On November 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Reid Ballroom, Whitman students will enjoy the unusual combination of pancakes and dance crews, partaking in an entertaining evening that will also make a difference for children in need. Kappa Alpha Theta’s annual fundraiser, Cakes for C.A.S.A: Whitman’s Best Dance Crew, strives to raise money for children in the foster care system who need help paying for legal services.
“Theta’s national philanthropy is C.A.S.A., or Court Appointed Special Advocates, an organization that helps children in the court system find safe and permanent foster homes,” said senior Tegan Klein, who served as Theta’s organizer for the event.
“Basically C.A.S.A hires adults to help foster children navigate the legal system and keep an eye out for them,” said Theta member junior Rhya Milici, who will also be contributing to the event as a member of one of the dance crews.
This coming C.A.S.A event will mark the sixth year the Thetas have held this fundraiser. After purchasing tickets beforehand for a price of five dollars or at the door, for eight dollars, students will be able to enjoy a night of customizable pancakes and a dance competition, modeled after the form of the popular television show “America’s Best Dance Crew.”
“It is an all-you-can-eat pancake feast and dance crew competition where people come and eat delicious pancakes and a wide variety of toppings, with everything from peanut butter to chocolate chips,” said Klein. “[Students] watch dance crews from around campus compete for the glory of being the next Whitman’s Best Dance Crew.”
This year there will be between nine and ten dance crews competing, any students interested are allowed to form crews.
“For the two crews I’m in, the first thing we did was pick what style of dance we wanted to do and then pick music,” said Milici. ”
Generally, crew routines are anywhere from one to four minutes in length.”
Students watching the dancers will also be able to consume pancakes with even more toping variety than years past.
“We’ve gotten a little creative this year, [students] can look forward to some Dairy Queen toppings for [their] pancakes,” said Theta sophomore Katie Haaheim, who is in charge of all things food related for the event.
However, with more toppings and more dance crews comes more pancakes, increasing Theta’s workload necessary to prepare for the evening.
“Many people are unaware just how many pancakes we have to make– literally, thousands. We start the process at about 2 p.m. at several of our off-campus houses that day and go constantly until the event is over,” said Haaheim.
While not changing the general purpose of the fundraiser, Theta will make a few physical changes to the set up of the event to ensure that is runs smoothly and efficiently, contributing to the overall experience of observers and performers.
“It’s still going to be in Reid ballroom, but instead of taking up lots of valuable space with a giant circular table, we’re just going [to use] chairs,” said Milici.
This change is designed to solve the space problem that occurred in years past.
“Last year the back of the room was crammed with about two hundred people still waiting in line for pancakes, craning their necks to try to see the dancers, said Milici. “So we’ve been smart this year about better coordinating the traffic flow since so many people come out to the event.”
However, according to Milici despite the change of venue, Reid ballroom can still be a problem when planning dance routines.
“[Members of my dance crew] and I are trying to figure out what kinds of leaps we can do, since our rehearsal space is the Boyer dance studio, which is much larger than the stage we will be performing on,” said MIlici.
Theta is looking forward to another successful night of charity, pancakes, and dancing.
“Basically, people love to eat and watch other people wiggle. Cakes for CASA: Whitman’s Best Dance Crew offers both a feast of epic proportions and an engaging performance that highlight how amazingly talented our campus really is,” said Haaheim.
