More than 350 students danced for eight hours into the early hours of the morning this weekend as part of the fourth annual JHU Dance Marathon, which this year raised $35,000 for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
The annual dance event took place in the Glass Pavilion from 6 p.m. on Saturday evening to 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.
The night included performances by SLAM, Jaywalk and the Eclectics dance groups, as well as a cappella shows by the Mental Notes and the Vocal Chords, which helped liven the crowd during the eight straight hours of dancing. Also included in the list of activities for the event were raffles, a silent auction and a photo booth.
In addition to the performances, the dancers were visited by four “miracle kids” — children being treated at the Johns Hopkins Hospital who came to share their stories.
Dance Marathon (DM) is a local chapter of a nationwide organization, which has a presence on 150 college campuses across the country. The proceeds benefit the Children’s Miracle Network, a group of children’s hospitals of which the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is a member.
The Hopkins chapter of the philanthropic organization, which spends the whole year organizing the event, was able to raise more money this year than in the past three years combined.
“In three years, we had raised $28,711, and in this one year, we more than doubled what we had raised ever [in a single year],” DM Co-President Alexandra Colt, a senior, said. “I’ve just never been happier than I was when we figured out that we broke $30,000.”
The $35,000 raised this year surpassed the organization’s previously stated goal of $30,000 from last year.
JHU Dance Marathon organizes a few other fundraisers throughout the school year, most notably the Color Run — a 5K race where participants are showered with colored powder and paint — that they co-sponsored with The HOP in October of last year.
An entirely student-run organization, the JHU Dance Marathon has experienced substantial growth in participation over the past few years. Last year 166 dancers participated in the JHU Dance Marathon; this year that number more than doubled to 368.
But beyond just money and participants at the event, the club itself has also experienced an increase in membership.
Co-presidents Colt and Anastasia Pierron are seniors who have been involved with DM since its inception four years ago. The majority of the rest of the club, however, consists of freshmen and sophomores.
The largest expansion has come from the addition of a greater number of morale leaders, students who act essentially as mascots for Dance Marathon participants. They promote the event throughout the school year and hype up the crowd during the dancing event itself. There were 18 morale leaders this year, which is almost double the amount of leaders from last year.
For the organizers of the JHU Dance Marathon, the culmination of their efforts proved to be a very emotional experience.
“The amount of people that gave (Dance Marathon) support last night and the amount of tears that all that work and passion made flow from my eyes was amazing,” Morale Director Sasha Maraj, a freshman, said.
Maraj, however, was not the only person who was overcome by emotion at the event.
“There’s a thing in the dance marathon world called the ugly cry, which is when you look awful but you’re crying because you’re so happy because you exceeded all your expectations of fundraising,” Colt said.
The co-presidents also expressed their excitement and enthusiasm about President Ronald J. Daniels’ involvement with Dance Marathon this year.
“President Ron Daniels has been super supportive of DM,” Colt said.
In fact, Daniels’ last minute donation at the end of the night bumped the total funds raised up to $35,000.
This year’s unparalleled success has been a long time in the making for Colt and Pierron.
“Its really hard to get people (at Hopkins) to come together about something that’s not school, so, that we have the opportunity to benefit kids in our community, in our university network, and also increase the school spirit and the connection between people on this campus is the coolest opportunity. . .its an avenue for so much good beyond just the money,” Colt said.
