Busting moves for Belize

A chance to have fun while dancing and helping send students in Belize to school took place earlier this semester with a dance off hosted by M2540.

“We had hosted ‘Above The Music’ for several years to raise money and bring musicians on campus, but it wasn’t very well attended for the amount of time, energy and money put into it,” said Catie Hayes, director of community and international ministries. “Above the Music” was a concert which took place in Foster Hall during the spring semester.

“So, we tried to think of a new way to bring people together around music to sponsor kids in Belize to go to school, and that’s how the idea was born,” said Hayes. The dance off was in the intramural gym inside the PSU. On the night of the event, decorations and groovy jams filled up the walls along with people ready to dance.

Everyone who wanted to participate would pay $2 at the door in order to be a part; then they would step into the balloon-filled ring of other contestants. Desmond Rapp, a former student, described it as a “chill atmosphere.” Once the music started playing, all of the contestants would dance their heart out until either they were tapped out by a judge or they made it to the final three.

Once the last three were chosen, people in the audience could vote for who their favorite dancer was by putting money in a box with that dancer’s name on it. Then the dancers would dance to one last song, and the winners would be announced.

Overall, M2540, at the end of the event, raised enough money to fully support two studentss in Belize for a year of education.

“It was a great atmosphere! I personally did not dance, but I enjoyed watching friends have fun,” said Katie Ponsart, a junior here on campus. The M2540 committee is planning on having this event once per semester and has seen good results from it so far.