A day at the spa

Between the hours of 9 and 5 on Saturday, there's another kind of fundraising going on, one that involves a different sort of kicking up of the feet: The DM Spa.

Each year, local hair salons and massage parlors donate their time and 100 percent of their proceeds to NU Dance Marathon.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, when her dancing friends had just finished their halfway run around Norris University Center,Weinberg junior Hannah Guion settled in a swirly chair and let a stylist from Pivot Point cosmetic school run a comb through arm-length golden locks.

At this time last year, she was encouraged to keep moving. Now, Ashlie S., her stylist, who wears a "Cancer Sucks" pin on her apron in homage to DM's cause, has to tell her to stay still.

Guion tells Ashlie the stylist about her experience dancing last year.

"How was it? It seems SO intense," Ashlie says, fingers straightening Hannah's locks.

"Yeah, did you cry?" A fellow stylist asks.

"Yeah. I did," Guion remembers.

Behind Guion, Weinberg freshman Ritika Singh lays down, face up, on a massage mat. She signed up for a full body massage with The Rub Relaxing Urban Bodywork online through DM's website and paid $10 dollars for "about 20 minutes."

"After midterms and stuff I just thought I needed this," she said.

Amanda Palleschi/The Daily Northwestern