Think you can dance for five hours straight? What about for charity?
That's exactly what co-hosts UBC Free the Children and Party Well wants you to do to raise money for Free the Children — an international charity — and their clean water and sanitation programs at the Evolution Endurance Dance Challenge (EDC).
The dance-a-thon is half athletic event, half party. Participants show up, start dancing and don't stop until they have to. Whoever dances the longest wins, but there are also prizes for a variety of categories from best outfits to best dance moves.
“The idea behind the dance-a-thon is that you're challenging yourself for as long as you can with your friends to good music for a good cause,” said Jacques Martiquet, a third-year pharmacology major and co-director of the event.
The event has an added twist — the music will “evolve” the longer people dance for.
“They're dancing through the decades. So every 20 minutes we change the genre of the music. We'll go from the ’60s to the 2000s, to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift,” explained Martiquet. “People are going to be stoked because referees are going to be going around giving out prizes to participants based on whatever dance skill they deem is awesome.”
Participants don't have to compete to go to the event — they can just go to dance and have a good time. The bottom floor of the Nest will serve as the dance floor and the first floor will feature a beer garden and viewing of the contest.
The event is $10 for individuals and slightly cheaper for groups. All of the ticket proceeds will go to Free the Children.
Dance-a-thons have been hosted on campus since as early as 1975 and have faded in and out of style through the ’80s and ’90s. This year's event is the first in recent years and hopes to establish itself as a staple event for UBCers.
“We want there to be a science undergraduate team, we want there to be a EUS team. We want this to become a flagship event where the entire community puts together teams and the teams battle it out on the dance floor,” said Martiquet.