By Naomi Hofferber
Five Dance Marathon men took the stage to strut their stuff and compete for the title of Mr. Dance Marathon.
Greg Frommelt, Cole Schuchard, Alex Duster, Nathan Benya, and Dylan Lloyd were all contestants in the Dance Marathon man pageant that took place at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s our job to keep everyone’s spirits up and stuff like that,” Duster said. “Going on stage for 20 to 25 minutes and get everyone laughing and get everyone’s spirits up is well worth it. Nighttime from 1 a.m. to 8 in the morning is kind of almost the toughest part because it feels like it’s never going to end.”
The pageant began with an evening-wear portion, where the men presented themselves in women’s dresses. This was followed by a talent portion.
Talents included opening pickle jars, dressing up as a dinosaur and playing the ukulele, dancing in a blue morph suit to the beloved “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” by Eiffel 65, singing the song “What Dreams Are Made Of” from the Lizzie McGuire movie, and ribbon dancing. This was followed by a question portion facilitated by Miss Iowa.
“I always aspired to greatness,” Schuchard said. “I saw it last year and it was fun. I’m willing to make a fool of myself for others entertainment.”
Schuchard said his favorite moment of the pageant was getting people to sing along to his rendition of “What Dreams Are Made Of”.
At the end of the competition, Frommelt was crowned Mr. Dance Marathon.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” Frommelt said. “For one, I was in a dress, and second, I’ve never worn a tiara before in my life, so it’s pretty exciting. I feel overjoyed that I was picked out of a group of my peers to rise as Mr. Dance Marathon.”
Frommlet said he enjoyed evening wear, as it gave him a platform to show his upper thighs off.
