By Tom Ackerman
@Tom_AckermanDI
When University of Iowa students Sara Maloney and Bella Von-Harz came to the event last night, they weren’t planning on going to jail.
The two were rounded into the Dance Marathon jail by other dance goers, who paid 5 dollars to get them behind bars. To get out, they need to find someone to pay 15 dollars so they can be released.
“I like the idea because it encourages interaction and really good intentions,” said Elisabeth Phillip, a UI student passing by.
Mathew Cunningham, a Des Moines resident and father of a cancer survivor, said he thinks the method is a good way to earn funds for the cause.
Maloney and Von Harz, both students, stood behind the ticket booth at the DM jail, next to the Campus Activities Board, as “inmates” and were brought in by kiddos.
“It was really cute,” Kelsey Lox said, a student acting as a guard to the jail. She explained kiddos were encouraged to do so, and kids also played for free as a part of a scavenger hunt in which some children participated.
“At the end of the day, we just want to give our families the support we can give,” Kolb said of the program.
When the activity was one and a half hours in, it had earned cancer research $155, according to Lox.
“People have been good sports about it,” Lox and another UI student, Anna Panka said.
The jail is one of several additions to the DM program this year, including new acts like an illusionist and the Symphony Street Orchestra, a nationally recognized beat box and a capella group from Nashville.
Symphony Street Orchestra learned about the event after playing with the UI a capella group in Davenport, performers Jeremy and Jonathan Lister said. The UI group had opened for SSO last spring.
