Imagine, if you will, one of your high school dances. Now take away the raging hormones, add a few generous pinches of nostalgia and make it last for twelve hours, and you’ve got “Dance Marathon World Premiere.” Despite its designation as “World Premiere,” this year’s fundraiser was actually Berkeley’s third annual Dance Marathon for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

We generally tend to avoid things with the word “marathon” in the title at all costs, unless “marathon” is paired with “America’s Next Top Model,” but it’s pretty hard to argue with a cause like the eradication of pediatric AIDS and we really do enjoy dancing, so we decided to buck up and sign up. The Hollywood-themed marathon, which ran from 8 p.m. on Friday to 8 a.m. on Saturday, ended up being, well, not very marathon-like at all. (Ten points, ASUC!)

Upon walking through the door, organizers presented dancers with their first piece of schwag–a spiffy “heavy cotton” T-shirt in a size of their choosing, which immediately made the whole thing worthwhile. Seriously, forget pediatric AIDS, because if there’s one thing we love in this world, it’s free stuff. And that wasn’t even the last of it!

Free snacks (oh em gee, veggie plates) and beverages (of the non-alcoholic variety, obviously) were provided throughout the evening and periodic performances from several of Cal’s song and dance crews kept dancers from passing out due to excessive hip-shaking and arm-flailing. A performance by Berkeley alum, Ricky Reed and drummer Arjun Singh (who collectively form experimental funk-ish band, Wallpaper) perked the crowd up at around 1:00 a.m.

Oh, and yes, those are characters from “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter,” in the flesh, that you see above. (Shudder.) We got photographic evidence of surprise guests Minerva McGonagall(?), Princess Leia, a dementor, and Albus Dumbledore–who it appeared had gotten a posthumous haircut for the occasion.

Image Source: Jill Cowan
Dance Marathon World Premiere 2008 [Website]
Wallpaper [Myspace]