The eighth annual Dance Marathon at UCLA was held this weekend as 5,000 participants made the 26-hour philanthropy event the largest in UCLA Dance Marathon history.
The participants, about 2,000 more than last year, filled the ballroom and created a powerful energy throughout the marathon, said Danny Cowan, executive director for Dance Marathon.
As participators walked into Ackerman Grand Ballroom at 11 a.m. Saturday, they saw the a huge dance floor covering three-quarters of the ballroom.
Excitement was in the air as participants began the countdown to the start of the event. When they reached zero, everybody jumped into the first song, “Everybody Dance Now.”
Dancers were then put into color teams, which competed with each other in “color wars” throughout the night. The “color wars” included costume contests and dance wars, which consisted of catwalk and limbo competitions.
Vicky Birger, a fifth-year physiological science student, said the dance wars were her favorite part of the event.
“It really kept our spirits up. It helps to look at energetic people to get you out of your tiredness.”
Another activity created to keep the dancer’s spirits up was the “morale dance” which was taught to dancers at the start of the marathon. It consisted of hip thrusts, jumps and arm motions to the dance anthem, “What Is Love?”
To mix it up, every three hours a theme shift switched up Dance Marathon. Each shift was accompanied by a humourous video and a countdown, and dancers would change into new costumes matching themes, which included “Pirates of the Dormitories,” “What’s Your Major?” and “Creatures of the Night.”
Every shift change was also accompanied by a new activity set up in the back of the ballroom. One of the more popular activities allowed participants to make colorful earrings and bracelets out of condoms. The activity was hosted by Make Art/Stop AIDS, whose goal is to promote discussion in places where it may be taboo to talk about AIDS.
As night struck, a new energy filled the ballroom.
Colorful flashing lights circled around the walls and dancers picked up the pace to the wave of electronic songs.
The night also brought several celebrity guests including Kate Flannery, also known as Meredith on “The Office,” and Jonathan Bennett from “Mean Girls,” who gave a strip tease to the screaming female audience.
Celebrity guests thanked participants for working for a great cause and encouraged them to keep dancing.
There were also several speakers from sponsoring organizations that reminded dancers of the cause they were fighting for.
Kids from Project Kindle told their stories battling HIV and how the organization has helped them throughout their battles. The speeches brought tears to participants eyes, but also a newfound energy to keep dancing for the cause.
The upper level of Ackerman was transformed into an art gallery reflecting the cause of pediatric aids. There were pictures with stories of children who had been infected with HIV since birth and how they have lived with it. There was also a quilt with each piece representing a child who has died from HIV/AIDS.
Around 1 p.m., with dancers ready to topple over, top individual fundraisers and color war winners were announced before the countdown to the end of Dance Marathon. When the clock reached zero, all of the dancers instantly sat down for the first time in 26 hours. Some of the students collapsed instantly, others dropped, but all of them were thrilled to finally be off of their feet.
After dancers sat, a representative from the Elizabeth Glaser Foundation thanked them for what they have done and spoke to them about how much change they have made in their communities. Then a slide show of the event was shown, leading up to the big question, “Who wants to see how much money we’ve raised?”
Loud cheering began as committee members flipped over signs revealing the number. Despite how tired they were, participants stood up to applaud. Dance Marathon raised $362,741.94 toward fighting pediatric AIDS.