Students participating in Dance Marathon this year will be required to do three hours of community service in addition to raising $750 or more for the group’s selected charity.

“The three hour required volunteerism lets students be more involved and creates a link between students and volunteerism at NU,” DM co-chairwoman Margot Bonner told prospective dancers at their first general meeting last week. “That’s our hope — that we give back to the NU community in some way.”

More than 150 students gathered at Ryan Family Auditorium on Wednesday to learn about DM, a 30-hour, nonstop dance gala devoted to raising money for a selected charity. The 2003 marathon last Winter Quarter raised more than $300,000 for the Chicago Youth Urban Scholarship Fund.

Each year, dancing couples are obligated to raise at least $750 for the selected charity. But this year, Bonner and DM co-chairman Justin Ballheim have established the “30 by 30 challenge” to commemorate DM’s 30th anniversary. Couples who raise more than $900, equal to 30 hours multiplied by 30 years of DM, will receive special recognition at the event.

Scheduled for March 5-7, DM this year will primarily benefit Helping Autistic Voices Emerge Dreams, or H.A.V.E. Dreams. Based in Park Ridge, Ill., the non-profit organization provides after-school and weekend classes in social skills, swimming and music therapy for autistic children.

Ballheim said a partnership between DM and H.A.V.E. Dreams seemed ideal because it will teach NU about a growing disorder that many people do not understand.

The presentations were enough to convince Weinberg junior Lana Kashlan to put on her dancing shoes for a good cause for the first time in her three years at NU. Kashlan said she hopes to join one of the publishing committees.

“I’m looking forward to helping out and dancing for 30 hours,” Kashlan said. “It seems difficult, but I know I can do it.”