Moving to the beat for a dream
Karen Tableriou
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: News
The 3rd annual Dancing for Dreams charity event was held in the Grand Ballroom on April 30. It featured a variety of different dance contests, giveaways and performances from House Arrest II, the Tradicion Hispanic Dance Troupe and the Banat Casablanca Tribal Belly Dance Troupe.
Students, faculty and staff danced, partied and even limboed the night away in the name of a good cause: making a little girl's dream come true.
In the first dance contest, participants gathered on stage and danced to a 90s music montage. Derek Hammond, freshman graphic communications major, took first place and a $30 iTunes gift card.
The hip-hop contest had the crowd cheering and going wild for the dancers' moves. Winner Mario Garnica, junior bilingual and Spanish major, walked away with a brand new iPod shuffle.
Various raffle prizes were given away during the evening. The most coveted prizes were Cubs tickets, a brand new Canon digital camera and the grand prize: an iPod touch.
Unlike the previous two years, DFD 2009 took a different take on the dance contest portion of the event.
"The first year, we heard, was a big event, a huge success," said Adam Ludwig, assistant complex director for Higgins Hall and co-advisor for DFD. "There's a lot to live up to with that."
In its conception, DFD started out as one large dance competition. Participants would be judged on skill and dance in shifts throughout the entire event.
"This year we knew we wanted to shake it up a bit and change it from what it used to be to hopefully attract a different audience," Ludwig said. "We just talked to people in hall government, talked to people in our committee to try to (figure out) what they wanted to see."
The end result was two mini and themed dance competitions. They also decided to have guest performances that displayed an array of dance styles.
It took nearly three months for the committee to plan the event. Nolan Smith, senior recreation, park and tourism administration major and Vice President of Higgins Hall Government, found the planning to be easier than expected.
Students, faculty and staff danced, partied and even limboed the night away in the name of a good cause: making a little girl's dream come true.
In the first dance contest, participants gathered on stage and danced to a 90s music montage. Derek Hammond, freshman graphic communications major, took first place and a $30 iTunes gift card.
The hip-hop contest had the crowd cheering and going wild for the dancers' moves. Winner Mario Garnica, junior bilingual and Spanish major, walked away with a brand new iPod shuffle.
Various raffle prizes were given away during the evening. The most coveted prizes were Cubs tickets, a brand new Canon digital camera and the grand prize: an iPod touch.
Unlike the previous two years, DFD 2009 took a different take on the dance contest portion of the event.
"The first year, we heard, was a big event, a huge success," said Adam Ludwig, assistant complex director for Higgins Hall and co-advisor for DFD. "There's a lot to live up to with that."
In its conception, DFD started out as one large dance competition. Participants would be judged on skill and dance in shifts throughout the entire event.
"This year we knew we wanted to shake it up a bit and change it from what it used to be to hopefully attract a different audience," Ludwig said. "We just talked to people in hall government, talked to people in our committee to try to (figure out) what they wanted to see."
The end result was two mini and themed dance competitions. They also decided to have guest performances that displayed an array of dance styles.
It took nearly three months for the committee to plan the event. Nolan Smith, senior recreation, park and tourism administration major and Vice President of Higgins Hall Government, found the planning to be easier than expected.
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