Volunteers involved in this year’s 30-hour Dance Marathon can expect a beatbox and a cappella rendition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” a “Thriller” impression and no small amount of freestyling from Medill freshman Todd Johnson and Communication freshman Adam Welton, who were named emcees of DM 2005 on Sunday.
Welton and Johnson said they clearly have never participated in DM before but have an idea of what to expect.
“We know it’s going to be 30 hours,” Johnson said. “People are going to be tired.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Welton added. “To entertain them, like a motivational, ‘Go get them, Rocky!’ type of thing.”
Working as a duo, their chemistry will override their inexperience, Johnson said.
“We may not have it individually, but if we’re up there together, we’ll be able to last 30 hours and enjoy the whole experience,” he said.
Both have experience entertaining on campus. Welton and Johnson are both members of the hip-hop a cappella group Acapizzle. They are currently apprenticing to get an after-hours, “free-form” show on campus radio station WNUR-FM (89.3).
Their current show, “The T&A Nappy Hour,” runs from midnight to 1 a.m. on Communications Residential College’s radio station, WXRU-AM (640), Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
At the African-American Theatre Ensemble’s annual event, The Ritual, held Sept. 22, the duo performed “WildCARD,” which Welton wrote to the tune of Beyonce Knowles’ “Naughty Girl.”
Usually, though, they groove to music in Welton’s room.
“We just jam to music, sing, bother his roommate,” Johnson said.
Welton’s roommate, a Weinberg freshman Sam Johnston, said instead of being annoyed by the pair’s antics, he usually is amused.
“I like it when they come up here and dance around and stuff,” Johnston said. “They put on music and then depending on what kind of mood they’re in, they’ll start dancing or singing.”
Johnston called the pair spontaneous and resourceful.
“I’m always kind of amazed, because sometimes they’ll have to do a skit or a song that they’ll have to perform in an hour,” he said. “They’ll come up with it on the spot. It’s really fast. I could never do it.”
That came in handy when the pair was brainstorming ideas for their first DM emcee audition.
“We were walking around like fools, trying to think up stuff,” Johnson said. “Finally he put in a CD, and it was a spark.”
They ended up putting together a skit in which they contemplated entering a talent show to impress a girl.
“We just did a bunch of stuff, like, what if I did my DMX impression?” Johnson said.
After running through Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson impressions, performing African dances and even salsa dancing together, the pair realized they were both interested in the same girl, and the skit ended.
“We’re not going to go into a talent show trying to impress the same girl,” Johnson said. “We’re boys.”
Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].
