"It's a big secret."

A new year, a new location and of course, a new line dance.

The 2007 Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (Thon) will take place for the first time at the Bryce Jordan Center tomorrow at 6 p.m. through Sunday at 4 p.m.

Since its debut in 1989, the line dance has been an important part of Thon for dancers, committee members and supporters in the stands alike. The line dance will serve as a motivator during the now 46-hour Thon weekend.

"Last year, it was cool because dancers would be down in spirit and the line dance would come on and everyone would pop up and be alive again," Kate Matheson (sophomore-advertising) said.

The line dance, which is played on average once every hour, is created by the morale overall and morale captains each year.

Erika Troitino (senior-animal biosciences) is a morale captain and this year's line dance coordinator. She said she started becoming involved with Thon as a sophomore as a part of a morale committee.

"They say you catch the Thon bug, and I guess I got it really bad," she said. "[This year] I thought I could contribute more."

She said that in the beginning of the spring semester, the 16 captains and morale overall went on a weekend retreat to create the line dance. Troitino said they collected ideas throughout the year at meetings and grouped them into four main categories: pop culture, sports, Penn State and Thon. On the drive to the retreat, they wrote the lyrics. They then proceeded to make up the dance, staying up until 6 a.m. one night and 4 a.m. the next.

"It was a very intense weekend, but it was a lot of fun," said Troitino. "We're very close and it's just like working with your family."

Troitino said that all of the lyrics for the dance are kept secret and the only people who learn it before the weekend are the captains and morale committees. Everyone else will have a chance to learn it tomorrow night during the first hour of Thon.

Troitino said she's very proud to show everyone this year's dance.

"It's been great seeing this little baby come to be and all of our personalities coming together," she said.

Katie Troskosky (senior-life sciences) is the morale overall for Thon 2007 and was a line dance co-captain during Thon 2006. She has been involved with Thon since her freshman year and said that she too felt she had a lot more to give. As line dance co-captain, she helped teach people the dance but she had to learn to do it both to the right and to the left so she could have her back to the crowd or face them while they learned the dance.

"It's a little tricky but a lot of fun and a great experience," she said.

Troskosky said that every year toward the end of Thon, they do all the line dances from the past five years.

She said it's hard for her to pick her favorite one, but that it is probably last year's or this year's dance because she was on both committees.

She said she really recommends for people to come to Thon because it's the best way to see what Penn State is really about.

"It's all volunteer work done by college students who donate their time and sleep and their ability to sit down for people they've never met before," she said. "And no one believes you when you tell them that everybody makes it."

Troitino said that this year, there are many moralers on her committee that are new to Thon.

"I'm really excited to see them fall in love with Thon," she said.

Matheson is one of the new moralers who said seeing Thon last year made her want to get involved.

"It was absolutely amazing," she said. "I had always heard about Thon and the line dance, but you don't understand until you experience it."