Get Ready To Boogie!

Good Charlotte and Ray Charles aren’t the names of your new students, but their voices may soon become familiar anyway.

These and other techno and pop artists are helping West Virginia schoolchildren lose their extra pounds.

West Virginia's state education department decided to place a "Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix" game system in every one of its 765 public schools next year to the tune of half a million dollars. With West Virginia the third most obese state in the country—40 percent of its kids qualify as overweight—the move is designed to combat rampant obesity.

Originally from Japan, but wildly popular here, the game requires players to stand on a flat electronic pad and follow instructions on a nearby television screen—step forward, left, right! Right! Right!

—Alan J. McCombs