Thank Goodness for Beyonce

By Nitesh Srivastava

The music stopped and the lights were turned on.

As four people got onto the stage, some dancers took the opportunity to steal a quick sit on the heaters near the windows, or they sat on the ground and began to stretch.

Then the four people corralled everyone together to teach them chreographed dance moves to part of Beyonce Knowles' "Check On It." Dancers learn a few new moves during every three-block of Dance Marathon, and by its end they will have a whole routine to perform.

"Believe it or not, you have 12 hours to learn this," they were told as they performed a move called "earmuffs."

The lights brought out some of the zanier costumes in the crowd. Spider-Man and a penguin began looking for a cell phone, while a six-foot tall Boy Scout took a drink near a ladybug along the far wall.

Princess Zelda of video-game fame, alias McCormick senior Bonnie Chang, said her hero Link was somewhere in the crowd.

"Our guilty pleasure was video games," Chang said. "We actually used these (costumes) for another thing and they fit really well. It's really fun."

Once the crash course in dancing to Beyonce was over, the lights promptly dimmed and "Who Let the Dogs Out" began playing, followed by a more contemporary selection of Ludacris and OutKast.

Dancers slowly got back into the rhythm of dancing on their own, but a lone couple at the edge of the crowd held onto each other for support and slow-danced to the hip-hop songs.