Every year, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon morale overalls and captains spend months creating the best-kept secret of the weekend -- the line dance.

And starting Friday, the secret's out.

Right now, though, only a select few know the details behind the Thon line dance. Thon participants will perform the line dance 48 times, every hour on the hour, to lift the dancers' spirits, and by the end of the weekend, thousands will move as one.

Morale Chair Mike Cocco said the main function of the line dance is to give the dancers a much-needed energy boost and stretch throughout the tiring weekend.

"No two dances are the same, but every year there is something in common," he said. "Each dance has the ability to get [the dancers] energized, stretching and feeling great. The more they are moving around, the better off they'll be in the weekend."

Although the line dance only lasts a few minutes, the planning process is a different story. The line dance wheels have been in motion since early October.

"It's been a long but rewarding process," line dance coordinator Kristin Measel said. "I'm looking forward to the experience of seeing everyone do the dance. It's hard to put into words my expectations. I'm looking forward to seeing the kids, their families and the community [dance]. ... It will be satisfying to see everyone enjoying what we put so much time into."

Measel said she began the search for line dance music in the beginning of the academic year and started to formulate ideas for lyrics with her committee.

"In terms of the line dance music, we wanted to find something that's not mainstream," she said. "I went through all of my old CDs, looked online for music and even tried some British pop music. It was a random search process that the other captains and I went through to accumulate music."

There were several phases of selecting music before the team was able to unanimously decide on the final montage, but the real action took place during the intensive line dance weekend retreat in January, Measel said.

"We dedicated all of Friday night to the lyrics," she said. "We took little naps, but we didn't really sleep at all. Every year it comes together at a different pace, and we finally finished [the lyrics] completely at 10 in the morning. After, we took different sections of the song, came up with moves and then came together."

Disha Jain, a morale captain, said the challenge is trying to get everyone's ideas into the dance.

"Even though we didn't really get sleep, it comes to a point where you don't care how long you stay up," she said. "We had so many ideas for moves and dances -- it was just great."

Morale captain Bill Koellhoffer said it was tough to fit a year's worth of current events into one dance.

"We could have made at least five line dances with all of our ideas and information," he said.

Now the only thing left on the line dance agenda is to unveil the dance to moralers tonight, Cocco said.

"I'm excited because we get to learn it before everyone else," moraler Megan Homan (sophomore-marketing) said. "I know there is supposed to be a big surprise, but I expect a lot of pop culture, and I think that the music and the moves will be completely different."

Leah Finerty (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management), a first time dancer, said she is eager to learn the line dance on Friday.

"Last year, it was really awesome to see the whole gymnasium doing the dance," she said. "I think it brings a sense of unity, and it keeps the event going."