Iowa State’s Dance Marathon was celebrated with its usual festivities Saturday, and the evening finished with the revelation of more than $190,000 raised for the Children’s Miracle Network and the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.

At midnight, when the total amount of money raised was announced – after 15 straight hours of dancing, games, and loud music – the entire Durham Great Hall erupted into ecstatic whoops and applause.

Many dancers would say that Dance Marathon is all about the kids and their families who benefit from the money they raise leading up to the event.

While, at almost any given moment during Dance Marathon, the immediate impressions were booming music and a sea of students in turquoise T-shirts, closer observation revealed the event’s other component.

Banners with phrases like “Kickin’ it 4 Katie,” “Amazing 4 Amanda,” and “Goin’ Crazy 4 Krista” adorned the walls. Children, teens, parents and grandparents in pale yellow T-shirts mingled in the Campanile Room and played games with the dancers.

Dancers Chelsie Sanchez, junior in hotel, restaurant and institution management, and Andrea Willaert, junior in English, wore large buttons with the name of the person they danced for – Nick Bassett.

“His family always makes things for us to wear,” Sanchez said.

The homemade buttons the girls wore served as small indicators of the emotional aspect of Dance Marathon.

“[Dance Marathon] is the coolest thing I’ve ever done, for sure,” Willaert said.

“Yeah,” Sanchez agreed. “A lot of girls in our sorority do it, and they kind of pass it on through the years.”

Bridget Miller, sophomore in graphic design, has been on both the giving and receiving ends of Dance Marathon. At 10, she received a kidney transplant, and she was what veterans of Dance Marathon call a “family member” – one of many children who benefited from funds raised.

Now, Miller is in her second year as a dancer, and her gray T-shirt distinguishes her as a committee member, or leader. She helped lead the public relations and communications committee over the last year, and also had to raise $250 – $50 more than regular dancers were required to raise to participate in the event.

Miller said she had fun as a kid being around the “big kids” during Dance Marathon, but she’s having just as much – if not more – fun as a dancer.

“I didn’t know there was so much work put into [Dance Marathon],” Miller said. “All year, there are people who put a lot of time and work into it.”

The preparatory efforts of Dance Marathon members became apparent as the day unfolded, especially in the long medley “morale dance” where members of the recruitment and morale committee (“morale captains”) would lead an intricate, offbeat set of dance moves every hour on the hour.

Morale captains dressed up in themed outfits for each morale dance, running onto the stage in basketball uniforms and huge afro wigs for one dance, while in others, they wore superhero, animal and, of course, Cyclone attire. Every dance was followed by a family’s testimony of struggle, hope and gratitude.

Stephanie Stebens, of Davenport,whose 17-year-old son Kaleb was hit by a drunk driver and dragged 100 feet under the truck, ripping his skin and skull away and exposing the left side of his brain, has been involved with Dance Marathon since the year of the accident.

Kaleb is Dance Marathon’s official closing event – he always sings “This Little Light of Mine.” Both he and his mom express gratitude to Dance Marathon for the hope and support they have given them over the years.

“I think, for all the kids, it gives them a weekend where they’re the most important thing in the world,” Stephanie said. “It’s not because they’re the best in sports, or the most beautiful, or the smartest. It’s because they’re here and they’re alive.”

Families like Kaleb’s got up on the stage in the Memorial Union and thanked Dance Marathon dancers for their support and fundraising efforts. The enthusiastic whoops at the finale after all those thank-you’s from families seemed to be the final resounding notes of the event.