The Dance-A-Thon was born from a vision to use our passion for swing dancing to give back to the community. The concept is simple. It’s a 24 hour swing dance that takes place in Orange County, California. The mission: to raise as much money as possible to help fund cancer research and treatment at City of Hope Hospital. All of the participants, board members, bands, teachers, DJ’s, and performers are unpaid volunteers. The 2010 Dance-A-Thon will take place March 13-14 beginning at 11am.
The event is very much like a walk-a-thon. Instead of walking, however, participants raise money by swing dancing! Whether or not a participant has danced to swing music before is not important. For 24 hours, each participant will BECOME A SWING DANCER. Lessons are held throughout the day to ensure that every participant has the opportunity to have fun and get involved!
To help organize the event and to make sure we generate as much money as possible, dancers use this website to organize into teams. Teams consist of 15-29 dancers. Every team must be represented on the dance floor by at least one team member for the 24 hour duration of the event. When a dancer tires, a fresh team member replaces them on the dance floor. The idea is essentially a dancing version of a relay race – without the race.
Dance A Thon 2009
The 24 hour Cancer Dance-A-Thon features:
Live music from bands that play Swing, Big Band, and Jazz music
Dance lessons from world class instructors
DJ’d music from some of the dance community’s most popular DJ’s
Performances from local dance teams
Contests that are fun for everybody
A pasta dinner and a continental breakfast – yum!
TWENTY FOUR HOURS OF INCREDIBLE FUN AND DANCING – ALL FOR A GREAT CAUSE!!!
Swing dancers are incredible fundraisers! Here’s an idea of what we’ve been able to accomplish:
Dance-a-thon 2005 > $52,000
Dance-a-thon 2006 > $102,000
Dance-a-thon 2008 > $185,000
Dance-a-thon 2009 > $130,000
This year our goal is to reach $200,000! Reaching this goal will take an enormous amount of effort from our volunteers and participants. Support them by donating! Better yet, get involved yourself and register to participate TODAY!
IS there any hand out literature available that I could leave at other dances
There are thousands of flyers available at ATOMIC Ballroom.
Are the Gospel Swingers regisered to participate?
If so, I would like to contribute to them.
Yes. You may select a member of the Gospel Swingers to sponsor by visiting their team page. http://www.danceathon.org/participate/?loadbody=tip&tid=112