Today is the day, ‘noles! Dance Marathon begins today, March 2, and will run through Sunday, March 4. This incredible 40-hour event is broken up into two shifts, called the garnet and gold shifts. The garnet shift will begin tonight at 7 p.m. and end on March 3 at 3 p.m. The gold shift will run from 6 p.m. on March 3 to 3 p.m. on March 4.
Participating students will dance “For The Kids” in an effort to raise money for pediatric medical care that may not otherwise be locally available or easily affordable. The different games and activities that will take place are all aimed at fundraising for Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Miracle Network uses these funds to help buy materials to treat patients and keep them entertained during treatment. FSU’s Dance Marathon specifically benefits the Shands Children’s Hospital in Gainesville, FL, as well as the Florida State University College of Medicine.
One of the event’s InspiratioNOLE Leaders, Jenna Rabinovitch, shared her feelings towards this weekend’s marathon. “I have been preparing for this day for months. I’ve heard so many amazing things about how life-changing this experience will be, so I can’t wait to see for myself how this marathon will turn out.”
Dance Marathon is going to be a fun-filled event of non-stop dancing. You aren’t allowed to sit (unless you reach a certain dollar amount of donations). The first three hours are spent learning a line dance, which is subsequently done every hour on the hour. After the hourly line dance, participants get to hear different miracle families speak. Each team, composed of three organizations, represents a different miracle child.
Dancers should definitely look forward to fun, dancing, food and making miracles happen! There will be five theme hours with opportunities to dress up! The themes include Wigging Out, ESDM, Ski Lodge, Color War, and Hawaiian. During these hours, you can earn points for your team by dressing up. There will also be Lay-Z-Boy recliners with video games and movies. However, this luxury is only awarded to those who pay to sit and rest their feet.
Your next question is probably about how YOU can get involved in this weekend’s festivities. Getting involved in Dance Marathon is actually very simple. One way to participate is by creating a DonorDrive account and spreading the word to raise money instantly. To actually dance in DM, a student must raise $300 between the Fall semester and the date of the marathon. On-campus organizations often have teams you can join to raise money as a group.
See you all tonight!
All images courtesy of DMFSU.