More than 400 participants danced 12 hours to raise $12,374.52 for the Lee County Habitat for Humanity at Auburn University’s first dance marathon.
“I am absolutely blown away by the success we had at dance marathon,” said Sara Beth Brown, Miss Auburn and coordinator of the event. “By the number of people who showed up and the amount of money we raised, it was surreal.”
The dance kicked off at 8 p.m. Friday and lasted through the night until 8 a.m. Saturday. Teams were registered, and a percentage of each team had to remain on its feet throughout the night.
A group line dance was broken down into four sections and taught at four different times in the night. At the end of the marathon, the group knew the whole dance and was able to dance together in the morning.
“The dance was to ‘Just Dance,’ by Lady GaGa, and we danced it a bunch of times at the end,” Brown said. “We recorded it with the whole group doing it, and we are going to put it on YouTube.”
Brown said there were other activities for the dancers.
“We had all different kinds of dance-offs at random times,” Brown said. “We also had a space costume contest where we gave everybody aluminum foil to make a space suit.”
There was also a surprise activity where cardboard boxes and different decorations were placed in the middle of the room. Each team had to construct a house that was judged by a panel.
“It was a good way to incorporate the Habitat for Humanity idea, and some of the houses were awesome,” Brown said.
There were also many speakers throughout the night, including Dean Green, a Lee County Habitat for Humanity representative and a family who benefitted from Lee County Habitat for Humanity program.
“We had a mother and her daughter come in at 7:30 a.m. to do her testimony, and it was neat because it got emotional and everyone got to see what we were doing this for,” Brown said.
There were more non-dancing activities, like chubby bunny for the dancers to participate in.
Lauren Peytavin, an undeclared freshman, said she came to dance marathon for her sorority and to show off her costume.
“I found this cool egg costume, and my friend had a bacon costume, and we wanted to show them off,” Peytavin said.
Peytavin said she was “dying of being tired,” so she had to leave, but called in replacements to take her spot.
“I had so much fun though,” Peytavin said. “We led a conga line of people; that was the best moment of my night.”
Brown said the marathon will continue next year.
“Right now, it is just a matter of it becoming a cabinet position for SGA, or becoming an independent organization within the University,” Brown said.
She said there are pictures on the Village Photographer Web site, and there will be a video on YouTube soon.
“I just want to say a big thank you to everybody who believed in AUDM and to everyone for donating and attending,” Brown said. “Honestly, it would not have been possible without people being there.”
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