Hundreds of ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ students will dance the night away Friday, Feb. 19, at the Student Recreation Center during the university’s annual all-night . The pledges and admission fees for this year’s Dance Marathon benefit the Craniofacial Treatment Center at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ, which provides life-changing treatment for children with congenital and acquired deformities of the skull, face and jaw.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Friday night, and the event ends at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. Dance Marathon is open to the public and will feature performances by ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ student groups and Children’s Hospital patients.
²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ student groups participating in the event include the Spirit of Gold Danceline, the university’s official dance team; Momentum, the first student-led dance group; VIBE, a hip-hop dance troupe; Tongue ‘n’ Cheek, an improv sketch comedy team; the Swingin’ Dores, an all-female a capella group; and the Dodecaphonics and the Melodores, two all-male a capella groups,.
Later in the night – and into the morning – Dance Marathon will keep the party going with “morale dances,” games, trivia, dance lessons and performances by hypnotist Jon Taylor and 80s cover band Ronny Raygun.
Admission is $10 per person and free for children five and under. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the families of Children’s Hospital patients and participate in a silent auction. Items at this year’s auction include Kaplan test prep courses, a Daytona Beach timeshare, an autographed poster from “ESPN SportsCenter” and an overnight stay and dinner for two at the Loews ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ Hotel. Activities for kids include face painting, arts and crafts, caricatures, a balloon artist, games, a bounce house, an inflatable slide and more.
²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ’s Dance Marathon is the eighth-largest partner of the nationwide Dance Marathon movement. The largest student-run philanthropic organization on ²¤ÂÜÊÓƵ’s campus, Dance Marathon pursues year-round fundraising efforts that culminate in a 14-hour dance event. Now in its eighth year, Dance Marathon has raised more than half a million dollars for the .
Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu