Spardha Kumar, supported by St George’s Student Union RAG, hosted a 12 hour charity danceathon in aid of SWAN UK on Friday May 12th in the Alistair Hunter Room.

Spardha said, ‘I thought of the idea as a fantastic way to get many people involved in doing something for society and finding our own way of giving back. It was so lovely to see so many people willing to help out and contribute towards the event as their way of showing that young people can make a positive influence in society.’

12 hours of non-stop dancing was embarked on by 20 St George’s students, starting precisely at 9:20 am. The mixture of dancing including freestyle, Bollywood, contemporary and short snippets of taught dance routines. Students from different courses and different year groups, all danced continuously.

The event was held in aid of SWAN, a charity for children who are born with rare genetic diseases within the UK and all proceeds made will go direct to the charity to support their work.

Each participant was allowed three 5 minute toilet breaks, 10 minute breaks every 2 hours and a scheduled lunch break, all monitored and carded by volunteers, ensuring that participants adhered to the rules. The participants were fuelled by snacks, chocolate and energy drinks to keep blood sugar levels high.

The students would like to thank Mirch Masala for proving lunch on the day, Sarah Martin for kindly baking a huge number of homemade (delicious) brownies to sell and raise more money, and all of the volunteers who ensured the smooth running of the day. Aurbi.co.uk sponsored personalised t-shirts for the event.

Spardha hopes to stage more danceathons in the future to fundraise for SWAN and work with St George’s Student Union Charities Officers.

If anyone wishes to contribute towards the cause they can donate at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=spudsdanceathon.