Seven hours of nonstop dancing in Wellington raises $23,530 for children's health care
WELLINGTON — Jade Barnett and 60 of her friends refused to stop dancing that day, stepping and turning for every ailing child who wasn’t well enough to join them.
Seven hours of perpetual motion took them from the 1950s to the 2020s, with the music of the eras filling the Wellington High School gymnasium and carrying them through every weary, sweaty moment.
The payoff was worth it. By the time the lights went down and the fundraising total went up just before midnight March 1, the school’s Dance Marathon Club had raised $23,591.40 for Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
"I call it a dance party, but it's for a wonderful cause," said Barnett, who will graduate with the rest of the Wolverines’ class of 2024 on May 31 and attend Florida International University in the fall.
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Barnett was 4 when she took her first ballet class at Vantage Pointe Dance Studio. She joined the Dance Marathon Club after feeling isolated at home during her freshman year due to COVID-19.
The club lets students meet and learn the stories of the children and teens in the hospital. All the funds raised by the organization go toward covering their bills. Nicklaus has a location in Wellington and three others in Palm Beach County.
Barnett organized this year's seven-hour event for each hour to cover the signature songs from each decade starting with the 1950s. Students begin fundraising in November, mixing traditional sources of revenue like bake sales with merrier ones, like hitting a teacher in the face with a pie for $2 per throw.
The marathon began at 4 p.m., when the students sat in a circle, held hands and counted to 10 before standing up. At the strike of every hour, dance club members performed a line dance. By 7 p.m., everyone was following along to the steps.
"It's almost like a flash mob," Barnett said.
At 9 p.m. came "Rave Hour" with hits from the early 2000s. The lights dimmed, and the teens donned glow attire, bracelets and necklaces. Students hit a metal gong that reverberated across the gym once they reached a fundraising goal.
At 11 p.m., the teens stood together and counted down to 10 before they dropped to the floor. Students held signs that revealed the group had raised $25,000.
"It's surreal," Barnett said of the moment. "It feels amazing."
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The payoff came as no surprise to Alexandria Rosa, an instructor at Vantage Pointe. She said she has seen Barnett develop as a leader in school and at the dance studio, where she now teaches kids between the ages of 5 and 10.
"She shows up," said Rosa. " Anything that she commits to, she definitely sees it through."
Barnett plans to dance in FIU’s "Roarthon," the Golden Panthers’ annual 12-hour fundraiser, once she enrolls in the Miami-based school.
"Dance marathon means the world to me," she said. " You see the impact it can make.”
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Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wellington High students raised $23,000 with seven-hour dance marathon
