Countdown to DanceBlue: Teamwork

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2014) — With DanceBlue only days away, committee members and teams alike are working hard in the final stretch leading up to Saturday, Feb. 22. Amidst the bustle of the semester, DanceBlue was lucky enough to sit down with Brant Cornelius, freshman captain of the DanceBlue team, “Two Left Feet.”

“Two Left Feet” is a team consisting of roughly 10 freshman members who met at the Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program during the summer between their junior and senior years of high school. Cornelius first heard of DanceBlue during K Week at the student involvement fair, and was immediately intrigued and wanted to find out more about the marathon and its cause.

As a freshman, Cornelius struggled to figure out exactly what needed to be done in terms of becoming involved. He felt that a majority of DanceBlue participants were all Greek-affiliated, and that it was time for freshman unaffiliated dancers to take part.

“If you want to get involved, jump in and go for it," Cornelius said. "I remember talking to Claci [DanceBlue overall chair] and various chairs and they were extremely helpful in getting the ball rolling on fundraising and forming a team."

As an unaffiliated team, “Two Left Feet” took part in various fundraising efforts such as neighborhood canning, Amazon gift-wrapping and a popcorn fundraiser.

Overall Chair Claci Ayers said, “this team is extremely dedicated; during our community canning days, they would be the first team to arrive and one of the last to return!”

Cornelius has always had a passion for working with kids, thus fueling his motivation to fundraise and get involved in the 2014 marathon. He reminisced on a trip he took last semester to Nicaragua through a program in the Center for Community Outreach called Alternative Service Breaks. He worked with kids in the villages, and got joy from their eagerness to learn and make something of their futures, despite their conditions.

Finally when asked why “Two Left Feet” “Dances”Blue, Cornelius said, “I did DanceBlue because I can see the impact you all make … I want the kids in the clinic to have a future; everyone has a purpose and plan. I also did it for my team, our team. We really worked together and did it for each other; we all wanted to make an impact in these kids’ lives — it was a team decision. I couldn’t be prouder to lead them!”

  

DanceBlue is the University of Kentucky’s 24-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon that benefits the Golden Matrix Fund and the DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic. Now in its ninth year, DanceBlue has raised more than $5.1 million for cancer research and DanceBlue Clinic patients and families.

The 2014 DanceBlue dance marathon takes place from 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, through 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 23, at Memorial Coliseum on UK's campus.

Give to DanceBlue here and connect with DanceBlue on Facebook at www.facebook.com/danceblue and on Twitter at twitter.com/UKDanceBlue.

DanceBlue is a program housed in the UK Center for Community Outreach. The CCO seeks to serve, connect and unite the University of Kentucky with the surrounding community in collaborative efforts to promote life-long community service. For more information about the CCO, visit getinvolved.uky.edu/cco.