There are exactly 5-days until Dance Marathon 2019!! For those who have never been to dance marathon, first disclaimer: you do not have to dance for 24-hours straight!! Dance Marathon is an incredible 24-hour event jam packed with family stories, color group wars, a morale dance, live music, silent disco, 5-a.m. rave, hair chop challenge, six free meals, laser tag and many more surprises! 24-hours may seem like a long time, but with so much going on all at the same time, you will never be bored!
Dance Marathon officially begins Saturday at 10 a.m.Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. and will run until 9:45 a.m. Check-in times will be divided up by color groups. If you’d like to get your beauty sleep Saturday morning (highly suggest!) then there is early check-in from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon. After you get all checked-in, you will begin filing into Tate Grand Hall for the start of Dance Marathon and Opening Ceremonies!!
One of our favorite DM traditions is the standing challenge, a challenge in which DM participants will stand for the entirety of Dance Marathon’s 24-hours in honor of the kids who can’t. The miracle families are always so grateful when they see your standing challenge bib and it means so much to them to see an organization of college students dedicating themselves to the health and lives of children they will never meet. Your feet might hate you the next day, but the impact you will make will make it all worth it.
Another fun aspect of Dance Marathon are the color groups! Each color group is led by two color group captains, and throughout the day there will be color group wars in which the color groups compete against each other. Go all out for your color group and dress up in your color, it makes the color group wars way more fun!
One of the most impactful parts of Dance Marathon is when we get to hear from our miracle families about their experience at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and with UGA Miracle. The families’ resilience and strength in the face of adversity will truly move you. The best part about their testimonies is that we get to see our “why” and who we have actually been fundraising for this whole year.
Dance Marathon is a truly transformative experience. You will get tired, your legs will hurt but you will never feel more alive. The passion and dedication that radiates off of Tate Student Center will ignite your soul and the other 2,000+ students will push you and motivate you to keep going through the 24-hours. At the end of Dance Marathon, we will reveal our fundraising total for the entire 2018-2019 year. This moment is special and the cheers will be something you cherish forever.
Dance Marathon only comes one day a year, so give it your all and make the most of these 24-hours. They will fly by much faster than you anticipate as you are running all over Tate Grand Hall with 2,000+ of your new friends. So get some sleep this week, drink lots of water, and get ready for 24-hours that you will never forget.