This past weekend I had the pleasure of participating in my college's Dance Marathon. For those of you unaware of what Dance Marathon is, it is a day of endless dancing for 12 hours straight where participants raise money and awareness for a local Children's Miracle Network with a mission of impacting the lives of the children and their families. Children's Miracle Network Hospitals of Greater St. Louis (CMN St. Louis) is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for St. Louis Children's Hospital and SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. All the money raised at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Dance Marathon goes to help the two Children's Miracle Network Hospitals in the Greater St. Louis area. Without further delay, this is why participating in Dance Marathon is one of the best things you could ever do in your life.
1. The Dancing
The main activity of Dance Marathon is dancing (redundant, I know). However, without the dancing of Dance Marathon, it would just be a regular marathon. The dancing adds a starting place for this event that allows it to grow to endless, fun activities throughout the night. (P.S. Shoutout to Keenan Adams for this awesome photo!)
2. The Theme Hours
Along with the dancing comes the theme hours. During each theme hour, the music and activities are limited to anything that fits the theme of the hour. These are a great tool to keep the energy flowing throughout the night. The participants are dancing for 12 hours straight! If you know me, you know that my favorite theme hour was the Disney hour. After that hour, I had enough energy to dance for more than the remainder of the night!
3. The Families
The families effected by CMN St. Louis' generosity come to Dance Marathon throughout the night and share their stories. These stories not only show what all of the donations made throughout the night go to but also provide inspiration to each participant in a personal way. After the kids and their families tell their stories, they stay at the event and talk to participants. Some of the greatest kids I've ever met in my life are the kids who spoke to me at Dance Marathon. They are humble and optimistic, but they also know how real this event is. I'm not providing a picture of any of the families I met out of respect because that is what they truly deserve more than anything.
4. The Morale Team
The Dance Marathon Morale Team keeps everyone pumped up throughout the night in addition to teaching all of the participants a Morale dance that has been rehearsed for numerous weeks before the event. Being a part of the Morale Team was one of the best experiences of my life. I grew close with this group of people and truly got to see what all of our hard work did for this event. Without the Morale Team, Dance Marathon would not be the same.
5. The Activities
Like I said, there are various activities throughout the night. The picture above is from our "rave" theme hour where we basically went crazy because the event was close to its end where we would find out how much money we raised. Other events that we did included: face painting, inflatable obstacle courses, lip sync battles, dance battles, tug of war and much more.
6. The Friendships
The friendships that you make in the process of raising money at Dance Marathon are truly friendships that will last forever. Enduring 12 hours of no sitting and constant dancing with someone is a bonding experience like no other. I'm glad to have met every single person that I met through Dance Marathon. I love you all!
7. The Reveal
You work your butt off dancing all night and raising money, but what does that all build up to? The reveal of the fundraising total of the event, of course! Our Dance Marathon was so happy to find out that we had raised over $28,000 for our event.
All of these things make Dance Marathon an amazing event that everyone should attend. Just remember one thing: It's all FTK! (For The Kids)
