Dartmouth Madonna makes it to MTV

Kate Haffner '88, portraying rock star Madonna as part of a fund-raising campaign to benefit multiple sclerosis research, climbed to the top of a national lookalike pop music competition sponsored by Students Against Multiple Sclerosis. On May 3, she performed on MTV, the music-video cable network, having taken first place in a local Dartmouth contest representing Kappa Alpha Theta sorority in February and in the New England regional competition at Brown University in April. Costumed in the lacy attire that is a Madonna trademark and "lip-synching" the Madonna hit "In the Groove," Haffner was to go on to semifinals on MTV beginning May 24. The MTV competition is judged by viewers, who place 50-cent phone calls on a special 900 line to vote for their favorite rock impersonators. In her May 3 performance, Haffner received a whopping 80% of the vote against a California student mimicking Tina Turner. The grand prize winner's videotaped performance will be broadcast nationwide to MTV's 28 million subscribers, and the winner will also receive a paid internship at MTV.

Haffner's involvement in the fund-raising effort is especially meaningful to her because she has an uncle who suffers from multiple sclerosis, a progressive deterioration of the nervous system. The Dartmouth chapter of Students Against Multiple Sclerosis raised over $10,000, placing it in the top ten of 140 colleges nationwide participating in the contest, and in the top three per capita.