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THON Dancers Taking Care of Business

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Onward State Staff

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Perhaps the only true relief THON dancers collect from standing for 46 straight hours comes when nature calls.

Obviously, dancers will not make it 46 hours without having to pee or poop. So how does THON handle it?

Morale Director Brian Dunn said there isn’t a real system to it – when dancers have to go, they can go. But moralers do keep an eye on how long dancers go toward the later hours of THON when the going gets tough (no pun intended), he said.

“It’s just something to monitor just in case,” he said. “I would assume that at some point in the however many years we’ve done THON, someone may have dozed off on the toilet, but no one I’ve interacted with has.”

But if a dancer just wants to steal an extra minute of seated time while on the toilet, there’s no one who will complain.

Lauren Riegel, dancing with La Vie, said she used the opportunity to stretch her legs.

“I kind of took my time,” she laughed.

Her moraler, Meredith Fish, accompanied her to the bathroom (waiting outside).

“I came just to make sure she didn’t fall asleep,” Fish said, “or fall in.”

For male dancers, the breaks are more rare. Alpha Kappa Psi dancer Charlie D’Angelo hasn’t gotten his opportunity yet, but he knows he’ll get the break eventually.

“I’ve ate every meal so far,” he said. “When it comes, it’s gonna come.”

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