Dancing for dollars to fight AIDS

With less than an hour to go in UCLA’s 26-hour charity dance marathon, Anthony Barbir shook his hips, raised his hands high into the air and sang along to “We Are Family.”

By Sunday afternoon, the 20-year-old world arts and cultures student had been on his feet for more than 25 hours . . . and with only an hour left in the fundraiser benefiting pediatric AIDS organizations, he had no plans to slow down.

“I feel like I could do it all again!” he yelled over the music. “It’s been one of the best experiences of my life.”

A benefit for pediatric AIDS activism and awareness, the marathon is in its seventh year at UCLA, and is among dozens of dance marathons for various causes at college campuses across the nation.

UCLA students embraced the fundraiser in 2002, with about 180 dancers who raised $26,000.

This year, the steering committee alone had 100 participants and more than 1,100 students and area residents signed up. Collectively, they raised more than $380,000 for research charities and nonprofits.

Scribbled across Barbir’s arm in red magic marker was one of the event’s mottoes: “Know Your Status.” Most people at the event said AIDS awareness and activism were the real reasons they were there. Dancing just got them off their couches.

“It’s not a medical issue; it’s a social issue,” said Erich Pacson, 21, a fourth-year psychology student.

He raised more than $2,600 for the campaign by asking friends and family members for donations. Dancing is one of the best ways to get young people excited about social justice issues, he said.

“You can’t get them out to vote, but you can get them out to dance,” Pacson said.

On Sunday morning, UCLA’s Ackerman Grand Ballroom was packed full of dancers, who had been moving to the music since 11 a.m. Saturday. They danced through the night and until 1 p.m. Sunday.

In addition to the marathon dancers who pledged to raise at least $225 each and stay on their feet for 26 hours, there were “moralers” who worked three-hour shifts infusing the dance floor with energy and support.

Then there were community members, parents (Barbir’s mother came from Northern California to support him), actors Jonathan Bennett of “Mean Girls” and Adam Pascal of “Rent,” and youths who would directly benefit from the fundraiser.

“I think it’s really nice that they would do something this big,” said 10-year-old Rumor Washburn. She lives in Arizona and for the last three years has been attending Camp Heartland in Malibu, a summer camp that seeks to improve the lives of children, youth and their families facing HIV/AIDS. The camp will get 12.5% of the money donated to the dance marathon.

At the camp, she said, “You don’t get insulted. You can be open.”

During part of the 26-hour stretch of dancing, Rumor led a “train” of dozens of dancers who moved in unison around the ballroom during the Quad City DJ’s hip-hop ballad “C’mon ‘N’ Ride It (The Train).”

“It’s really fun,” she said, smiling and laughing.

Jason Chiu, who graduated from UCLA in 2005, said he remembers when the dance marathon started.

“My freshman year there wasn’t even a dance marathon,” said Chiu, 25, who is a commercial airline pilot based out of Los Angeles International Airport.

“The event has grown in monumental proportions, yet the essence and spirit of the event has never changed,” Chiu said. “Ultimately, it’s raising money for pediatric AIDS, but doing so by uniting the community.”

After dancing in the first UCLA marathon during his sophomore year of college, Chiu joined the steering committee and saw the annual event flourish in numbers and donations.

Each year the donations grew substantially, more than doubling from $53,000 in 2003 to about $110,000 in 2004. The event really began to gain momentum, Chiu said, and then committee members decided to wear neon-green T-shirts around campus as a promotion tool.

“It caught on like wildfire,” Chiu said, adding that it was the custom for committee members to wear the shirts each week before meetings. “It was really a defining characteristic.”

But participants at this past weekend’s marathon said the event keeps growing because it is well organized. There are captains for the various squads of dancers and several committees, with dozens of members each, devoted to specific tasks.

“We start last year,” said Billy Gellepis, 21, who was this year’s executive director. “And we have seven subcommittees.”

He said planning for next year’s marathon could begin in April.

Out of breath and his feet and body sore, Gellepis said the event is “exhausting, but it makes it all the more rewarding.”

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com