Sporting sneakers and nametags and drinking cans of Monster and Rockstar, more than 100 students line-danced to party songs, played basketball and mingled with strangers - all for the purpose of saving children's lives.
Students clad in jeans and brightly colored T-shirts filled Irving Gym on Friday for Ball State University's annual Dance Marathon.
For 12 hours, the dancers were not allowed to sit down in exchange for monetary pledges from friends, family and the community for Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.
Jada Buchanan, public relations committee member, said this weekend's pledges brought in $12,808.91, but because a large number of pledges are still coming in, the final total will be announced in a few weeks.
Katherine Cain, officer of events at Riley Children's Foundation, said the pledges from the dance marathon would support the most immediate needs of the children at Riley as well as cover education programs, research and general patient care.
Buchanan said the committee created a month-by-month theme that assigned one month to one hour of the 12-hour marathon because the event began on Leap Day this year.
At 10 p.m., the theme became "March," at which point each team selected people to represent their color in a March Madness-style basketball tournament, Buchanan said. The Easter Bunny joined the dancers on the floor during the next hour because it was April.
Other activities to keep dancers awake included Guitar Hero, cornhole and a morale dance, Buchanan said.
Dancers also had the opportunity to hear from and talk to children who had been patients at Riley's. Families of past and current patients spoke about their success stories throughout the early part of the evening.
"I think it just really gives a prime example right there in front of you of what you're doing it for," Buchanan said. "It was a very emotional time for everyone because the families don't leave anything out. Dance Marathon would not be the same if the families did not come."
According to the Riley Children's Foundation Web site, Ball State is one of seven Indiana universities that sponsors a Riley's Hospital Dance Marathon.
Junior Amy Cowell said she participated this year because she had heard about the event from her friends at Indiana University.
While Ball State's dance marathon is small relative to bigger universities like Indiana, Cain said comparisons shouldn't be made because Ball State has hosted dance marathons for fewer years.
"It's hard to compare to IU because IU's has been running for 18 years," Cain said. "You can only compare the growth seen year after year here at Ball State. The growth is amazing, it was the first year campuswide, and it's so good to see different organizations on campus participate."
Get involvedFor more information on applying for next year's Dance Marathon executive committee, e-mail Jada Buchanan at jmbuchanan21@gmail.com.
Awards:Most money raised: Brianne Woodward
Riley Dancer awards for greatest enthusiasm and spirit: Alexis Pawlarczyk, Sarah Sampson
The team with the most registered dancers: The Yellow Team
The team with the most people who stayed for the entire marathon: The Green Team
The team that raised the most money: The Orange Team
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