Local dance students to perform at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year

ITHACA, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – Students across Central New York will be spotted dancing their way through the 96th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

19 high school dance students from the Armstrong School of Dance will be taking part in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.

FILE – In this Nov. 22, 2018 file photo, the Olaf balloon floats past Radio City Music Hall during the 92nd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019, will take place amid strong winds that could potentially ground the giant character balloons. The balloons have caused mishaps and injuries in the past when gusts blew them off course.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The Armstrong Dancers are from Ithaca, Newfield, Lansing, Moravia, Dryden, and Trumansburg school districts.

According to the Director Karen Armstrong Gorsky, the dancers received their first invitation to perform at the parade in 2008 following a New York City competition. Since then, they have been invited to perform with the Spirit of America Performance Dance Team.

Spirit of America Performance Dance Team is recruited from the top dance schools throughout the U.S.

According to statistics done by Loving New York, roughly 3 million people will be spectating the event in person and more than 50 million people will be viewing the parade from the comfort of their homes.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these students. For us, this means moving from our small town stage in Ithaca to a very big stage almost overnight!”
Director at The Armstrong School of Dance Karen Armstrong Gorsky

The dancers will reportedly spend six days preparing for the parade in NYC with 600 other dancers from across the nation. The dancers will be working with nationally known choreographers for 6 hours a day leading up to the day of the parade.

The group will then march the 2.5-mile parade route and perform at Herald Square in front of the Macy’s department store.

According to Gorsky, the best time to see the dancers is likely between 11 a.m. and noon on Thanksgiving Day.

Click here to view the route of the parade.

The group will be performing to “Run Run Rudolph!”