Marathoners Cut the Rug Today for HAND Program

If you have a bad case of "Dance Fever" and house parties haven't satiated your yen to gyrate, the Currier House Dance Marathon can promise you a 12-hour cure today.

With more participants, prizes, and more money pledged to benefit HAND (Harvard and Neighborhood Development) than in any other year, the fourth annual Currier House Dance Marathon "will be much bigger than it's ever been," says William E. Pittman Jr. '86, chairman of the dance committee.

"I think we're going to come closer to our potential. I don't think we've begun to tap it," says Pittman.

The marathon, which runs from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. today in Memorial Hall, will feature two live bands, Robespierre and Bored of Education, and two local disc jockeys. The bands will play for the last four hours of the marathon, says Malone, both to encourage lagging marathoners and attract students to the open party.

An additional "hour's worth of music will be a surprise," says Thomas A. Malone '87, vice chairman of the Currier House Dance Marathon Committee. "I don't even know what it is."

Prizes--including trips for two to Bermuda and New York, a mink shawl, and a compact disc player--will be raffled off or given to the dancers who collect the most money. All participants will also receive a prize when they turn in their pledges.

Participants get five minute breaks every hour as well as a 30 minute break for dinner. "Most people do finish," says Malone. "As soon as the party starts, they get a second wind."

"We're anticipating it to be the biggest party on campus all year," says Malone.

Helping Hands

Pittman is betting that this year's marathon will raise at least $15,000--$2000 more than was raised the first year. Currier participants say that this year's marathon may be the most successful monetarily so far.

Organizers estimate that about 200 participants will contribute to the effort, twice as many last year. "We know we're going to have a huge turnout, because everyone we talked to is coming," says Malone. From 9 p.m., the dance will be open to non-marathoners.

Master of Currier House Dudley R. Herschbach has offered students in his Chemistry 7 class additional incentives to participate. Herschbach will wine and dine the two students from his class who raise the most money.

Last year, Llewellyn C. Connolly '88 was one of the chosen chem students. Despite his plunge down three fights of stairs in Matthews Hall a few weeks before the event, Connolly danced for all 12 hours of the marathon.

To help publicize the event, Herschbach showed movies of last year's marathon in a chemistry lecture. He says he believes that the films have educational as well as advertising value. "The gyrations of the dancers are verysimilar to the movements of DNA," he says. "It'ssort of poetic, don't you think?"

Started in 1983 by a group of Currier Housestudents to raise money for the HAND project inthe Jefferson Park area of Cambridge, the marathonhas since expanded to all houses' HAND programs