Western Courier

Issue date: 4/14/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Tony Aldridge Jamaal Nowlin, senior business accounting major, competes in the Dancing for Dreams competition Thursday.

What do you get when you mix freestyle dance, sparkling fruit punch and a Kanye West remix? For a few lucky individuals, it ranged from a free Apple iTouch to a Velcro ball catch set.

For one, it was a step closer to fulfilling her dream.

This past Thursday, the second annual "Dancing for Dreams" dance competition took place in the Western Illinois University Union Heritage Room.

With Higgins Hall Government hosting this event, The Dream Factory, an organization dedicated to fulfilling dreams of children who have been diagnosed with a critical or chronic illness, was able to make great strides in granting Daphne, 11, her goal of going to Italy to represent her school as a student ambassador.

"We should have more opportunities like this on campus for those who usually don't have as many resources as others," said Terry Villa, senior supply chain management major.

"Last year, we were able to send a child to Disney World, and we're looking to make another dream come true," said graduate student Matt Tombaugh.

As far as the dance competition was concerned, one can describe it as quite rigorous. With more than 14 dedicated freestyle movers, it was a night of creativity and style. In fact, that's just what the dancers were judged on.

"We have a wide talent pool tonight - everything from '80s to martial arts," said one judge. "It will be difficult to start making cuts."

Throughout the night, many prizes were raffled off, and once dancers were eliminated, they quickly let out a yell of defeat and retreated to the food table to chow down. After more than two hours of narrowing the talent down, Jamaal Nowlin, senior accounting major, took the title.

It was winning a night of wonderful fun and impressive talent. Even more impressive was that just one night of fun and dancing could help make someone else's dream happen. If students want to help out, donation boxes coud be found in residence halls around campus.

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