Getting Funky For a Cure: Dance Marathon Takes BU

On the Friday evening before Dance Marathon, long sheets of paper covered the floor and walls of the Sargent Activities Center (SAC) Gym. Volunteers painted names and phrases on the signs – team names, among them “Teenage Dream Team,” and encouraging mottos, such as “Bring it Brittany” and “Ya Yi”. Although it was a lot of work in a short amount of time, there was a palpable excitement for the next two days, the culmination of a year of long work.

“I’m so happy that it’s all come together,” Maggie Abbate, one of three overall coordinators for the event, said in an interview that Friday. “This is our dream, and it’s here, and I’m trying to enjoy it because at the end of the day, it should be fun.”

Dancers take a break to answer Disney trivia for raffled prizes. | Photo by Dejeanne Doublet.

Dance Marathon involves 18 hours of dancing, which this year took place from 3 p.m. on Saturday to 9 a.m. on Sunday. To keep participants interested (and awake), the event arranges theme hours, guest speakers and performances, and “Moralers,” who take four to six hour shifts to cheer the dancers on. This year, there were about 140 dancers, many of whom signed up in groups or as part of an organization.

“We try to cater to the dancers, to make it energetic,” Abbate said.

This includes entertaining aspects such as costume contests and coordinated dances, as well as more serious moments, such as informative videos and HIV positive guest speakers. The walls were covered with encouraging hand painted signs, including one that read, “We make kids dreams come true!”

“When you have four hours to go and are like, how am I going to do this? You think of those kids,” Abbate explained. “It’s a really positive and motivating atmosphere. There’s energy, there’s hope.”

Becky Joiner, who danced for the Sigma Kappa team, agreed that the guest speakers provided inspiration throughout the night. “They … had two little boys who have [HIV] talk to us about their personal experience with the disease. It was so moving and inspirational, and I can honestly say I feel like I learned a lot about myself through the experience.”

Abbate and the other two overalls, Eric Si and Steph Gonzalez, started planning Dance Marathon last April. The event, now in

( From Left) Becca Friedman (SED '14), Brianna Bloodgut (CAS '14), and Lindsay Kirk (SED '14) rocking out on Rock Band. | Photo by Dejeanne Doublet.

its ninth year at Boston University, raises money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), an organization focused on pediatric AIDS research, and One Heartland, a summer camp for HIV positive children. Although they did not meet their original goal of 50,000 dollars, Dance Marathon raised over 20,000 dollars for the two organizations.

“There was a lot of restructuring and internal work,” Abbate said. However, she did note that “this is all money [the organizations] didn’t have before.”

The group’s fundraising efforts this year centered around the fact that 15 dollars can provide an HIV positive woman with the services she needs to prevent passing the infection to her unborn child.

In addition to fundraising, Dance Marathon aims to promote awareness about HIV/AIDS and safe sex. During AIDS Awareness Week, the group hosted free HIV testing for BU students and invited speakers from One Heartland.

“Dance Marathon wouldn’t be possible without literally hundreds of people that help,” said Abbate. In addition to dancers, sponsors, moralers, and chair members, Abbate noted that the event receives a lot of help from one-time volunteers. These helpers may not actually take part in the event, but often help set up or offer to “can” in Brookline (a process that involves collecting money in a can from passersby).

There are Dance Marathons all over the country, but each group chooses its own charities to donate money to. Abbate said the groups have conference calls to bounce ideas off each other and see what other groups are doing. But, ultimately, each event is unique.

Members of Tri Delta dance to Disney songs. | Photo by Dejeanne Doublet.

This year was Joiner’s first year at Dance Marathon, and she admitted that it was “crazy.” “Dance Marathon was extremely rewarding and even though I was exhausted and in a lot of pain, I am really glad I chose to participate,” she said.

Joiner’s main focus was not fundraising, but education and awareness: “The suffering we endured as dancers, painful as it was, was nowhere near as significant as the pain that children and families across the world endure every day.”

Abbate has been involved with Dance Marathon since her freshman year, when she signed up as an individual dancer. As a sophomore, she became a chair for the event, and was asked last April to be an overall. Although she will not be able to help plan it next year, Abbate said the event has taught her a great deal.

“It’s really shown me how much people can come together and how much a few people can make a big difference,” she said. “There’s a spirit of community, and moving forward, and working toward a generation of people free of HIV, which is huge. And I’m just a girl at BU.”

 

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