The famed beauty of South Beach got even hotter the past weekend when more than 300 supermodels played volleyball at the seventh annual LeSutra’s Model Volleyball Tournament in Lummus Park. Joe Jonas and his band DNCE headlined the event, performing in front of thousands of spectators.
Organized by Wildfox, the event, which spanned from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, raised proceeds benefiting the DJ Irie Foundation, which works to empower at-risk youth. Jamie Foxx hosted the event last year, and this year’s mantle was passed to party planner and social media fixture YesJulz.
The models from more than 13 top modeling agencies like Wilhelmina, Elite, Ford and Next played in a co-ed team of a bracket-style competition, where the winning team was rewarded a complimentary round trip to a surprise destination.
During the competition, spectators waited until 3 p.m. for the visually stunning quartet of DNCE. The headliners gave a high-energy performance, frequently interacting with the audience in a contagious and upbeat manner as they sang “Toothbrush” and covered TLC’s songs “No Scrubs” and “Don’t go chasing Waterfalls.”
University of Miami students in attendance raved about how DNCE kept the audience engaged.
“I loved the event. It was everything you’d imagine Miami to be, right next to the beach with a great set by DNCE,” sophomore Celeste Lim said. “The atmosphere of the whole event really stood out to me. It was so much fun yet not too crazy. I loved the intimacy of the concert. There was a point where Joe Jonas literally jumped over me to sing on the bar table I was next to and it was insane I still can’t believe we were that close.”
For junior Avisha Gopalakrishna, the event allowed her to fulfill one of her dreams: to see Joe Jonas in person.
“I didn’t want to grab his leg because I understand that is a very rude thing to do,” Gopalakrishna said. “But 13-year-old me would have died if I didn’t ‘grab’ the opportunity.”
DNCE ended its set with the hit single, “Cake by the Ocean,” performed for Cole Whittle, the bassist of the band, whose birthday coincided with the event.
A massive cake was presented during the song, and Whittle proceeded to head-butt the cake. The audience had a chance to try the cake themselves, as swimsuit models of the Wildfox swimwear fashion show threw pieces to the crowd.
Junior Aalekhya Reddam, who knew nothing about the band prior to the performance, said she still enjoyed this experience.
“You don’t even need to know their songs to enjoy their performance,” Reddam said. “They were so upbeat and their energy was incredible. They kept interacting with the crowd and created such a fun time for all of us.”