Over 2,000 participants, including UCLA students, community members and parents, put their lives and studying on hold this weekend, to dedicate their time to a 26-hour dance party to raise funds and awareness for pediatric AIDS.

The funds will help the more than 2,000 children worldwide forced to suspend their adolescence as they become infected with HIV.

From 11 a.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday, students danced the weekend away at the third annual UCLA Dance Marathon, helping raise $110,782.80 – more than double last year’s amount – for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

“Stay Tuned for the Cure,” the theme to this year’s marathon allowed students to dress up as different TV personalities from various stations like Animal Planet and MTV.

“Every 12 hours someone is affected with AIDS ... the cause is something that never goes away no matter how much you change the channel it will never go away,” said Wunmi Onile-Ere, public relations chairwoman for UCLA Dance Marathon.

On the dance floor, students with seemingly endless energy let loose to music ranging from Britney Spears to Vanilla Ice.

Periodically, the dancing stopped and the thousands of students listened to speakers ranging from campus administrators to students living with AIDS.

Cameron Siemers, a communications student at California State University, Long Beach, just recently back from the hospital, addressed students, inspiring them to keep on moving.

“It makes me feel really good to see people dancing for kids like me,” said Siemers, who is HIV positive.

In addition to dancing consecutively for 26 hours, student dancers and moralers – students who motivate the dancers to keep dancing – also engaged in contests such as the midnight limbo contest.

Lou Peña and her daughter, Cristina, who are both HIV positive, said they share a sincere appreciation for events like UCLA’s Dance Marathon. Cristina, a student at Pasadena City College, also spoke at the event.

Peña and her daughter, now 19, were diagnosed in 1986, a time when medication for AIDS was limited. Luckily, because Cristina was diagnosed at age 2, she was put on medication immediately and is doing well, Peña said.

Celebrity entertainers and guests such as Kimberly Locke from “American Idol 2” and Steven Hill from MTV’s “Real World Las Vegas” supported the students in their commitment to dance away the epidemic.

Locke, who is actively involved with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, acknowledges the importance to commit time and dedication to awareness and fund-raising for pediatric AIDS.

“It is important to give back especially when I’m in a position to do so ... If this is all it takes for me to give back, it’s such a small gesture that goes a long way,” Locke said.

In the 22nd hour, several students were visibly exhausted but continued to dance with the same enthusiasm and dedication as when they started.

“It’s incredible that we can all come together and do the same thing ... every one of us has contributed something,” said Laura Chooljian, a fourth-year sociology student and dancer for the marathon. “When you look back it’s only 26 hours to save someone’s life.”

Peña said she is grateful for events raising money for pediatric AIDS. The funds they raise could be responsible for creating new medications or maybe a vaccine to prevent HIV, she said.

“The (Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS) Foundation pretty much secured my existence because I was put on AZT (an anti-retroviral drug) at the age of 5 and that was due to research from the foundation, because before that, they were not giving medication to children,” Cristina said.

Cristina, who refers to her HIV as a “little wrinkle” in her life, said she does not let her affliction prevent her from doing everyday activities. On top of being a full-time student, aspiring journalist and part-time worker, Cristina still finds time to speak publicly about her situation to nurses, children, doctors and at events like UCLA’s Dance Marathon.

“(The marathon participants) are like masked heroes, I don’t know them personally, but everyone of them is contributing to my life and my longevity ... without them, research and time would be lost,” Cristina said.