This Saturday, there's a chance to dance all night, and help pull the enviroment up while you're getting down.

The Louisiana Bucket Brigade invites you to put on your boogie shoes and cut a rug to cut pollution. LABB is hosting their first annual “Dance-A-Thon to Stomp Out the Stink,” at Café Istanbul in the New Orleans Healing Center. The event is a 12-hour long fundraiser to support local communities affected by petrochemical pollution, and participants get free food, free dance lessons, and a chance to win a Brass Pass to Jazz Fest 2013.

The Dance-a-thon is part of the Bucket Brigade’s new Art to Action Program that uses art in all mediums to raise awareness and funds for the Bucket Brigade’s causes. LABB is a grassroots, nonprofit effort that promotes environmental sustainability, clean air, and community justice in Louisiana.

The group got their name from their push to empower people to take charge of their own air quality, providing people in high-risk areas with 5-gallon buckets that collected samples. The low-tech device enabled residents to send their samples to labs to be tested for industrial pollution. Lately, they launched the Oil Monitoring Group to ensure citizens keep an eye on the oil industry, and were active in the wake of the BP disaster, and spoke out about last week's benzene leak in Belle Chasse.

LABB Art-to-Action Coordinator Kristen Evans said that the initiative is a perfect fit for the local scene.

“New Orleanians are more likely to come out for a parade than a march, so we decided to build on that. Art and culture is so important to Louisiana, and this is a way we can all connect with each other and become inspired to take common action,” Evans said.

Professionals in swing, salsa, hip-hop, Brazilian, Cajun-Zydeco, Belly Dancing, Second-lining, “The Oil Rig Jig,” and more will be on the floor, so inexperienced dancers need not feel intimidated. Along with free dance training, participants will have unlimited free food from Fatoush, Lola’s, Theo’s, Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, and more local food vendors.

Dancers will raise money through pledges rather than out-of-pocket donations, and interested individuals or teams can register here. Each dancer can find people to pledge for each hour he/she dances, and the minimum pledge is $45. For instance, if four people pledged $1 an hour to one dancer, he/she would exceed the minimum requirement. Children 12 and under are only required to raise $30. LABB set up the donation system so that each registrant has his or her own paypal button. The person who raises the most money will win the honorable distinction of being the Dance-A-Thon winner, among other prizes.

The funds from the dance-a-thon will go towards communities affected by petrochemical pollution as well as for art-to-action’s future events. Evans said that the sponsorship from multiple pledges is a key component of the Bucket Brigade’s grassroots approach.

“We’re not the type where we hold a hoity toity fundraising gala that costs $100 a plate. We would so much rather collect $5 or $12 from a whole lot of people than go the route of putting together an event that a whole lot of people can’t participate in,” Evans said.

The Stooges Brass Band are playing at 11 p.m., and non dancers are still invited to come check out the show. Tickets for nonparticipants are $10, and an extra $5 for people who want to enjoy the food offerings. 

The grand prize winner will receive a Brass Pass to Jazz Fest 2013 from wwoz as well as a new bike. The original bicycle was rescued from Chalmette’s refinery and restored and transformed into an art bike by Swamp Deville. The event will take place at Café Istanbul in the Healing Center (2372 St. Claude) from 2pm-2am.