Taking the Plunge

If you’ve been on social media lately, chances are your feeds have been overloaded with videos of your friends dumping buckets of icy water over their heads. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken off over the past few weeks, raising money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). If you are nominated by a friend, you have 24 hours to either complete the challenge or make a $100 donation to The ALS Association. You then challenge other friends to do the same. The results are impressive: As of today, The ALS Association has received $15.6 million in donations, compared to $1.8 million over the same time period last year.

Ballet companies are joining in. Last week, Boston Ballet posted a video of company members pouring ice over artistic director Mikko Nissinen. The company also made a group donation to the cause. American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet answered their challenge within a day, soaking dancer Marcelo Gomes and executive director Glenn McCoy, respectively. Other companies getting their feet wet include Houston Ballet, Carolina Ballet and São Paulo Companhia de Dança. Yet another example of the ballet community rallying together for a great cause!

To make a contribution, visit visit www.alsa.org, and use the hashtags #IceBucketChallenge and #StrikeOutALS on social media if you post a video.