Dance Marathon 2011 powers up by raising record funds in the fight against pediatric AIDS

Throughout the 26 hours of Dance Marathon, participants pumped their fists, jumped up and down and bobbed their heads to the beats of the Black Eyed Peas and Journey, among other artists.

By the end of the event, dancers had a different tune to celebrate to: They had raised $410,530.68, the largest amount since the marathon began 10 years ago at UCLA. The Pediatric AIDS Coalition, which organized the marathon, will donate the money to groups such as the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, One Heartland, Project Kindle and the UCLA AIDS Institute.

UCLA is one of many universities nationwide that holds dance marathons. Since its inception, UCLA Dance Marathon has raised more than $2 million and grown exponentially, said Executive Director Erin Ward. More than 2,000 participants came to dance, morale or volunteer in this year’s marathon, the theme of which was “Power Up.”

Michael Starr, a second-year Spanish and linguistics student, was captain of the team Delta Alpha Nu Chi Epsilon, or D.A.N.C.E. He said he fell in love with Dance Marathon after participating as a first year.

“It’s really amazing because that last hour of the 26 is just life-changing,” Starr said. “It makes you realize that you can do something you didn’t think you could do before, and I think about that all the time in life now.”

This year, Starr recruited a team of 51 dancers who raised more than $11,900, making team D.A.N.C.E. the largest non-Greek fund-raising group, he said.

Starr took his passion for the event and organized his own Dance Marathon last summer in his hometown of Sebastopol, Calif. Participants at Dance Marathon for Life were mostly high school students, who stayed on their feet for 12 hours and raised more than $7,500 for the American Cancer Society.

Now, Starr is working on making the event into its own nonprofit organization.

“Dance Marathon is just amazing and life-changing,” he said. “Every single person should do it.”

Leslie Calvert, a fourth-year Design | Media Arts student, danced in support of her father’s best friend, who has AIDS.

“Since it’s my last year, I thought I’d just do it. I just wanted to empower the movement and help the cause,” Calvert said, adding that her family and family friends helped her raise the required $219.

Despite the strength of the cause, it is no easy task for students to stay on their feet for 26 hours. A number of celebrities, including Jonathan Bennett from “Mean Girls” and Rico Rodriguez from “Modern Family,” made appearances to give dancers a pick-me-up. Five-piece Los Angeles band thatwasthen also got dancers moving with renditions of classic songs such as “Twist and Shout.”

Awbrey Gould, a second-year English student, said the costume changes kept her motivated. Every few hours, dancers changed their attire ““ to pajamas for the “Power-nap” theme, to dungarees and bandanas for the “Power Tools” theme.

For the decades theme, “DM to the 10th Power” shift, Gould represented the ’70s and ’80s, sporting a shirt with a peace sign in addition to black and neon bike shorts.

“(Your costume) gets you excited for the next three hours,” Gould said.

Children from camps run by Project Kindle and One Heartland took to the dance floor, some choosing to stay on their feet for the entire 26 hours. They also went on stage to share their experiences with dancers and thank UCLA’s marathon for its help.

From the marathon’s inaugural song “Let’s Get It Started” to its concluding anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’,” dancers powered up to the beat and powered up for the cause.