Most Northwestern students can be heard touting that Dance Marathon is an event that should be experienced at least once while attending school. As a freshman, after hearing this sentiment countless times, I’ve started believing it. This is the first article in a series outlining the journey my partner and I will be taking to reach Dance Marathon this coming March.
As the months dragged on between getting into Northwestern and arriving here, the Northwestern Class of 2015 group became a staple in my day-to-day. It wasn’t necessarily because I wanted to read fifteen “who here likes pizza?!” posts, but because I was worried that among the supremely annoying icebreakers there would be actual information. The group did prove helpful, though. Around March of last year, while it was just warming up in New York and I was just starting to really revel in my senioritis, someone in the group asked if anyone was watching the live feed of DM. To be honest, I didn’t even know what DM was. But I did some research and gathered that Dance Marathon seemed like a great event. I realized not only was it life-changing for those it helped, but for the participants as well. I knew I was interested. Dancing for 30 straight hours in order to raise money and help those in need? You had me at dancing…and 30 straight hours…and raising money and helping people and need I say more?
Upon arrival on campus, I went crazy getting involved in things. I write for North by Northwestern, I play club tennis, I’m on hall government. But no matter how many clubs I was a part of, I had to make sure there was room for Dance Marathon. I was always involved in community service in high school, often coupling it with fun- or music-related events. Therefore, DM was a no-brainer. My group of friends paired off quite easily and signed up (extraordinarily last minute, I might add). My partner and I waited until the last day, of course, and she had a class that ended about a half hour before the registration time ended. She had to sprint up from Harris to Bobb so that we could make her a Gmail account and get her signed up in time.
At the first DM all-dancer meeting, though, everything solidified and I knew for sure that this is what I want to do with my weekend from March 2 to March 4. The meeting included information on fundraising, logistics about teams and groups, but most importantly, a video about The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation. B+ (Be Positive) funds research on childhood cancer and provides financial aid for families of children with cancer. Watching the video and hearing the story, I knew I was in the right place. DM will be a grueling 30 hours of emotion and foot pain, but it will all be for the right reasons. Anything we feel at DM will be nothing compared to what those families and children feel every day.
My partner and I are planning to start fundraising as we return home for Thanksgiving and will definitely get down to business bothering loved ones for money over winter break. In addition, we look forward to gathering the many costumes and outfits that will be needed for our 30-hour event, especially, the customized Virgin Vault pinnies that we will hopefully have made by March for our hall in Bobb-McCulloch. If all goes according to plan, the series will continue up through Dance Marathon itself.