What is Dance Marathon?
A 12 HOUR CAMPUS EVENT TO FIGHT PEDIATRIC AIDS
Berkeley Dance Marathon (DM) is an annual campus-wide event that brings students and the community together for a fun-filled night in the fight against Pediatric AIDS. An entirely non-profit, student-run enterprise, Berkeley DM has raised upwards of $170,000 for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation since its founding in 2006.
Consisting of 12 consecutive hours of dancing, live entertainment, educational activities and speakers, themed activities, free food and exciting contests and prizes, Dance Marathon is unlike any other event on campus. Coupling a lively social event with a highly relevant and worthy cause, Dance Marathon continues to attract a growing number of students. Awarded the "Most Outstanding Social Event at Cal" in 2008 and 2009, DM carries with it an incomparable aura of school spirit and unity.
How does it work?
The UC Berkeley campus and community has rallied together to successfully create a 12-hour annual dance-a-thon to bring awareness to the plight of pediatric AIDS globally.
Prior to the event, participants raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation- the largest pediatric AIDS foundation in the United States- and are recognized with the marathon. At DM, UC Berkeley students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends stay on their feet for the duration of the event in a 12-hour celebration of life featuring live performances, celebrity guests and appearances by individuals whose lives are directly affected by HIV/AIDS.
With hundreds of participants every year, DM has raised over $170,000 in only six years on the UC Berkeley campus. In that same short time, attendance at DM has increased by over 400 percent. Still a young organization, DM seeks unique ways of uniting students, activists and community leaders around the cause of pediatric AIDS with the same devotion exhibited through the organizers of DM themselves.
DM has sought to rally the UC Berkeley campus community in empowering young people, specifically, to join in the efforts to globally eradicate the pediatric AIDS pandemic in hopes of creating a generation free of HIV.
We invite you to learn more about our organization and how you can get involved by checking out the rest of our website.
