IU Dance Marathon announced on Aug. 10 the marathon will be virtual this November, but the plan has yet to be formatted.
“In consideration of the health and safety of our community, we have decided it will be in our best interest to move the November marathon to a virtual setting,” IUDM said in a statement.
The specifics of how the IUDM will proceed virtually have not been decided, but vice president of internal Juliana Sherburne said there are many possibilities being explored with both excitement and nervousness.
“There have been talks of a live stream but, again, nothing is really confirmed,” IUDM corporate relations committee chair Emily Grecu said.
Over the next few weeks, the IUDM team will continue conversations about what exactly to do for the event. They need to work with both IU and the Riley Hospital for Children about what steps must be taken going forward and are looking at this as an opportunity to try out new things, Sherburne said.
The IUDM is a long-running charity event that was formed in honor of Indiana 18-year-old Ryan White's passing to AIDS in 1990, and for the last nearly 30 years they have raised millions of dollars to help sick kids. Despite the difficulties it is important to keep helping the kids at Riley Hospital for Children, according to the statement.
