By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to perform within the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Well four Medfield High School (MHS) students were lucky enough to find out this past Thanksgiving. Walking in their very first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Liv Gallagher, Cara Fredrickson, Emma Gorham and Ariana DiNatale performed alongside their fellow Medfield Dance Academy (MDA) members with Spirit of America Productions.
While their dance studio offers a sign up for this experience each year, this is the first time the four girls applied for it. It wasn’t until after they registered and got accepted to go that it became so surreal for each of them.
In preparation leading up to the big day, the girls spent about a week in NYC, both rehearsing and checking out local hot spots around the town. “We had groups that we spent the week with,” Gallagher explained, “and we got to see places like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. We got to experience all these cool tourist things in NY leading up to the parade day. That was really cool, especially for people who haven’t been to NY nor ever experienced the city.”
As the big day arrived, the girls had a long schedule to follow, starting very early on in the morning. “We had to wake up super early,” Gorham detailed, “to get our hair and makeup done at 3:30 in the morning. By 5:40 am we had to be downstairs ready for rehearsal. We rehearsed for about twenty minutes and then we left the hotel at around 6:15 am. After that, we waited around for a little while before walking in the parade, and that lasted about an hour and half. We didn’t end up getting back to the hotel until around noon.”
Looking back on this incredible experience, each of the girls mentioned just how monumentous of a moment it truly was. “I think the experience overall was super cool and so surreal,” Fredrickson stated, “just to be walking around in the parade and seeing everyone cheering for us. I could high five a kid and it would make their day. And to think about how many people’s camera rolls I’m in now because there were so many people filming on the side is kind of crazy. Once we had finished the dance I quickly realized that that was the biggest stage that I will ever be on.”
DiNatale went on to state, “We had been waiting for a while and then to step out onto the road and see all the people it hit me like ‘Wow we are actually doing this, I am going to be on national television.’ As you walked further down the route, there were just more and more people. I had a second to take a moment and look around just to take everything in. I realized at that moment that this is one of the coolest things that I will ever do.”
Despite the rather rainy and colder conditions, they each had the best time dancing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As they continue to reminisce about this amazing day, they look forward to hopefully participating in the parade next year.
