ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
NICOLE RUSSO

When the first Teddi Dance for Love took place on Jan. 29, 1983, it was held in Cleary Family Auditorium in Kearney. Eighty three students attended.

Twenty five years later, over 500 people attended the dance on Feb. 17-18 in the Student Life Center (SLC).

The dance, named in memory of Elizabeth “Teddi” Mervis, raises money for Camp Good Days and Special Times. This year, a record $41,188.95 was raised for the cause, far surpassing the goal of raising $25,000 for the 25th year of Teddi.

“This is amazing,” event co-chair junior Mary Ciesinski said. She credited a “total team effort” for the good the dance accomplished.

Getting underway

The enthusiasm from participants carried opening ceremonies for Teddi, held at 8 p.m. on Friday night. Even the fire alarm going off mid-ceremony did nothing to dampen spirits.

Mayor Robert Duffy, who was named an honorary chairperson of the dance, attended opening ceremonies and made an official proclamation that Saturday would be “Dance for Love Day” in the city of Rochester.

Dr. Lou Buttino, who began the Teddi dance, expressed a feeling of pride in the dancers.

“You’ve got goodness, you’ve got character, you’ve got courage. That’s the best gift anyone could every give you, the best reward that you chould ever have,” Buttino said. “The only thing I’ve ever said during the marathon each year is you never let me down, and you still haven’t. God bless you.”

The Fisher football team surprised the crowd by arriving with a check for $1,000 that they collected among themselves for Camp Good Days. They marched into the opening ceremonies with a bagpipe procession.

Following the “Blessing of the Feet,” the event was underway. Gary Mervis, Teddi’s father and the founder of Camp Good Days, sent the dancers off with a special goal.

“Go out and make yourselves some very special memories over the next 24 hours that you’ll be able to keep with you for the rest of your lives,” he said.

“I couldn’t pass it up.”

Students attending the dance had various reasons for giving up sleep and 24 hours of their time.

“The fact that we are working hard for the children of Camp Good Days gives you the best feeling in the world,” freshman Katie McCabe said.

Members of the Student Nursing Association attended the dance together because, as Nursing majors, they wanted to support the cause.

“It’s a nice thing to do to support the cause and to get involved with,” junior Heather DeCarolis said. “We’re really excited.”

“I love to help people. My uncle actually died last year of cancer, so I like to support the cause in any way that I can,” junior Alicia Hartman said.

Several others also said they were involved with Teddi because they had personal experiences with cancer.

“My younger sister, Melissa, died at the age of six with a brain tumor,” freshman committee member Aryn Plunkett said. “I was only seven at the time. That experience has led me to dedicate my life to helping children with cancer in any way possible.”

Fisher alumni also returned to be a part of the dance.

“I did the dance my junior and senior years and decided to come back because it’s such a great experience,” Gina Capellazzi, a May 2006 graduate, said. “I couldn’t pass it up.”

Not all attendees were Fisher students, as people from several other schools attended to support the dance. Members of RIT’s Rotarax Club, a college level of Rotary, became involved with the dance while looking for a way to get more involved with the community. Gary Wolyn, a freshman and president of the club, learned about the event through Gary Mervis.

“We got in contact with you guys, got together, and here were are, having a great time,” he said. A group of juniors from School of the Arts attended together.

Junior Alyssa Williams gathered four of her friends and they attended as a group.

“I came two years ago because I met [event chair] Meg Seely when I was a camper at Camp Good Days,” Williams said. “I did it last year and I was pretty excited. I didn’t have anyone with me, so I danced by myself and this year I thought, I have a lot of good friends at my school, so why not invite them?”

A family affair

Freshman Cecilia Christopher became involved with the Teddi Committee because she has a family history with the event. Her father, Gerard Christopher, a member of Fisher’s class of 1983, attended the first Teddi dance.

“I have heard about it since my early childhood. At that time it was a competition and my aunt and my father won. I always thought that it was a great way to raise money, dance for 24 hours and raise money for Camp Good Days and Special Times.”

Gerard also attended this year’s dance.

“It was exhausting, but it was worth the effort to raise the money for Teddi especially since I had fun doing it,” he recalled of the inaugural Teddi event. “I was on the prize committee and I enjoyed telling people about the Teddi dance and why we needed the prizes. This was to encourage more dancers because at that time the dance was not well known.”

“For me, this is beautiful.”

One attendee of the dance made his trek a little farther than students who ventured from their dorms or travelled from surrounding communities.

Andrei Venturini, a philosophy professor at the Camila Castelo Branco University in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been living with Fisher professor and Teddi adviser Bob Costigan in order to learn English. When Costigan told him about the dance, he decided to attend.

“For me, it is very important to be here. I want to help too,” Venturini said.

“For me, this is beautiful. I see the accomplishments of everyone, the students, other people, and professors. Quite frankly, I wasn’t expecting that people would recognize [the cause]. When you, the students, think about other people, for me, it’s a revolution. To me this is beautiful. It’s very different. It’s a source of inspiration. I don’t have the words. It is beautiful.”

Feeling the love

The Teddi Committee, which had over a hundred members, works throughout the year to plan the dance and events leading up to it.

Members of the committee were visible out on the dance floor throughout the night in their bright green committee T-shirts. Two members who were particularly visible were senior Jessica Johnson and freshman Tom Whalen, who sported dozens of signatures on their shirts as the designated “hug people.”

“A hug person finds everybody possible that needs a hug and gives them one, and they have to sign my shirt,” Johnson, who volunteers at Camp Good Days, said. “I haven’t even gotten in the door yet, and I’m already getting hugged by everybody.”

Whalen was enthusiastic about his job.

“The best part about being a hug person is I get to hug everyone, and they all get to feel all the love from me.” he said

Dedications

Several members of the women’s basketball team appeared at the dance after their game on Saturday, as the dance was dedicated to Michael Napoleone, the younger brother of their teammate, junior Ashley Napoleone. Michael passed away in December 2006, following a battle with cancer. The Napoleone family spoke of their memories of Michael at the dance.

Dedications to Stephen Taylor and Breanna Bartelli, both Camp Good Days campers who passed away, were also made. Mervis shared memories of Stephen, who was an honorary coach at Fisher football’s annual Courage Bowl, with dancers. Seely spoke on behalf of Breanna’s mother, who was not able to attend the dance.

Sharing their talents

Several groups made appearances at the dance, contributing their talents to the night. A Jazzercise group led a warm-up at the beginning of the event on Friday night, and Fisher’s Gospel Choir performed at the opening ceremonies.

The dance group Arts In Motion (AIM) performed on Saturday night, and the Fisher Dance Team led a warm-up on Saturday morning after breakfast.

Several local bands and artists, including the Shakin’ Bones, Fishbone Soup, Ryan Dilmore, and the East Rochester All-Stars, featuring Fisher sophomore and saxophone player Joel Vickers, also performed.

Another special guest made an appearance at noon. Diem Brown, a member of the cast of MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Fresh Meat Challenge, spoke to dancers during lunch. Brown, is a cancer survivor.

“[SAB] gave me some information about the camp and what it does for the kids, and I believe in that mentality,” Brown said. “Bringing that childlike spirit back to them, and that’s something I really, really admired. It’s not money, it’s your time. Group efforts raise more support than just giving a check. I was ecstatic when they let me be a part of it. Fisher is amazing. This school is so alive and everyone is really excited about the kids.”

A gift of a smile

For the eighth year, Locks For Love, an organization that collects hair for wigs for children with cancer, collected hair at the Teddi dance. Twenty-two people, ranging from three to 44 years old, combined to donate 382.5 inches of hair. Combined with hair collected at Fisher prior to the dance, 689 inches of hair were collected this year. This greatly exceeded the goal of beating last year’s collection of 481 inches.

Nine-year-old Marissa Reseizo donated ten inches of hair.

“I wanted to see a kid smile like me,” Reseizo said. “My mom told me there were a lot of people who had cancer, so I decided to just do it because I wanted to help.”

A special presence

The annual balloon launch, to commemorate those who died of cancer, was held at 5 p.m. Dancers gathered at the football field, each holding a balloon. Postcards were attached to the balloons explaining why they were being released. They also included mailing instructions for Camp Good Days and instructions to return the card if it was found.

No pink balloons are released, and no pink decorations are used at Teddi, but every year, a single pink balloon appears somewhere at the event. Pink was the signature color of Teddi Mervis. This year, the pink balloon floating alone near the ceiling of the SLC.

The homestretch

The final hour of the dance was designated as committee hour; members of the committee sported tie-dyed Teddi T-shirts.

Following the last dance to the song “The Dance” by Garth Brooks, everyone gathered near the stage for closing ceremonies.

“How do we even begin to say thank you?” senior Chair Meg Seely said. She went on to thank the dancers, committee, volunteers and staff who helped make the event happen. “None of us can do it alone. It’s like that in life and it’s like that at this dance.”

The final amount of money raised was also revealed on stage by the children from Camp Good Days. The children turned around revealing amounts of money written on their shirts.

Seely and Ciesinksi were both on the verge of tears after the reveal.

“I am in total shock right now. I can’t thank you all enough. This is amazing,” Ciesinksi said.

Mervis, also moved to tears during closing ceremonies, echoed this advice.

“Remember how good you feel right now, because what you did came from your heart. The greatest gifts we can give one another are our love and our time, and you’ve given both,” Mervis said. “The good feeling that you have the way you feel about yourself right now is a high no substance can give you.”

“On a daily basis, you see good things and not so good things,” Mayor Duffy said of the city of Rochester. “To come out and see what you guys did tonight, it’s an amazing thing.

“I will say without any hesitation that Teddi Mervis is in heaven looking down and smiling because of what you did.”