Archive: Around Town

Nine dancers from the Armstrong School of Dance will perform in Macy’s 85th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade next week, Thursday November 24, 2011.  The local dancers will be part of the Spirit of America Performance Dance Team that will perform at Herald Square in front of Macy’s.

Ashley Burt (14), Autumn Evans-Wilent (16), Colleen Gorsky (14), Sarah Griggs (17), Kara Johnson (15), Meg Johnson (16), Melissa Johnson (17), Katie Martin (17), Katie McCullough (15) have been invited to perform in The Spirit of America Performance.  They will perform in a circus-themed performance alongside 600 additional performers from around the nation. All nine girls will rehearse with the other dance team members for six days in New York City prior to the parade.

The parade spans two and a half miles with two miles of public viewing areas.  The girls will begin marching at 77th Street and Central park West, going south on 7th Avenue to 42nd Street, then to 6th Avenue, and back to 7th along 34th Street, ending up in front of the flagship Macy's store.  At that point they will perform with the Spirit of America Performance Dance Team. This parade will be televised live on Thanksgiving Day on NBC from 9:00-12:00.


Macy's first parade was in 1924.  The America's Thanksgiving Day Parade also started that year in Detroit, and the oldest Thanksgiving parade began in Philadelphia in 1920.  The original parade route was longer, spanning from 145th Street in Harlem to the Macy's store on 35th Street.  The parade featured Macy's employees and local performers.  Large balloons were introduced in 1927, with the first a likeness of Felix the Cat.  The size of the viewing crowd continued to grow, reaching more than a million by 1933.  Watching the parade on television has become an annual family tradition across the United States.  It was first broadcast in 1939.  It became entrenched as an Americvan icon when it was featured in the film 'Miracle on 34th Street' in 1947.

Next week's parade is the second time Armstrong School of Dance has been represented. Four dancers from the school participated in 2008 when Colleen Gorsky performed with the Camp Broadway Group and Emilie Williamson, Tessa Cannon and Devin Case performed with the Mike Miller performance dance team.  The school was founded in 1994 by Karen Armstrong Gorsky.

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