Student prepares for IUDM

After stocking up on purple leggings, crackers and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, sophomore Chelsea Chaffee said she planned to go to bed at 8 p.m. Thursday in an attempt to start her IU Dance Marathon shift Friday night with enough energy to make it to Sunday morning.

“I’ve never been awake for that long before, so I thought it’d be an interesting experience to do with my sisters,” said Chaffee, who is participating with her sorority Theta Phi Alpha.

Chaffee, along with about 2,000 other students, will dance for 36 hours to raise money for the Riley Hospital for Children. Chaffee will dance for the full 36 hours, while other participants dance for 17 hours, during the 22nd IUDM taking place from  8 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Sunday at the IU Tennis Center.

About 400 more dancers will participate this year compared to the 2011 marathon, IUDM President Julie Troyer said. IUDM has also recruited about 250 additional committee members this year to help organize and run the marathon.

Troyer credits the increase in dancers and committee members to increased recruiting. Last year, IUDM gave participants the option to dance for a 17-hour shift instead of the full 36 hours.

“I think certain organizations didn’t always have the best attitude going into dancing 36 hours,” Troyer said.

All students dancing will do so at least 17 hours. Those who dance 36 hours are either awarded those slots by their organization or raised enough funding to make it into the top 250 fundraisers out of nearly 2,000 dancers.

“People enjoyed their experiences more because it was tailored to what they wanted to do,” she said.

To recruit more dancers, Troyer said IUDM worked more aggressively to recruit multicultural sororities and fraternities and non-greek campus organizations.
IUDM committee members tracked incoming IU freshmen that participated in their high schools’ dance marathons and sent emails encouraging them to join IUDM as this school year started.

Rainy weather this spring forced organizers to move Rockin’ for Riley, an IUDM concert outreach event originally scheduled for April, to Aug. 24.

“We were going to can it, but then we were like, ‘Hey, we can use this as a huge recruiting tool,’” Troyer said.

She estimated between 45 and 50 people signed up to be dancers that day.

Each dancer had to raise a minimum of $500 to participate. The top 250 fund raisers who get to dance 36 hours average between $800 and $1,500, with the highest individual fund raiser bringing in $30,000. 

The final fundraising total will be revealed at the event.

Chaffee estimated she raised $575 since starting her fundraising at the beginning of the school year.

Theta Phi had dancers sign up for foods they’d like to be delivered to them.

During her shift, Chaffee’s sisters will bring her Pizza X and Greek yogurt.

Her purple leggings, along with a purple tutu, are for color wars — competitions and games to keep everyone going.

“It gives us something to do while trying to stay awake,” she said.