Students from Armstrong Dance School in Ithaca, New York will be making their way to the 96th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to perform this year.
A total of 19 students will be in attendance. The students that attend the school and who will be performing are from Ithaca, Newfield, Lansing, Moravia, Dryden, and Trumansburg school districts, according to My Twin Tiers.
The first invitation to dance at the parade was back in 2008 after a dance competition in New York City. The Spirit of America Performance Dance Team has invited them to perform since then.
The Spirit of American Performance Dance Team is a group that recruits teams from top dance schools in the country.
Around 3 million people will watch the parade in person with another 50 million watching at home across the country.
Director Karen Armstrong Gorsky described this chance as a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students.
The dancers will spend six days getting ready for the parade with an additional 600 dancers from across the country. They will all work with nationally known choreographers for six hours for each day they are there leading up to the parade.
The parade is 2.5 miles long and the dancers will March the entire way. Once they arrive at Herald Square in front of the Macy’s department store, they will perform.
Gorsky reports that the best time to catch a glimpse of the dancers from home is between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
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