Dance Marathon shifts to 17-hour stride

Each year about 250 students – donned in neon colors and goofy accessories, armed with crazy dance moves – pledge to not sit or sleep for hours on end. This isn’t Ultra. It’s FIU Dance Marathon.

“We stand up and dance for the kids that can’t,” said Melanie Corchado, an overall director for Dance Marathon 2014.

Now in its 17^th year, the FIU Dance Marathon committee decided to make some changes: increase dancers to 400 participants, raise the fundraising goal to $85,000 and perhaps most notably, change the marathon from 25-hours to 17-hours.

“It’s the 17^th year and we wanted to appeal to more of the FIU community,” said Corchado. “We hope to bring in more people and more diverse people to help reach our fundraising total for Children’s Miracle Network at Miami Children’s Hospital.”

Dance Marathon 2013 raised a total of $71,746, bringing FIU Dance Marathon’s overall total, since its inception in 1997, to $727,514. Corchado, who will be dancing in her fourth Dance Marathon event this year, says students who participate in Dance Marathon get to see first-hand how the funds help children and their families.

“We have miracle families come to the event,” she explained. “Kids with cancer, heart problems and other life threatening diseases come to share their stories and show how the money we raise helps them and their family. We help make these miracles happen.”

Dance Marathon 2014 will take place April 5 – 6. Dancers can register online. Dancers who register before Jan. 24 will be responsible for raising a minimum of $140. Those who register between Jan. 25 and the final deadline of March 21 will need to raise a minimum of $150.

Click the video below to learn more about Dance Marathon 2014 and the change to 17-hours.