After a 3-year hiatus, Dance Marathon brought back a runaround of Norris University Center, during which dancers ran a lap outside at the end of Block 4.

Block 4 began at 4 a.m. Saturday with a set from Battle of the DJs winner RUCKU5 and ended with the runaround of Norris. In addition, dancers celebrated the sunrise at about 6:15 a.m. as balloons rained on them while they swayed to “Here Comes the Sun.”

When Block 4 began, dancers had already been in the tent for nine hours. SESP sophomore Jenny Halpern, a member of DM’s Dancer Relations Committee and Delta Gamma’s director of DM, said she noticed a drop in energy during the block. Halpern attributes this to the fact that the sun is not up yet for the majority of the block.

“I think it’s the point people realize that they’re here for a long time,” she said. “I think the best way to go about it is fake it ‘till you make it. Even when you’re having a really low block and you act like you’re not, it makes it feel like you’re not.”

Dane Rucker, who performs under the name RUCKU5, played during the block after he winning the set at Battle of the DJs on Feb. 19. To prepare, Rucker slept beforehand and chugged a Red Bull before he arrived, he said.

“In the end your body knows you have to be up, and I was totally awake the whole set,” the Weinberg junior said. “It was awesome.”

Rucker said he came in trying to play “clubby” music with a lot of base. However, he also decided to play a lot of vocal music because it gets the audience involved. The crowd’s energy was better than he expected, he said.

After Rucker’s set and the sunrise celebration, dancers were led outside to run a lap near Norris. Dancers exited the tent, ran or walked outside and entered Norris again, where they were funneled to their changing rooms, signaling the end of the block.

Weinberg sophomore Carolyn Brooks, who is a member of the Public Relations committee, stood inside Norris to welcome back the dancers from outside.

“Standing here and cheering everyone on, it was really fun, but I did feel bad watching everyone come in from the cold,” she said.

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