by Kate Searcy
Carrboro Commons Writer

Out of the almost 1,100 dancers hopping, skipping and twisting to the beat the night of Feb. 22 at the Dance Marathon in Fetzer Gymnasium, about a dozen have something in common with one another besides the love of dance — they are all from Carrboro.

“I’ve been pretty busy just being out-of-control excited,” said Taylor Shirley, a junior linguistics and Spanish double major at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Student “moralers” encourage to the dancers at the kickoff of the UNC Dance Marathon on Friday night, Feb. 22. Coaches Roy Williams, Butch Davis and Sylvia Hatchell also spoke at the marathon, which raised more than $320,000 for the N.C. Children’s Hospital.Staff photo by Kate Searcy

The Dance Marathon, now in its 10th year as a fundraiser for the N.C. Children’s Hospital, saw a record number of participants. All of the money raised will pay for expenses such as phone cards and gifts for children in the hospital.

Students called “moralers” were on stage to encourage the dancers throughout the night. Some of the events planned were kept secret before the marathon in order to surprise the volunteers. However, the first thing the dancers learned was a humorous song to the tune of Britney Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy.”

“Tyler (Hansbrough), your contact fell out,” the dancers sang. “You need solution, but we’re in a drought.”

The participants who live in Carrboro were from different parts of the town, from North Greensboro Street to N.C. Highway 54.

Shirley lives on Sue Ann Court in Carrboro, and she said she had been tirelessly preparing for the marathon.

“I’ve been walking around barefoot on gravel to prepare my feet and lower back for the physical stress of the event,” she said jokingly. “In all seriousness, I’ve done nothing to prepare except to worry about finding someone who will be willing to let me take a nap with my head on his or her shoulder.”

Several hundred dancers had already arrived in the gym about 15 minutes before the marathon was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. A disco ball rotated in the middle of the ceiling, throwing light on the walls as colored shapes swirled across them and rap music poured from huge speakers. The mood was considerably high-energy, as visitors crowded in to watch, and moralers wearing shirts modeled after UNC basketball uniforms got the dancers pumped up.

One of the dancers, Sarah Underwood, stood apart from the rest in a rather unusual way — she has spent her whole life in Carrboro.

“I was born in Carrboro,” said Underwood, a sophomore biology major at UNC. “I have lived there my whole life.”Underwood said she decided to participate in the marathon because of the volunteer hours. As a Public Service Scholar, she needs 300 hours before she graduates, she said. She lives on Lisa Drive.

She said her favorite thing about living in Carrboro is “the community. People on, say, Weaver Street, are different from people in Chapel Hill. Growing up in Carrboro is a very accepting environment. It gives kids the idea that they can do anything they want.”

Both Shirley and Underwood had the same idea as for what they were going to do after the marathon was over and they returned to their normal routines.

“I am going to sleep all afternoon,” Underwood said.

“I am going to take the biggest nap in the history of humanity,” Shirley said.

Staff videos by Kate Searcy
For more information:
http://www.uncmarathon.org/
http://alumni.unc.edu/article.aspx?SID=4754
http://www.unchealthcare.org/site/newsroom/news/2003/Feb/dance_results03