MAFia Mania is not skipped – The Lafayette

MAFia Mania was the first event of its kind. (Photo courtesy of Lauren Kaye ’25)

While many clubs kick off the fall semester with a general membership meeting, The Lafayette Music Appreciation Floor (popularly known by its acronym MAFia) took a different approach to its first event of the year.

MAFia Mania offered students an evening of ‘music appreciation’ on September 6 at Leopard’s Lair, filling the room with Just Dance, karaoke and drumming.

“In previous years, we would usually sit at the engagement fair and ask freshmen to come to our general membership meeting,” said William Blair ’26, MAFia’s president. “But no one wants to sit through that. We wanted something where people could come, stand up, dance, sing a song, and have a good time.”

Although MAFia has organized many events since its inception in the late 2000s, Mania was the first of its kind.

Emily Rice ’25, vice president of communications at MAFia, described the desire to create an event with “something for everyone.”

MAFia teamed up with the Lafayette Activities Forum to bring Mania to life. Thanks to the combined efforts of the two organizations, MAFia Mania saw over 40 people dancing the Just Dance Rasputin dance and singing Minecraft parody songs throughout the night.

“The crowd was there the whole time and that kept the energy going,” Blair said.

One of the Mania participants, Carden Osborne ’27, said she enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere of the event and highlighted how people “went all out” in their karaoke performances and execution of dance moves.

“Sure, maybe you make a fool of yourself, but you’re part of a group that makes a fool of itself,” Osborne said.

Osborne especially enjoyed playing Just Dance in the Mania setting.

“It ended up being a crowd of people in the middle of Leopard’s Lair just dancing,” Osborne said. “It definitely makes Just Dance a lot more fun when there’s a really big group of people.”

“It was fun just singing karaoke and being a nuisance in Farinon,” they continued.

Club treasurer Pedro Dos Santos ’26 stressed that the event is just a taste of what MAFia has planned, citing the group’s annual lip-sync event and talent show.

“I think it was a good start to the semester,” Blair said. “I think it gets everyone excited for the year.”

Editor-in-chief Elisabeth Seidel ’26 contributed to the reporting.