The Hawkeye drumline makes an appearance at Dance Marathon and wakes everybody up.
By Kit Fitzgerald
As dancers approach the halfway mark of Dance Marathon 23, the Hawkeye Drumline puts on a show in hopes of keeping the spirit alive.
At 4:30 a.m., the drumline marched into the Hawkeye room, waking up the dancers who have been standing since 7 p.m. last night.
Even dancer Jake Prey, who didn’t like the performance, saw the benefit.
“It was personally annoying and super loud,” Prey said. “But it woke me up and little bit and that was helpful.”
Other dancers clapped and jammed along with the drumline, a group of girls even had choreographed moves to go along with the songs.
“I’m in band,” said Larissa Wilming, a member of the marching band. “[The dancing] was something called series, something we do every game day.”
Wilming agreed with Prey about the drumline being a wake-up call.
“The timing was perfect because I was tired and my feet hurt,” Wilming said. “It was refreshing to see all of the friends I haven’t seen in a while come in and do that and get me pumped.”
The 15-minute performance was also an exciting experience for some members of the drumline.
Matthew Anderson and Jake Parker, both on snare drum, had never been in a Dance Marathon drumline performance.
“I loved it,” Parker said. “There was lots of energy from the crowd and it was a close environment so you could interact with the audience. You can’t do that at Kinnick.”
The drumline was more loose than they would be on a typical game day, Anderson said. They vibed well and played well together.
“I think we gave them some energy,” he said. “I can understand that because it’s a long day for them.”
The drumline gave dancers a boost to get through the rest of the event.
“I’m ready,” Wilming said. “I can kick the next however many hours.”
