Students will be jamming to the sounds of Belladiva at STAR’s spring dance Saturday in the James B. Woulfe Alumni Hall.

STAR made two significant changes to its annual spring dance this year: It booked a cover band, Belladiva, to perform from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, and it moved the dance from the Anderson Field House to the Woulfe Alumni Hall in the Anderson Student Center. A disc jockey is set to perform during the first hour of the dance.

“The thought is to kind of mix it up a bit to see if students have more of an interest in a cover band dance,” sophomore Jimmy Froehling, a STAR intern who is organizing the dance, said. “Historically, we’ve found that students have asked us for things like this, and we want to do a test run at it.”

Spring dances typically have lower attendance, with 1,000 to 1,100 students attending in the spring compared to 1,700 to 2,000 students attending the Homecoming dance in the fall. Froehling said ambiance was the thought behind bringing the dance from the field house to the Woulfe.

“(The Woulfe) is a more confined room, which makes it so that 900 people seem like a lot more people,” Froehling said. “I think that that venue will be more exciting for students and seem more like a dance, like everyone’s packed together and having a good time.”

Although around 1,000 students buy tickets in advance, that doesn’t mean all of them will attend the dance, according to Matt Gustafson, associate director of Campus Life.

“That’s the number of tickets we’re distributing, not necessarily the number of people that actually show up,” Gustafson said.

Froehling said STAR looked at and listened to many different cover bands before it decided on Belladiva.

“We’ve looked at their song list and helped them pick a set that will be good for college students,” Froehling said. “It should be pretty exciting.”

Belladiva’s band leader and vocalist Lisa Marie Furth said she is excited to be one of the first bands to play at a St. Thomas dance.

“I talked to Jese (Ledbetter of Campus Life), and they hadn’t had a band there for a long, long time,” Furth said. “We are very honored and thrilled that they chose us.”

The cover band performs music from the 1960s up to current hits, including songs by Bruno Mars, Beyoncé and P!nk. In addition to six musicians in the band, there are three female dancers with prepared routines who will dance through the crowd.

Furth said it’s going to be much more interactive than having a disc jockey and feel more like a live concert.

“There’s nothing like live music,” Furth said. “There’s so much energy, and that’s what we’re planning on bringing to the table.”

Furth said Belladiva will read the crowd and play whatever students are dancing to.

“If it’s a younger crowd and they want current hits, we’ll do that,” Furth said. “It will be fun to see how they react to the band and the choreography and the singers working the crowd.”

Freshman Ashley Parrish said the choice to add a cover band will receive mixed reactions, depending on the reasons for which students attend the dance.

“It should be interesting and different,” Parrish said. “I think it’s definitely worth a try.”

Sophomore Mary Kracht said she doesn’t think having a cover band is a good idea.

“I just like DJs better because I like hearing music by the original people than cover bands,” Kracht said.

Despite the decision, Kracht said she will still purchase tickets for the dance.

“Well, my boyfriend’s coming,” Kracht said. “I just like dancing.”

Bjorn Saterbak can be reached at sate3878@stthomas.edu.