a list of songs associated with Taye, click here
Trivia[]
- When Taye is the most chosen character in Dance Central, the player gets the title Technophile.
- Taye is one of six characters known to be related to another character, the others being Kerith, Jaryn, Oblio, and Dr. Tan.
- Taye is shorter than all of the other adult female characters in the series.
- This may be a leftover from her initial concept, where she was a high school student.
- The hat Taye wore in her Street Chic look is used for Li'l T's Crew Look.
- The hat appears to be have been passed down from Taye as a way of her noticing Li'l T's desire to follow in her footsteps.
- Taye is one of the few characters with assigned songs to not be the default dancer for any song in the Warm Up category, the others being Dare, Jaryn, Li'l T, Lima, and MacCoy.
- Taye's easiest on-track song in Dance Central, Dip It Low, is the hardest "easiest" song given to a character in the game, being ranked in the Tough category.
- Childhood photos of Taye can be seen in the venue. These were originally gonna be photos of Taye and Li'l T nowadays, but it was changed due to inconsistencies with the time space continuum.
- Taye has an official profile given to her by Harmonix.[1] The following information is given:
- Name: Taye
- Hobbies: Chillin’ with my home girls and making up routines. Used to take tap lessons, but that’s over with.
- Interests: Going to the movies, block parties, and making cookies with the nieces and nephews. What? Gotta keep family close!
- Favorite Movie: La Cosa Nostra from 1976.
- Biggest Pet Peeve: When your take-out order gets screwed up and you’re already back home before you figure it out. Enough to drive a person crazy.
- Blood Type: What kind of question is that? Waste of time…
Concept and creation[]
Senior writer Helen "Hellion" McWilliams and character designer Matt "Perly" Perlot elaborated on the creation of Taye in a blog post published by Harmonix.[1]
Taye was originally conceptualized as "a very early high-school aged girl", as Perly explained. Her letterman jacket was initially oversized, with the implication being that she borrowed it from her boyfriend. She was also going to wear tap shoes, with the idea being that her mother made her take tap lessons. As she was further developed, these ideas were scrapped, likely in order to give her a more individualistic image. However, the tap dance concept returns in the profile given to her on the same blog post.
Taye was named Sade at some point during the development of Dance Central, as shown in her assets in the game's files, concept art shown on Harmonix's blog,[1] and a storyboard for the game's introduction shown in the January 2011 edition of Game Developer Magazine.[2] The S on the cap she wears in her Street Chic outfit may be a leftover from her old name.
Gallery[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Harmonix. (2011, March 3). Dance Central Sketchbook 3: Meet MacCoy and Taye. Harmonix Blog. Retrieved May 11, 2023. Archived from the original on May 13, 2023.
- ↑ “Postmortem - Harmonix's Dance Central.” Game Developer Magazine, vol. 18, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 32-39. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014.