A line of Dance Marathon families stretched from the entrance of the IMU Main Lounge to the Family Room in the second floor ballroom.
The families, decked out in dark green shirts, shuffled through a sea of mostly first time participants as they made their way to the stage.
Meanwhile Brenna Teitsworth, 9, was playing with toys in the family room as all of the Dance Marathon families were being introduced.
“I am most excited tonight that my sister is still here,” she said. Her older sister was diagnosed with cancer.
Several other families opted to remain in the Family Room during the families’ entrance.
Lisa Roling and her 10-year-old son Will aren’t prepared to stay the entire length of their first Big Event, but they’ll stay awake for as long as they can.
Will Roling was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last March, and is in the “maintenance stage” of recovery. He is being treated at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.
“We’re here just to kind of see what the whole Dance Marathon thing is actually about,” Lisa Roling said. “We got to know my son’s Dance Marathon buddy really well, he’s been really hyping up the whole dance, so we’re excited to be a part of it.”
The Rolings are one of many families who will spend a lot of time in the family room enjoying toys, caffeine, and a bouncy house — an apparent favorite.
Maggie Saunders and Jamie Gland, both from Ryan, Iowa, said they were most excited to get back to the bouncy house — one of their favorite activities in the past two years they’ve participated in Dance Marathon.
But the young girls, who appear to be full of energy now, don’t plan on staying up for the entirety of the Big Event.
“We just plan on dancing until we’re tired,” Saunders said.
— By Jordyn Reiland and Kristen East
