Students Dance All Night for Cancer Research

At 2 a.m. Saturday morning, nearly 30 Harvard undergraduates danced to the rhythms of Justin Timberlake and Peter C. Shields, Jr. ’09—known by fans as the Greek pop sensation “Petros”—in the gym of the Malkin Athletic Center to raise money for cancer research.

From 10 p.m. Friday night to 8 a.m. Saturday, the Harvard Premedical Society and the Harvard Cancer Society held a dance marathon in order to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, which provides fundraising support for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

“Dance marathons have grown in importance in many other college campuses, becoming essentially what Harvard-Yale is to Harvard right now,” said Bianca A. Verma ’10, chair of the Harvard College Dance Marathon and a member of the HPS. “We want to make this into an event the whole school will be excited about coming to—like a new tradition.”

Students paid $8 before the event and $10 at the door to gain admission to the gym and listen to DJ Long Ouyang ’10 who played hip hop, electronic, and international music.

Throughout the night, several of Harvard’s dance groups, including the Harvard Ballet Company, Expressions, Candela Salsa, and South Asian Dance Company performed for the guests. Some of the groups even taught attendees some dance moves from their routines.

Over the course of the evening, the marathon attracted over 150 students.

Operating costs for the marathon were covered by a Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor grant and a grant from the Undergraduate Council.

Including ticket sales and donations from corporate sponsors, the marathon raised approximately $3,000, according to Verma.

Compared to dance marathons held at other colleges throughout the nation, the HCDM’s fundraising efforts fell short.

The Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon Program has aided different colleges throughout the nation to raise anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $100,000. Penn State—the first school to partner with the network in 1973—raised over $5.2 million in 2007.

At Harvard, the concept behind the marathon was spearheaded by Nneka F. Ufere ’08, Emily J. Nelson ’08, and Natasia A. De Silva ’08 in the summer of 2007 and pitched to the board members of HCS and HPS as a potentially lucrative fundraiser.

Ufere, Nelson, and De Silva, with the help of Verma and David Mattos ’09, began recruiting committee members during Nov. 2007, aiming for the marathon to take place in the spring. But because of a lack of sponsorship and publicity opportunities, the group decided to postpone the event to this fall.

Verma attributed the low fundraising to the fact that the event relied only on ticket sales and other donations. In its original iteration, students would have signed up for the dance marathon in groups and gotten sponsors to pledge to pay a certain amount of money for each hour the group danced.

Verma said HCDM would take this weekend’s event as a learning experience for the next marathon which is scheduled for the spring of 2010.

Roisin L. Duffy-Gideon ’12, a resident in Matthews Hall, said she enjoyed the interacting with the different dance groups on campus.

“I really liked learning and getting exposed to different kinds of dance throughout the night, but I’m really tired,” said as she was leaving around 3:30 a.m. “It’d be a lot more fun if there were more people here, though.”