Our Crowdfunding Groups
Who we are
BLAST is dance group that promotes diverse styles of partner dancing, ranging from swing, to waltz, to salsa, and many others. We organize open classes to learn new styles each quarter, showcase dancers and choreographers in the annual spring show, and have a competition team that travels throughout the Midwest to compete. Our goal as an organization is to create an inclusive partner dancing community at Northwestern. BLAST was founded in 2001 and is a relatively new organization, but we have been growing each year and are always open to introducing people into the world of partner dancing.
Why we need your help
Our goal with this project is to be able to host our 2nd collegiate ballroom competition at Northwestern University this February. This day-long competition would bring in ballroom dance teams from all over the Midwest, including BLAST’s own competition team. In addition, the event would be free for all spectators so that members of the Northwestern community and the surrounding Evanston community can be exposed to partner dancing and see some amazingly talented ballroom dancers. Since this will be the second ballroom competition hosted by Northwestern since the inaugural Northwestern Ballroom Classic in 2006, we need your help to be able to successfully host. With your generous support, we will be able to bring in professional judges, hire an emcee, and cover several administrative costs that come with planning such a big event.
How you can help
Give, or share this link with friends by email or on social media. We appreciate any contribution that you could make. Even $10 can makes a big difference. Thank you so much for helping to make our plan a reality!
A gift of $10 provides funds for safety pins for pinning competitor number cards on the leads. Safety pins also come in handy for any unexpected costume emergencies!
Each couple competing is assigned a number at registration, and this number is how the judges identify couples on the dance floor. A gift of $20.20 provides funds for printing all the number cards we will need the day of the competition.
A competition needs sound for the competition music and announcements for each heat and dance. A gift of $50 would cover the needed sound rental fees.
The top eight couples who place in each level for each style are awarded a ribbon. A gift of $100 provides funds for purchasing the placement ribbons.
We need a lot of space for a competition, including a dance floor with seats for spectators, a practice floor, and rooms to put up the dancers in during the day. A gift of $200 provides funds for room rental fees so that we can have all this space on campus the day of the competition.
A gift of $300 provides funds to compensate our emcee for the day. The emcee introduces the judging panel, calls out the rounds, and announces the winners during.
A gift of $500 provides funds to compensate the DJ and cover any potential technology costs. The DJ chooses all the songs for the rounds, and it is super important that we have the necessary technology such as speakers so that the dancers can hear the music they are dancing to.
A gift of $1,000 provides compensation for a panel of judges and a scrutineer we will bring in to objectively select the winning couples.
