Eleven-year-old Courtney stood on the stage of Tech Auditorium in front of several hundred Northwestern students Wednesday to read out loud a letter he wrote to HIV, the virus affecting his mother and younger brother.
“Dear HIV, […] If you were a person, I wouldn’t even hold the door, say hello or look at you,” he read. “I would just say ‘Why? Why did you choose my mom and brother to live in?’ You are the most ugly, disgusting and despicable thing I have ever seen.”
Wednesday marked the Dance Marathon kickoff event, as participants learned more detailed information about the 30-hour philanthropy, 16 days before the dancing begins. Courtney, along with numerous other children, is a member of this year’s beneficiary, the nonprofit group Project Kindle.
Project Kindle started in 1999, and has been working to bring children affected by HIV and AIDS together in summer camps, where they can speak freely about the disease without fearing judgment. Brett Avila, liaison between DM and Project Kindle, said he particularly enjoyed the upfront interaction with the Project Kindle children.
“Project Kindle usually only gets to see its kids at camp, which happens once a year […] but since we’ve been here, we’ve been able to do events every month,” he said. “That all happened because of this partnership. So this has meant so much more than money to us.”
The kickoff event was also an occasion for dancers to hear more about the upcoming 30 hours they will spend dancing from March 6 to 8.
“It’s a great way for the dancers to come and get information about Dance Marathon, and especially this year, since we’re now in the tent, our new location, there have been some changes that everyone needed to come and hear about beforehand,” said Dance Marathon Public Relations Co-Chair Katie Ressmeyer. “It also makes the dancers feel more prepared and more confident as they enter the 30 hours.”
In addition to going through practical details and listening to Project Kindle members, the dancers got a chance to participate in a world record.
The students sitting in the auditorium were asked to look under their seats for sheets of white, red and purple construction paper to hold over their heads. A photographer on the balcony took pictures of what, from above, formed the shape of what was meant to be the world’s largest AIDS awareness ribbon.
This was not the first time that Dance Marathon organized a record-breaking event.
“Two years ago, DM did a PR stunt and it was very successful, and it made a lot of people excited for DM,” Ressmeyer said. “It’s kind of a way to get people involved before the big event, so we knew that we wanted to do one this year.”
For Ressmeyer, the excitement surrounding Dance Marathon is growing rapidly as the event nears.
“From exec’s point of view, we’ve been working on this for almost an entire year. From the dancer’s point of view, they’ve been working on this since the beginning of Fall,” she said. “There’s so much buildup and it’s less than two weeks away, so it’s exciting to actually be here and actually know that the 30 hours are about to happen.”