Clinton dance studio will be in Macy’s Parade
Students from Dream Dance Studio in Clinton will take part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast at 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Nov. 23 on NBC.
The dance team’s Dream Team received an invitation earlier this year from Spirit of America, the company tasked with organizing the Macy’s dances, and will be performing alongside teams from around the country.
“Dream Team is the studio’s intensive dance team that attends three to four dance competitions per year,” stated Olivia Bartley-Hill, owner and artistic director of Dream Dance Studio Inc., in an interview last week discussing the dance team’s upcoming Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade performance.
The Dream Team received an invitation from Spirit of America because of the competition circuit the team competes in, Hill said.
Nine dancers will be accompanying Hill to New York City on Saturday, Nov. 18, to begin rehearsing for their parade performance. Their time in New York City will involve, in addition to performing in the parade, rehearsing with professional dancers and choreographers, and experiencing some of the city’s amazing attractions and touring some well-known landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, watching a Broadway musical, and several other activities.
The nine Dream Team dancers leaving for New York with Bartley-Hill are Hope Disney, Brooke Cooper, and Amber Hensley (CHS students), Katlyn Nance, McKinley Irwin, Haley Gianfrancesco, and Ashley Miller (ACHS students), and Kaitlynd Glann (Halls High School), and Emily Coleman (Grace Christian Academy).
The team will be performing a “fun, upbeat” jazz piece, said Hill.
“We began working on [the dance routine] only a couple of weeks ago when Spirit of America sent us the video link online. The girls have worked for hours, on their own and here at the studio. They also have several hours of rehearsals scheduled almost every day we are in New York City. While we have only been working on the parade routine for a couple weeks, all of the dancers I am taking have been taking dance lessons for years. So, in a way, most have been preparing for this for 10 to 12 years,” Hill said.
The invitation to perform in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is a special one for Hill, who danced in the Macy’s Parade when she was in high school.
“I am so excited to share this experience with more of my dancers,” she said. “I took my first group of students eight years ago, and now this group of nine dancers will carry on the tradition...I have so many memories from when I went for the first time as a teen nearly 20 years ago, and to be able to share this experience with dancers I have watched grow in my studio for years is an extraordinary feeling!”
Once in New York City, the team will have their first rehearsal with Spirit of America on Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m, and another rehearsal with NBC at Harold Square on Monday or Tuesday.
“We will rehearse and enjoy the city all week, perform on Thursday morning, then fly home Friday afternoon. I’m not sure when our group will appear on TV,” said Hill.
The dancers will be dressed in black, white, and red costumes as they showcase their talents alongside iconic Parade fixtures in a performance that will span a two and a half mile route thronged by 300,000 or more anticipated spectators.
An estimated 50 million viewers will be watching the nationally televised event, which is a long standing tradition marking the official start of the holiday season.
“This is an amazing opportunity for our dancers and an honor for our studio to be able to participate in a parade that is almost as synonymous with Thanksgiving as the turkey. We are so excited to have the chance to work with professional dancers and choreographers, witness the marvel of Broadway musicals and Radio City Musical Hall Rockettes, absorb the energy all around from the city that never sleeps, and then dance down almost three miles of New York City streets before performing for millions of people in Herald Square. We are so excited and feel so blessed to go on this journey,” stated Hill.
Established in April 2002, Dance Dream Studio Inc. currently offers classes in ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, modern, musical theater, and ballroom dancing to some 260 students, ages ranging from 3 to adults. The dance company has a staff of eight instructors. Their main focus is on student enjoyment and appreciation of dance as an art form.
Although there are nine dancers on the Dream Team performing in the parade, the team is comprised of 23 dancers total.
The Dream Team already has competitions lined up for the new year: one in Knoxville in February, one in Greenville, South Carolina in March, and another in Knoxville in April.
“All students of Dream Dance Studio Inc. (not limited to our Dream Team) will have the opportunity to participate in local community Christmas performances this holiday season. We are planning a Christmas Show at ACHS auditorium on Dec. 2, dancing in the Clinton Christmas Parade on Dec. 9, and visiting several local nursing homes and assisted living facilities to spread the Christmas cheer on Dec. 10,” added Hill.
The parade will be broadcast at 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Nov. 23 on NBC.