Every hour of THON weekend, the Dancer Relations captains lead the crowd and dancers in the famous line dance. Each year the line dance reflects the major events that happened around campus and in pop culture, and also celebrates Four Diamonds through a song and dance that is designed to get the crowd and dancers moving. The line dance reveal is exciting, and for weeks in advance, students will try to guess what could be featured in it. VALLEY has some predictions of what we expect to be featured in the line dance for THON 2018.
Campus Events:
- Goodbye to Saquon: Penn State’s favorite running back leaving Happy Valley for the NFL definitely deserves mention. A shout out in the line dance is the perfect way to thank Barkley and remind him that Penn State will always have him in our hearts.
- Construction Everywhere: New buildings are popping up everywhere on campus as well as downtown, filling our heads with the ever-present sound of drilling. As much as we love the growth of our Dear Old State, all the construction makes it hard to sleep through our alarms and take shortcuts to class.
- Penn State Wins the Fiesta Bowl: As disappointed as we were to end our season not ranked in the top four, we were excited to win the Fiesta Bowl game. Ending the season on a high note in Arizona has us hopeful for a great season in fall 2018.
Things that happened around the world:
- Solar Eclipse: People around the world grabbed solar sunglasses and gathered outside to see the natural phenomenon. For a few brief minutes in September, we put down our phones and spent time outside, and that deserves a line in the dance mention for sure.
- Oscargate: The biggest flub of the year happened at the Oscars when La La Land was announced as winner of Best Picture. Here’s the catch: Moonlight actually won the golden man. This mix-up is very similar to Steve Harvey’s Miss America mistake that made an appearance in the line dance two years ago.
- Time’s Up and #MeToo movements: This year has been anything but dull in show business. The launch of two movements to shed light on sexual harassment in the industry has empowered women everywhere to speak their truth.
- Meghan Markle meets her prince: Hearts everywhere were shattered when Kensington Palace announced the engagement of American actress Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Our hearts will go on as we watch Markle live out every girl’s dream in fabulous evening gowns.
- Beyonce’s Twins make Instagram history: Sir and Rumi Carter made history with the most liked Instagram Picture ever with the help of their mother, Queen B. This record has now been broken by Stormi Webster, the daughter of Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott, but the Carter’s still deserve their moment in the spotlight.
- White House chaos makes for funny skits: This White House is filled with a revolving door of interesting characters that have been all too easy for late night television to poke fun at. While the fate of our country is nothing to laugh at, Melissa McCarthy impersonating Sean Spicer sure is.
- Las Vegas shooting: The tragic shooting in Las Vegas left 58 people dead, countless others with physical and emotional wounds and sparked another national conversation about gun control. While this terrible event is not uplifting, it will probably be included in order to honor the victims and remind Las Vegas that we stand with them.
- Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria: Three massive storm systems rocked our nation last year, leaving thousands without basic necessities such as shelter, access to clean water and food. Through these awful storms we saw heroism like no other with strangers lending a hand.
- Taylor Swift Makes Her Comeback: After ditching her country roots for pop in 2014, Taylor Swift had stayed quiet and out of the limelight. That was until her song, “Look What You Made Me Do,” was released and everyone began decoding the hits taken at Swift’s enemies. The rest of her “Reputation” album dropped in November, and her edgy songs have been stuck in our heads ever since.
While we wait for the actual Line Dance to make its debut, VALLEY would love to hear what you think will be featured. Let us know by tweeting @VALLEYmag with your own predictions!
