One of the biggest events of the year for the Villanova community, NOVAdance will be held on Saturday, March 29. The 12-hour dance marathon has been planned by the NOVAdance Committee, and has been anticipated by Sidekicks, Engagement Coordinators, Morale Committee (MoCo) members and all Villanova students.
NOVAdance fundraises for the B+ Foundation, which is an organization that raises money to fight childhood cancer in honor of Andrew McDonough. NOVAdance’s day-of event is an opportunity to showcase how much money has been raised over the school year, as well as to celebrate and honor Villanova’s B+ Heroes.
The day-of is broken down into 12 hours. Each hour has a different theme, creating a day full of excitement and positivity for all attendees. Some of these hour themes include “Moving and Grooving,” “Oldies” and “Disnelodian.”
“[Disnelodian is great for] heroes who might be there, kind of a younger crowd, as well as bringing back nostalgic purposes for people there,” senior and Director of Logistics Quaid Mullane said.
“Pop Hits,” “Musical,” “Hero Hour,” “Country,” “Live Music,” “2000s/MoCo,” “Lip Sync,” “Glow-in-the-Dark” and “Reveal” are the later hours of the day.
“It just in terms of time of day, [MoCo found a time that] would really capture the type of energy and crowd that they’re trying to reach out to,” Mullane said in regards to the new hour that is dedicated to MoCo.
Lip Sync Hour and Hero Hour are two of the most popular hours of the day.
“Right before those two hours start, you always see, like, huge surges of crowds of people coming in to check in,” junior and Operations Chair Annie O’Brien said.
Lip Sync Hour offers the opportunity for different organizations on campus or groups of friends to sign up to do a lip sync performance. Last year, Alpha Phi Omega won the lip sync battle after attendees voted on each group.
“Seeing your friends up on stage is always a fun time,” Mullane said.
Hero Hour is one of the most impactful hours of the day, as well as one of the most emotional. During this time, each hero is introduced by the on-campus organization with which they are paired.
“I think it’s a really great way to really, obviously, highlight each individual hero and also the organizations that they’re paired with on campus, and how the hero has impacted the organization, and how the organization has impacted the hero,” O’Brien said. “So it’s just a super cool spotlight, and also serves as, kind of like a first introduction to a lot of, like, maybe freshmen on campus who haven’t gotten to meet our heroes yet.”
In addition to the themed hours, different activities are offered throughout the day. This includes a raffle, carnival-themed games such as cornhole and Kan Jam and an organized game of knockout.
“Our big activity on the day-of this year will be a soccer shooting game, so thinking, like, a carnival-type game over three rules and someone can try to shoot the ball,” Mullane said. “One of the biggest events that they always [play] with some of our heroes is their game of knockout on the basketball hoop. And so we’re hoping to this year implement a more wide-scale competition to draw more attention to the competition, as well as the heroes who are playing in it.”
The raffle is something that occurs each year and is organized by NOVAdance’s Hospitality team. People will purchase raffle tickets and enter on the day-of. Raffle prizes that will be offered this year include Phillies opening day tickets and a signed hockey stick from the Rangers.
The final hour of the day is the reveal of the amount of money raised. Last year, $601, 507.81 was raised, which was a record-breaking amount. This year, the goal is to reach $700,000.
NOVAdance is a great event for those heavily involved in NOVAdance, B+ Heroes, their families and all Villanova students to celebrate the money raised throughout the year.
