The Dance Marathon committees devote time and effort to perfecting the 30-hour event for Northwestern students. Between counting money for the Danny Did Foundation and setting up behind the scenes, committees found time to create witty T-shirts to represent their DM jobs. Now is the time to find out exactly what the clever slogan means, such as why one features a bear fighting a shark.
Corporate Relations
Weinberg senior Jerry Luo and SESP junior Josh Parish designed the T-shirt based on the Wu-Tang Clan song “C.R.E.A.M.” (“Cash Rules Everything Around Me”). The team replaced “C.R.E.A.M.” with “C.O.R.P.D.M.” Underneath are the lyrics “Get the money, dolla dolla bill y’all.” The design on the back uses the Wu-Tang symbol but replaces Wu-Tang with DM 2013.
Dancer Relations
The design came from a casual conversation between Weingberg junior Alex Matelski and Communication senior Ashley Thompson. According to the duo, the committee takes care of the dancers for the entire 30 hours, and something crazy always happens. The committee’s motto is to “expect the unexpected.” When Thompson and Matelski talked about the idea, Matelski suggested nothing was more unexpected than a bear fighting a shark.
Finance
The Finance Committee decided to play on the popular “This is my drinking shirt” and changed the slogan to “This is my money counting shirt.” The T-shirt also references Monopoly by displaying Rich “Uncle” Pennybags. The back of the shirt is simple with a giant dollar sign and DM Finance 2013 displayed along the top. The color was kept green to stick with the Finance Committee tradition.
Food
The Food Committee collaborated on creating the T-shirt; however, Weinberg junior Anna Radoff provided the general quote “Are you ready for this jelly?” from the song Destiny's Child's “Bootylicious." After the committee decided on the quote, the next step was to create a seductive jar of jelly to be used on the front. A couple of jars later, the committee finally settled on a drawing done by Weinberg junior Katy Vogt. The Food Committee T-shirt followed tradition with glow-in-the-dark lettering.
Marketing
The Marketing Committee T-shirt was a collaboration of the various students within the group. The marketing slogan for DM 2013 was “Let’s Get Weird.” So, the committee chose the weirdest thing they could think of to plaster on the front of the shirt: a unicorn. The T-shirts will not arrive until after DM.
Northwestern and Community Relations
Northwestern and Community Relations Committee wanted to play on the TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8. The Co-chairs of the committee are Jon and Kate and there are nine members in the NCR committee. So, the back of the shirt says “John and Kate Plus 8 ... +1,” and the front says the committee name and year.
Productions
The Production Committee is actually required to wear a visor instead of a T-shirt for Dance Marathon. The committee chose a blue visor with the “Productions 2013” written across the front. The Production T-Shirt doesn’t have to be worn the entire time, but the committee still put a lot of effort into creating a unique design. The group stuck with the traditional black color and played on the idea that Productions powers DM by bringing the energy supply, light and video. Productions deals with all the things you plug in, as the design suggested. The plug holds the slogan “We Run This,” which also references a Missy Elliott song.
Public Relations
Public Relations collaborated to create the PR T-shirt for the 2013 Dance Marathon. The committee doubles as security for Dance Marathon. The T-shirt was created to make it clear the security team is cracking down and there’s no hiding or escaping, as the slogan “You can dance, but you can’t hide” suggests. The PR committee has both T-shirts and tanks the group members can alternate between. Co-chair David Harris, a SESP junior, also noted a significant portion of the committee rallied for a cat on the shirt, but executive power was used to veto the cat.
Special Events (not pictured)
Mean Girls inspired SESP senior Justin Lee to create the Special Events Committee’s T-Shirt. The committee supported Dance Marathon by holding Trivia Events every Wednesday. Playing on the quote “On Wednesdays we wear pink," the committee altered the slogan to read “On Wednesdays we do trivia.”
Technology Resources Co-chairs Weinberg senior Katie Radtke and McCormick senior Gene Yoo designed the T-Shirts after the Geek Squad logo because of its relation to technology and the co-chairs' love for nerdy jokes. The co-chairs still wanted to include to committee names, so they changed the slogan to "Tech Squad." To complete the design, they included HTML code, reflecting the Technology Resource's job for DM.