In partnership with Aztec Nights, students will whirl and twirl while stomping their feet in support of a new student-run event on Friday.

For five hours, Aztec PhenomeTHON representatives will teach participants a minute-long choreographed dance while raising awareness for its charity, the Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, according to Stephanie Guarino, the president of this organization.

Aztec PhenomeTHON is similar to that of the world’s largest student-run philanthropy, THON, started by 34 Penn State students in 1973. These young philanthropists raised support to find a cure for cancer by dancing two days straight, without sleeping or sitting.
Since then, the charity Dance Marathon has had more than 700 dancers and raised more than $61 million for their direct beneficiary, the Children’s Miracle Network, according to its Web site.

PhenomeTHON will kick off its event on a much smaller scale, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday at Aztec Center. Participants will be provided with food, music by a DJ, a graffiti wall, Ninja tournament, sumo wrestling and a dance competition to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” dance, according to Guarino.

Though they will not raise money through this event, PhenomeTHON hopes to ignite interest among students and kick off its fundraising in light of its success.
Guarino said if the event goes as planned, PhenomeTHON will host a longer event in the spring, lasting from 12 to 24 hours.

Guarino has been working directly with Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego, and is in the process of organizing tours of the hospital for members of SDSU’s PhenomeTHON.
“You can really see where the money is going,” Guarino, who will donate a plaque to Rady’s to honor their new partnership on Friday, said.

Campuses throughout the country, such as UCLA, Rutgers and Stanford, have caught onto the buzz of Dance Marathon.

SDSU recognized the student-run organization three weeks ago; now, with 12 members and a president, Guarino is striving to spark a new tradition.

“I personally think this is something our campus really needs,” she said.