One of the most memorable parts of THON every year is the line dance, which is repeated every hour throughout the 46-hour dance marathon. By the end, everyone in the Bryce Jordan Center has it seared into their brain.

The line dance contains references to Penn State, world events, and pop culture, but not all of these references are obvious to everyone right away. Are there any line dance lyrics that flew over your head? Don’t worry, we’re here for you.

Here is every reference in the 2026 Line Dance, explained.

PSU Verse

“Hockey Valley turf meets ice” – For the first time ever, hockey was played in Beaver Stadium in late January, as Penn State men’s, women’s, and club hockey all took the ice. The main event on January 31 saw the men’s team face No. 2 Michigan State in a thrilling, top-five matchup in front of 75,000 fans, one of the most attended hockey games ever.

“Benny’s pizza, one big slice” – Benny Leone’s opened at 109 S Fraser St. last June, bringing their exceptionally large pizza slices to State College. Whole pies are a staggering 28 inches, so big that they have an open challenge available for anyone who can eat an entire pizza in 28 minutes.

“Madam Major, Royalty” – History was made in the Blue Band in 2025, as Ellie Sheehan was named the first-ever female drum major in August. She was a pregame mainstay at Beaver Stadium during football games, nailing her frontflips in front of the roaring crowd.

“A new chapter, glory found” – Penn State’s homecoming theme in the fall was “Find the Glory in Your Story.”

“Pollock Reno, breaking ground” – Pollock is finally being renovated. Wolf and Ritner Halls are currently being renovated as part of a multi-year plan to renovate the infamous freshman housing complex and are expected to be ready for Fall 2026. On Friday, the Board of Trustees officially approved the next stage, which will see Hiester and Shulze Hall renovated next school year.

“B-dubs – wings to go” – Buffalo Wild Wings made its way to State College last March, opening at 134 S. Garner St. and bringing a new spot to get your wing fix on gameday.

“There’s a car in Trader Joe’s!” – Yes, in case you haven’t heard, a 77-year-old man crashed his car into Trader Joe’s last October. The driver was fine, and there were no injuries.

“Edu, time to roam” – The “psu” wireless network that keeps campus connected was officially retired in November, being replaced by “eduroam”. Opinions on the efficacy of the new network are… not the nicest.

“No more swipe, tap your phone.” – A significantly less controversial electronic change, physical student IDs were also retired during the fall semester, in favor of a “Mobile ID+ Card.”

“Campbell joins the crew // Terry Smith, we thank you” – James Franklin was fired from Penn State football after 12 seasons in October following a 3-3 start. With the season spiraling out of control, interim head coach and fan favorite Terry Smith rallied a season-ending four-game winning streak. Matt Campbell was hired as the next permanent head coach in December after a long, long search.

“On the mat, four straight wins” – Penn State wrestling continued its dynasty at last March’s NCAA Championships, securing its fourth consecutive national championship. They’re in prime position to go for a five-peat next month.

“Swoosh is out, stripes are in” – Starting on July 1, Penn State will switch from Nike to Adidas as its primary athletics apparel partner. Get your Nike apparel on sale while it lasts, folks.

“Susan Welch, what was that?” – The Susan B. Welch Liberal Arts Building opened last March, but only lasted for about eight months. The $128 million building suffered a structural issue in November that led to it being closed indefinitely. Fortunately, nobody was injured during the incident.

“When’s the power coming back?!” – A severe thunderstorm last April earned its way into Penn State lore, knocking out power across State College for hours (or even days in some cases) and bringing heavy rain and high wind to the area. One poor intramural referee got the worst of it, being hit by a porta-potty after being caught in the storm.

World Events Verse

“Jewels go missing from the Louvre // Thieves in shadows make their move.” – For the first time since 1998, the Louvre was robbed. The famous art venue in the heart of Paris had eight jewels worth a combined $104 million stolen in October. Five suspects have been charged in the months since.

“NASA boots – touch back down,” – Astronaut Suni Williams, whose 62 hours of spacewalk is the most ever by a female astronaut, officially retired in December. She was also stranded at the International Space Station for several months after the ship that brought them there, a Boeing Starliner, wasn’t safe enough to ensure she’d get home safely.

“Solar secrets have been found.” – The Solar Orbiter spacecraft took the first-ever images of the Sun’s south pole last June.

“Windy City enters Rome // Vatican – Leo’s home” – Pope Francis passed away last April, leading to the first papal election since 2013. In a surprise, the first American pope was elected, as Chicago native and Villanova alum Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV.

“Green turtles safe at sea,” – Green sea turtles, long considered an endangered species, were removed from that classification by the IUCN in October after their population in the wild continued to rebound.

“Goodall and her chimpanzees,” – Jane Goodall, widely known for her work with chimpanzees in the wild, passed away in October.

“US teams go for gold // NHL lifts the hold.” – Team USA is concluding an extremely successful run at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, winning 11 gold and 32 total medals as of Saturday afternoon. The Olympic Games conclude on Sunday, with the U.S. hockey team facing Canada in the gold medal game at 8 a.m. EST. This game carries special importance, as it’s the first time since 2014 that NHL players are allowed to play in the Olympics.

“Lando Norris winning race,” – Lando Norris won the 2025 Formula One World Championship in December, his first. He won seven of the 24 races on the calendar.

“Sweden reaches zero waste,” – Sweden is attempting something revolutionary, looking to end landfills. 99% of trash in Sweden is now either burned or recycled, with the burned trash being converted to energy that provides heating and electricity to over one million homes.

“Socials – not down under,” – Australia, looking to combat a growing online bullying and overuse problem, has banned social media use for children under 16 years old. The ban includes platforms such. asInstagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

“UK voters, now they’re younger” – On the other side of the spectrum, the legal voting age is being lowered in the United Kingdom to 16. The planned legislation is expected to go into law prior to the next general election.

“New Year’s ball, drops two times.” – The New Year’s ball drop every year is a longstanding tradition in Times Square, but there will be an additional ball drop on July 4 to signify the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence.

“No more pennies, still got dimes” – The U.S. penny is no longer being minted, as the Treasury announced the beginning of phasing out of the coin in November. It remains in circulation, but high production costs led to its demise.

Pop Culture Verse

“Reaching flow state scrolling Reels” – Brainrot. There’s a lot of this here.

“LeBron edits, a big deal.” – For those not terminally online, there was a trend last March where Instagram and TikTok users created edits that saw them change the lyrics of popular songs to be about LeBron James.

“Irwin dancers, now there’s two, Mirrorballs to the zoo” – Robert Irwin, son of late wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin, won season 34 of Dancing With The Stars in December alongside Witney Carson. His sister, Bindi, won season 21 in 2015. Both siblings have followed in their father’s footsteps as conservationists.

“Fireworks in zero G,” – Katy Perry, who sang the hit song “Firework”, went to space last April as part of an 11-minute space flight on Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission.

“Final bell, ‘Can’t see me'” – 17-time WWE champion, actor, and global icon John Cena retired from professional wrestling in December after a year-long retirement tour.

“KPOP hunters top the charts.” – The release of KPop Demon Hunters as a Netflix-exclusive film last June took over the world, becoming the most-viewed Netflix original movie in history. This line, though, is more about “Golden”, a hit song that came from the movie that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks.

“Happy’s back to steal our hearts.” – Happy Gilmore 2 joined KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix in July, 29 years after the original hit movie was released.

“Crazy Train, always revin'” – A salute to the late Ozzy Osbourne and his 1980 hit song.

“What’s not clocking, 6 or 7?” – Some more brain rot. The first part is a viral video of Justin Bieber, while the second needs no explanation.

“Blast old Taylor, let’s all sing” – After a long dispute, Taylor Swift now owns the rights to all of her music after she bought back the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Capital last May.

“AI songs, that’s a thing?” – As the rise of artificial intelligence continues, various hit songs have been released using AI, whether partially or fully, across all sorts of genres. Some of this music has been released to be taken seriously, while others have been parodies or jokes (see: LeBron edits).

“Conrad endgame, save the date.” – Hit TV series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” concluded last September, with the series finale paying off with the main character, Belly, choosing Conrad Fisher over his brother, Jeremiah, in a complicated love triangle.

“Upside down, close the gate,” – One of the most popular TV series of the streaming age, Stranger Things, also concluded over the past year, with the series finale being released on New Year’s Eve.

“Pixel world, Steve’s all blocky // Hold-on, watch out, Chicken Jockey!” – The Minecraft movie released in April to mixed reviews. One of the most popular memes in the last year? When Jack Black, who plays the main character Steve, yells out “Chicken Jockey!”