Dance Marathon at the University of Michigan (also known as DMUM and formerly named University of Michigan Dance Marathon) is a philanthropic dance marathon

Dance marathon

A dance marathon is an event in which people stay on their feet for a given length of time. It started as a popular fad in the 1920s and 1930s, when organized dance endurance contests attracted people to compete to achieve fame or win monetary prizes...

 held annually at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

. It is one of the largest student organizations on campus and raises money for the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital

C.S. Mott Children's Hospital

The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital through the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The hospital, financed with a large donation from C.S. Mott, replaced the University Hospital's pediatric wards in 1969. In 2006, the university broke ground to build a...

, part of the University of Michigan Health System

University of Michigan Health System

The University of Michigan Health System is the wholly owned academic medical center of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. UMHS includes the U-M Medical School, with its Faculty Group Practice and many research laboratories; the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, which includes University...

, and William Beaumont Hospital

William Beaumont Hospital

Beaumont Hospital is a regional medical system in the greater Detroit, Michigan area. It first opened with a 238 bed hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan in 1955...

. The money DMUM raises goes towards supporting pediatric rehabilitation programs at the two hospitals. The money helps make these therapy programs affordable to families that have to pay out of pocket.

History

DMUM was founded in 1998 as University of Michigan Dance Marathon, changing its name in 2009. The fourteenth and most recent Dance Marathon, held in March 2011, was the most successful yet, raising $447,216.30 for several hospitals.
Since our founding, Dance Marathon has raised over three million dollars.

Events

Throughout the year, dancers hold various events to raise money. The U-M students, or “dancers,” are placed in groups by dancer captains and paired up with a disabled child and his or her family. Throughout the school year, DMUM organizes events and activities for the dancers and their paired families and children to develop lasting relationships. A few of these events include their annual PJ party, pumpkin carving and Charity Ball. In 2010, DMUM started their first annual charity Gala dinner. The event is aiming to bring together the beneficiaries of our organization, along with the community, in an environment that allows us to talk about their involvement and to also learn more about the organization.

Dance Marathon partners with other schools, elementary, middle, and high schools, to host their own "marathons." These mini-marathons contribute toward Dance Marathon's total fundraising count at the end of the year. Mill Creek middle school was one of Dance Marathon's first mini-marathon sites, and have been going strong for six years.. In 2010, Dance Marathon entered the Ann Arbor Public School System to help with Disability Awareness Workshop Days, where fourth graders in Ann Arbor learn what it means to have a disability and how life is different. Dance Marathon representatives explained to students what we do and how we help out in the community, by sponsoring therapy programs that families might not otherwise be able to afford.

The Marathon

At the dance marathon, normally held in March, dancers stay on their feet for 30 hours. The marathon is "timeless", and dancers and visitors should not have anything that shows the time during the event. This is to ensure that the dancers do not focus on how long they have been standing. Throughout the event, many activities are present and many performers are invited to perform at the marathon. At the marathon, "moralers" are people who, as their name suggests, sign up to keep the dancers energized for a few hours at a time.