UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The last time Adam Duff did it, he said his feet felt like they weighed 100 pounds. He was disoriented. He didn't know where he was.
Sound like Duff had a bad trip? He didn't, although the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon is a trip, of sorts.
Duff, the 2004 overall chairman of the Dance Marathon and a former dancer, described the experience as a flood of emotions.
"You go from this absolutely incredible feeling to sometimes not knowing what to do," Duff said. "You're just kind of like, 'Wow, am I still in this same room?'"
That's what 48 hours on your feet will do to you. But the hallucinations and the blisters are all suffered for a cause that exists to alleviate suffering.
The Dance Marathon, commonly known as Thon, is a 48-hour event that benefits the Four Diamonds Fund, an organization founded to help children and their families battle cancer through monetary and emotional support. Children who are being treated at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa., are eligible for assistance.
Thon is also the largest student-run philanthropy in the country, a title it has held for decades now. The event has grown from 75 students raising a mere $2,000 in 1973 to hundreds of dancers raising $3.6 million last year.
The informal Thon slogan has become "No sitting, no sleeping, no kidding," and that's true. Dancers even stand while they eat.
And if you think the bathroom is a place to sneak in an extra-long squat, think again. The morale committee members take turns greeting and keeping dancers moving on two-hour bathroom shifts.
Some people try to take extra time when changing their socks, but "moralers" gently move the process along. (By the way, 48 hours of Thon means 48 hours with no shower, so dancers are encouraged to bring lots of extra socks and underwear.)
The term "Dance Marathon" naturally begs the question, do you dance the whole time? Well, it's not exactly an ongoing episode of "Solid Gold," but Duff said people are in constant motion to avoid falling asleep, falling over, etc.
"So when you have 700 people taking small steps, it looks like dancing," Duff said.
Cramming hundreds of people into a gym for two days is not like a big high school dance, it's become a serious business.
The event is run with the precision of a major sporting event, complete with sponsors (Nextel sponsors their cell phones) and a chain of command. An overall chair oversees the entire operation, while other students chair committees such as morale (if you're on your feet for 48 hours straight, you'd better be in good spirits) and hospitality. Captains report to the chairs and oversee the legions of other student volunteers.
"Honestly, as much as I've done over the course of the year has been dwarfed by how much my captains have done," said Seth Moser, chair of the Rules and Regulations committee. "Captains are what make Thon work."
Organizers are responsible for the more than 700 dancers from 257 campus organizations, including 19 of Penn State's satellite campuses. The hospitality committee makes sure that dancers don't go more than four hours without eating.
The food is good, too. Subway is a major donor, as is Cold Stone Creamery. And this year, for the first time, dancers will eat an Outback Steakhouse meal in the first few hours of kickoff.
In between eating and mingling and hallucinating, dancers are entertained. Some music is provided by DJs, but favorite local bands also are featured.
"Celebrities" also stop by, if you count the likes of MTV's Real World and Road Rules cast members. And Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.
While Thon's perpetual theme, "For the Kids," has become somewhat of a punchline on campus, it is taken quite seriously by most of the more than 3,000 student volunteers. Students make trips to Hershey to visit the Four Diamonds kids and tour the cancer treatment centers, an experience, they say, that drives home the reason they volunteer for Thon.
"It's absolutely amazing," said family relations captain and Penn State senior Andrew Simonelli during a visit to Hershey. "There are 4-year-olds here who have been through more in four years than I have in my entire life."
In turn, Thon is a vacation of sorts for the Four Diamonds kids who are well enough to attend. Hanover, Pa., resident Carrie Steele-King's 6-year-old son, Brayden, is being treated for central nervous system leukemia at Hershey and is being treated as an inpatient.
Brayden and his two siblings, Davion, 10, and Candran, 3, will get a welcome weekend away from the hospital to visit Thon.
"Our kids love Thon," Steele-King, 27, said. "It's little sleep, lots of fun."
Apparently, that's the rule, not the exception.
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