Northwestern University Dance Marathon
During Block 10, the final three hours in the tent, dancers had to be evacuated due to an extreme weather warning; the event safely continued in the Louis Room of Norris University Center.The 30-hour dance marathon was unexpectedly and unprecedentedly canceled in 2020 by the Northwestern Administration on March 4, two days before it was set to kick-off, due to health concerns with “uncertainty surrounding COVID-19” (i.e. novel coronavirus).[4] Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play.NUDM 2016 raised $1,201,216.24[8] for Blessings in a Backpack, a leading childhood hunger organization that mobilizes communities, individuals and resources to provide food on the weekends for elementary school children across America.Fifty years ago, Dance Marathon, the philanthropic child of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the Associated Student Government, was born on the Northwestern University campus.After representing NU at UI, Jan Jacobowitz approached Tim Rivelli, Associated Student Government Vice President, with the idea of starting a dance marathon at Northwestern.Other events take place to keep the rest of the campus involved while the dancers are busy, such as a DDR tournament, a 10/5k run, a goat and mini-horse petting zoo, and performances by on-campus groups.Since that time, popular bands and performers have been a highlight of the weekend of, including Northwestern alumnus Jay Sims, who has been DJing a portion of the event every year since 1996.NUDM has attracted the attention of celebrities such Barack Obama, George and Barbara Bush, Frank Sinatra Jr., Adam Sandler, the cast of Modern Family,[10] and NU alumni David Schwimmer, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and Mike Greenberg.