Bruins emotional as Dance Marathon 2014 comes to bittersweet end

The stadium echoed with a deep rumble as students in red T-shirts led a stampede around the dance floor to rally up last-minute morale among the exhausted dancers.

They spilled onto the stage and jumped up and down to pulsating beats, as the stadium reverberated with an audible thud in the final hour of Dance Marathon 2014.

When the 26 hours of dancing finally came to a close, dancers like Veronika Wuest, the director of morale for Pediatric AIDS Coalition and fourth-year neuroscience student, ended up sobbing.

“It’s absolutely indescribable. There’s no way to convey how much time and emotion went into putting this event together,” Wuest said. She then buried her face into her friend’s arms.

This weekend, 880 dancers and thousands of volunteers participated in Dance Marathon – an annual event during which students pledge to stay on their feet for 26 hours to raise money for organizations that help combat pediatric AIDS.

[For more coverage, check out our live blog of Dance Marathon, which includes videos, photos and curated social media posts from the dancers]

“I’m feeling terrible and my feet hurt, but it feels great,” said Mark Burnside, hours into the event. “My voice is out. And I might fall asleep where I’m standing right now.”

Wearing what he called his “groovy Sixties shirt” – a patchwork of blue, lime and red blocks – and the brightest pair of red pants he owned, the third-year economics and English student pounded into an imaginary punching bag at the last hour to keep going.

For the first time, the Pediatric AIDS Coalition, a student group which organizes Dance Marathon, changed the location of the event from Ackerman Grand Ballroom to Pauley Pavilion.

The significantly larger space allowed organizers to create more educational and interactive activity corners that spoke to this year’s theme of the event, “K(NOW),” said Samantha Haney, director of public relations for the Pediatric AIDS Coalition and fourth-year English student.

With the event’s theme, Pediatric AIDS Coalition officials hoped to emphasize the importance of knowing about the disease and the stigmas associated with it. They also wanted to encourage students to take action now to help prevent the disease, said Andrew Ho, president of the Pediatric AIDS Coalition and a fourth-year psychobiology student.

Outside the stadium, dancers learned camp songs and played games with ambassadors from one of the beneficiaries, Camp Kindle – an organization that offers camping events for youth infected with or affected by HIV or AIDS. Throughout the event, members of the beneficiaries also gave speeches about their struggle with AIDS.

“We wanted to reinforce the importance of knowledge and taking action now because (pediatric AIDS) is such a preventable disease,” Ho said.

The chance of HIV transmission from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding can be reduced to less than 5 percent if pregnant mothers are given timely access to antiretroviral drugs, according to a 2011 report by UNAIDS.

During the dance, UCLA alumnus Ryan Darling told the audience he discovered he was infected with AIDS in his fourth year of college. He initially denied receiving treatment, but Darling said he became motivated to fight against his disease after seeing how dedicated students were in supporting the cause of Dance Marathon.

“I saw my community fighting for a cure. … It’s moving, it’s incredible and it’s safe to say Dance Marathon saved my life,” Darling said.

Current UCLA students were not the only ones to see Pauley Pavilion transformed into a dance floor flooded with students shimmying and swaying to songs played by DJ A-Klap. More than 40 UCLA alumni, including former dancers and Pediatric AIDS committee members, gathered for the first time at an alumni event in the J.D. Morgan Center during the event and shared their memories of participating in previous Dance Marathons.

George Fistonich, an alumnus who graduated in 2010 and now works at the Office of National AIDS Policy in the White House, flew in from Washington, D.C. to attend the event. He said Dance Marathon was a life-altering event that led him to choose a career path related to combatting pediatric AIDS.

“Dance Marathon not only gave something to care about (but also) helped me come out as gay and form relationships with people that I hadn’t known how to do before. It helped me become a leader,” Fistonich said.

To deal with the fatigue of doing Dance Marathon, some students made an effort to keep spirits high by going all out on their outfits, which provided a boost of energy during the grind of the last hours.

Claire Hoch-Frohman, a first-year world arts and cultures student, wore an extravagant dress made out of pink latex condoms for a performance, during which she and other members of the Sex Squad promoted the importance of safe sex through self-written lyrics. 

During the last 10 seconds of Dance Marathon, dancers finally counted down to the end of the event before collapsing to the floor. Soon, students clung on to each other and cried in each others’ arms – overwhelmed that the 26-hour event had finally ended.

Although the event lasted for a little longer than a day, some dancers said they formed strong bonds with their camp ambassadors. Renée Jonas, a second-year psychology student was busy exchanging numbers and email addresses with Jenna Vargas, a 9-year old Camp Kindle ambassador who was nestled in Jonas’ arms.

Jonas gently rocked Jenna in her arms as she gazed into her eyes. Jenna timidly coiled her hair and pulled her chin inward.

“We’ll be keeping in touch in the future,” Jonas said, smiling.

Contributing reports by Julia Raven, Bruin contributor.