Kayla Nelson
Staff Writer
You don’t have to know how to dance to save the lives of children at the Primary Children’s Hospital located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Idaho State University will be hosting an overnight dance marathon from 9 p.m. April 10 through noon April 11 inside Reed Gym.
“Primary Children’s Hospital is a level one trauma support for children. This means they provide the highest level of care for children who have been injured or who have illnesses,” said Brooke Barber, Lead Center director. “Thousands of Idaho children each year are transported to that hospital in order to receive extensive medical support.”
The 15-hour event will feature 10 to 12 families whose lives have been touched by the Children’s Miracle Network and Primary Children’s Hospital. There will also be activities to keep dancers in high spirits.
“There will be tons of food and we will be using the whole floor, each hour will have a different theme or activity such as line dancing, competitions and the “Just Dance game,” said Kayla Miller, Event Operations Coordinator at ISU.
Children’s Miracle Network puts on Dance Marathons all over the nation for children in their sponsored hospitals.
There are over 200 colleges and universities that contribute to the network by hosting Dance Marathons.
“We are joining a phenomenal national tradition all around the country that provides the marathon for the kids,” said Barber. “We feel it is a worthwhile cause because we are supporting children in the region who desperately need our support.
The marathon will utilize the hashtag #Ftk, a national hashtag that stands for the words “For the kids.” It is used for marketing and enables ISU to join a national effort.
The Dance Marathon will also give students the chance to give back to the region.
“You don’t have to be dancer or have dancing skills to participate in this event, we want to get as many ISU students involved as possible,” said Barber.
Students and spirit dancers, friends and family and ISU faculty and staff can sign-up on the Dance Marathon webpage at isu.edu/lead/dance.
Cost is $25 for individuals or $60 per group of four. If there are more than four in a group it is $15 per person.
“We have a hopeful goal of $10,000 and 300 dancers,” said Barber.
Students are encouraged to raise money on their own by babysitting or doing odd jobs around the community.
So far, dance marathon organizers have put on a doughnut selling fundraiser and have more ideas coming soon.
“This is the first time ISU has done this event and we are so excited,” said Barber.
ISU dance clubs are also helping out by providing a Morale Dance during the dance marathon, aimed at mixing things up and revitalizing any drooping dancers, which will be a mash-up of songs that have basic choreography and last 5-10 minutes.
Barber helped hire a student team of six committee chairs who have worked on the project.
Katie Johnson, head of the Dance Marathon Committee, accepted the responsibility of ensuring all aspects of the event are in order.
There will be several dancer information meetings leading up to the event.
One will take place Tuesday, March 17 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Rendezvous Suites A, B and C, while the last dancer meeting will take place Thursday, April 2 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Salmon River Suites located on the third floor of the Pond Student Union Building.
These meetings will provide information on what to expect, what to bring, what things will be like as well as answering any questions dancers may have. If anyone still needs to sign up it can be done at these meetings.
A shuttle will be available for students attending the Idaho Falls campus interested in participating.
There will be live DJs, themed hours, midnight snacks, hula hoop contests and a limbo competition.
In addition, The Comedy Project and Danson are coming to the Dance Marathon.
“We truly hope that the campus will be excited to help us with this event and that they will want to give back to these children and their families,” said Barber.
