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Political science and history student Dan Chang plays guitar outside of Powell Library for the Da

The fourth annual UCLA Dance Marathon is expanding its scope this year, moving to a bigger venue and attracting more participants, dollars and attention than ever.

Close to 500 registered dancers, plus volunteers, performers, motivational speakers and Moralers – a volunteer who cheers on the dancers – will fill Ackerman Grand Ballroom this Saturday and Sunday and dance for a full 26 hours, as a fundraiser for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

The event has been held either in Bradley International Hall or in the Covel Commons Grand Horizon Room in the previous years.

“This year is just huge for us,” said Jason Chiu, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student and the director of this year’s Dance Marathon. “We’re transitioning to Ackerman Grand Ballroom, which is symbolic for a number of reasons. It’s not just that we’re moving to a bigger venue, but the fact that we’re moving off the Hill, away from the dorms and more to ... what we would like to think of as the heart of campus.”

The event is moving to Ackerman to accommodate more participants, whose numbers have been climbing since the birth of the event four years ago.

“(This year) there’s about 485 registered dancers, which is over 100 more than we had last year,” said Caroline Hsu, a third-year anthropology student and the dancer relations chair for this year’s event.

Event organizers hope that this increase in attendance will also mean an increase in the funds raised to combat pediatric AIDS.

“Our goal right now is $150,000,” Hsu said. “Last year we raised over $110,000, and that was really exciting because we hadn’t expected to raise that much. So this year we set our goal a little bit higher.”

As part of the fundraising event, registered dancers are required to raise $200 each. This money is usually obtained through sponsorships from friends, family and their own wallets.

“I think the $200 goal is really hard to reach,” said Nam Ung, a second-year biochemistry student who will join Dance Marathon as a dancer for the first time this year. “It’s really hard to get people to donate.”

Other funds come from moraler registration and from a silent auction during the event. The auctioned items, including iPods and plane tickets, are donated by various corporate sponsors.

Aside from its potential benefits, the move to Ackerman has translated into a lot of additional work for the event planners.

“Of course, associated with the facility change are a lot of logistical challenges, mostly because accompanied with Ackerman Grand Ballroom are a lot of new rules and regulations and policies that we need to adhere to,” Chiu said. “We’ve been working much more closely with the fire marshall and with UCPD ... Another thing is they have stricter policies here about bringing outside food, because they like to use UCLA food. It’s just all those kinds of things that have been big challenges for us, but I think we’ve met them head-on.”

In addition to moving to a larger venue, Dance Marathon will be working even closer with its beneficiary, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, than it has in previous years. Two guest speakers new to this year’s event will be Jake Glaser, the son of founder Elizabeth Glaser, and Susie Zeegan, a co-founder.

“We are tremendously honored to have the opportunity to hear (them) speak,” Chiu said. “This is really that direct link between who we are as Dance Marathon and the organization that we’re doing it for. A lot of times you feel like it’s just this organization, but now it’s personalizing it and putting a face to that name.”