Hi! My name is Alessia Arianas and I am privileged to be the Morale-Co Chair on the 2020/2021 OttoTHON Executive Board! From my first OttoTHON event in my freshman year, I knew this organization was special. The event filled me with joy from the second I walked into Schine till the Hope Circle at the end. However, I cannot talk about how much fun the event is without mentioning the best part of all: The Morale Dance! I may be biased since my co, Jared, and I get to lead it, but it truly is one of the best parts of the day.

What is the Morale Dance?

The Morale Dance is a 7-8 minute dance number that the ENTIRE event does every hour, on the hour! It is filled with fun dance moves, iconic movie quotes, BOPS, and a whole lot of love. Jared and I lead the dance, as well as the amazing morale committee. Although the dance may be rocky in the first few hours, by hour 6 every dancer is doing it flawlessly!

Do I have to be a good dancer to do the Morale Dance?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! The best part of the morale dance is when people from every dance background come together to do some sick dance moves, and do it all for the kids! The dance usually is 7-8 minutes of fun dance moves that anyone can do, and brings the energy up during the event!

What is your favorite part of the dance?

Each year, I am always blown away with how creative the morale chairs are in choreographing the dance. One of my favorite parts is when there are movie or television quotes in the dance. The whole room stops, and screams the quote. I can’t spoil anything, but this year Jared and I have some good ones coming up! :)

Another part that is my favorite is the very ending. The last song of the dance tends to be a slower song that instills hope in the dancers and reminds everyone why we dance: FTK. In past years, the song has been “I’ll Be There” and “Don’t Give Up On Me.”

How is each morale dance different?

With the different morale co-chairs each year, the dance always has a special flare that represents the morale chairs’ personalities. While collaborating with my co to create the morale song and dance, I noticed my connection to some songs versus others and wanted to have a sense of my personality in the song. We worked hard to include songs that everyone knows and love to dance to, as well as songs that remind us why we are dancing.

I am SO excited for OttoTHON 2021, and I hope you are too!! Can’t wait to boogie with you, and see you every hour on the hour for the MORALE DANCE! FTK<3