10 Things You Didn't Know About Dance Marathon with Jake Dube

Jan 30, 2018

This weekend Balance 180 had the honor of hosting a family fun day for Dance Marathon at UF. The event featured food, laughter, gymnastics and overall just a great time. Now, this event got us thinking, who are the kind and thoughtful college students behind Dance Marathon? We went on a mission to learn more about Dance Marathon and as it turns out, we knew very little and what we thought we knew, in fact, turned out to be myths. So, to establish fact from fiction, we interviewed Family Relations Overall Director, Jake Dube, and wow were we impressed. Let's put your knowledge to the test. Readers, fact or fiction?

1. Dance Marathon is just one event a year.

FICTION! Dance Marathon is a community and a movement uniting students all across the nation as they work together to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Families and members are paired together as they attend family fun nights, fundraising activities and work to better the lives of our local children.

2. Only a portion of the money raised goes to UF Health Shands Children's Hospital.

FICTION! 100% of the money Dance Marathon raises goes to UF Health Shands Children's Hospital. 48% goes to research, 10% goes to education and 42% goes to patient care.

3. Dance Marathon is only made up of Greek Organizations.

FICTION again! In fact, most of the organizations do not have any Greek affiliations.

4. Dance Marathon has raised 15.2 million dollars since its creation in 1995, 23 years ago.

FACT! Let's take a second to fully comprehend that number. 15.2 MILLION dollars, all towards research, education and patient care. What an incredible accomplishment, and from what I hear, Dance Marathon is just getting started.

5. Dance Marathon at UF is okay at fundraising

FICTION! Just OKAY? They are better than okay! Dance Marathon at UF is the NUMBER 2 fundraising university in the nation! Can I get a Go Gators?

6. Dance Marathon has an App

Well technically FACT, but more accurately Dance Marathon has two apps! One is DM at UF and the other is called Miracle Network Dance Marathon. Both are incredible, don't believe me? Download them for yourself!

7. One person creates the famous line dance.

FICTION! There is an entire morale team that contributes to the creation of a 6-minute dance that everyone learns. Every person at Dance Marathon events dances this hilarious dance together and a sense of unity is felt throughout the crowd.

8. Dance Marathon at UF has danced over 600 hours in the past 23 years.

FACT! DM at UF has danced a total of 678 hours since its creation. That's over 28 full days of dancing.

9. Dance Marathon is completely student-run.

FACT, every single member of Dance Marathon is a student. A young person who has decided to be a part of an organization to better the lives of children who are sick. Together, students have raised millions of dollars and they have improved countless lives in the process.

10. Balance 180 had an incredible time hosting a family fun day for Dance Marathon UF and their Miracle Families.

FACT! This is truer than true. Thank you, everyone, for hanging out with us. We had a blast and hope you did too!

The University of Florida is one of the Founding Five Universities of Dance Marathon, and they keep dominating with their fundraising. An organization formed by all students has made an everlasting impact on not only the lives of children in our local community or our state, but in conjunction with the hundreds of other university Dance Marathon teams, on the lives of children across the nation. So again, we say "thank you" to our friends at Dance Marathon at UF and across the nation for inspiring us to make a difference "For the Kids." .