In internet culture, changing profile pictures can indicate a variety of things — a breakup, a rebrand, or even a joke meant for close friends. But in the world of college dance, it usually means just one thing: UDA College Nationals are right around the corner. Ahead of the 2026 competition, college dance teams have begun swapping out their profile pictures across social media, continuing a tradition started in 2025 — and people across the internet (not just college dance fanatics) are taking notice.Â
This year, the Universal Dance Association College Nationals is hosted in Orlando and runs from Jan. 16 to 18. This is the largest national-level competition for collegiate dancers, bringing together elite teams from across the country to perform routines in pom, jazz, hip-hop, and game day styles. For many programs, it’s the culmination of an entire season of training, teamwork, and creative development. Teams have been preparing for this event for at least nine months, and now that it’s almost here, the dancers are getting hyped — and that’s where the profile photos come in.  Â
In short, dance team members and official team accounts are using their TikTok and Instagram profile photos as Easter eggs for their 2026 UDA College Nationals performances. From the Scarlet Knights’ Hunger Games characters to Minnesota’s melting ice image, the recent profile picture changes serve as hints regarding the themes, songs, and styles of the upcoming dance routines, helping fans make predictions about each performance.Â
This trend was seemingly first started by the LSU Tiger Girls for the 2025 nationals season, when the team members collectively changed their profile pictures to images of M&Ms — which, fans later found out, was a nod toward the umbrella prop used in their routine that year, which members thought made them look like dancing M&Ms. A large number of teams followed suit that year, turning their own profile pictures into Easter eggs about their performances. Now in 2026, many more teams are involved in the fun, including Northwest Mississippi Community College Dance Team, Oregon University Dance Team, University of Cincinnati Dance Team, University of Michigan Dance Team, and many more. The new pictures can take a few different forms. Some teams use the exact same image for every member, others let each dancer post a different but related photo, and some are even using AI-generated images.
With only nine days until Nationals, creators on social media are digging deep into their analyses of the profile picture changes, sharing their own predictions about what the new images might be hinting at, and getting excited for each teams’ upcoming performance. It’s become a fun tradition not just for fans of college dance, but also for those who just love a good communal internet trend.
For fans who are now invested in these routines, UDA College Nationals will be streamed online via Varsity TV, so you can catch all the performances live (with a subscription), and tons of the dances will be posted on TikTok, so you can watch all the highlights and fan-favorite performances even if you can’t watch in real time.Â