Archive: Around Town

The lineup for the 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will include 23 dancers from Armstrong School of Dance (ASD), including five dancers from Lansing. The ASD dancers will perform with the Spirit of America Dance Stars. The parade will also feature the return of the Muppets, Olympians Laurie Hernandez, Claressa Shields, Michelle Carter, Hannah McFadden, and Tatyana McFadden, and entertainers Tony Bennett, Regina Spektor, Sarah McLachlan, and De La Soul.

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick proclaimed last Sunday "Dancing with the Mayor" day in honor of the 23 dancers from Armstrong School of Dance (ASD) who will dance in the 90th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

This year marks the 31st consecutive year that Spirit of America dancers have participated in the parade. Over that time, only three groups have continually participated in "the longest show on Broadway" – Santa Claus, the Radio City Rockettes, and the Spirit of America.

The Armstrong dancers are from Ithaca, Freeville, Lansing, Spencer, and Southern Cayuga Central schools. ASD Director Karen Armstrong Gorsky said that the Spirit of America Dance Stars are recruited from top dance schools throughout the U. S.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these students," Gorsky said. "They are already learning their dance routines using video and will spend most of the week before Thanksgiving in Manhattan working with nationally known choreographers for 6 hours a day. On Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, they will march the 2.6-mile parade route and perform at Herald Square in front of Macy's." The parade will be watched by more than 3.5 million people on the streets of Manhattan and more than 50 million people worldwide.

The City of Ithaca Proclamation read:

"Whereas, 23 dancers from Ithaca and surrounding areas, all students at Armstrong School of Dance, have been invited to perform with the Spirit of American Dance Stars in the 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on November 24, 2016; and "Whereas, the performance of these dancers brings honor to our City and delight to our people; and "Whereas, we wish to recognize that this honor reflects years of devotion and hard work of dancers Alicia Biskup, Ashley Collins, Sydney Exantus, Surya Fitzgerald, Kristen Galvin, Hannah Gonzalez, Cassidy Gorsky, Graceann Gorsky, Madeleine Hamel, Emily Lampman, Laura Lin, Shannon Loehr, Erin Magnus, Mikayla McMahon, Julia Mecenas, Lauren Miller, Eva Milstein-Touesnard, Irena Rosenberg, Maddy Silva, Sarah Welton-Lair, Megan Williamson, Megan Willkens, and Zoe Zavaski; and "Whereas, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade adds to the joy of the 3.5 million people who watch the parade on the streets of Manhattan and the 50 million people who watch on broadcast media;

"Now, therefore, I, SVANTE L. MYRICK, Mayor of the City of Ithaca, do hereby proclaim today to be "Dancing with the Mayor" Day in honor of the Armstrong dancers and affirm that "a little party never hurt nobody … and we're going to dance until we drop!"

"In Witness whereof, I have hereto set my hand and caused the great seal of the City of Ithaca to be affixed this 14th day of November in the year 2016."

The parade will be broadcast on NBC and via live streaming from 9:00am on Thursday, Nov. 24, hosted by Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Al Roker. The best time to see the Spirit of America dancers is likely to be between 10:00am and noon.

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