Students with the Steppin' Out Dance Company in Mesquite have been rehearsing for months. Now the big day is almost here.
This week they will leave for New York City to perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"Now that it's finally here, they're just so excited," Steppin' Out Dance Company Assistant Director Jacklyn Chapasko said. "I think a little bit nervous, but like the good nerves."
The dancers will be among hundreds from across the country to perform in the annual parade. Preparing for it is a lot different than most performances.
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"One group is doing this choreography and one group is doing this choreography," Chapasko explained. "You don't know where you'll be placed in the formation, so you don't know which part you'll be doing. So the girls have to learn all the parts."
Chapasko knows because this isn't her first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"It was 2005, so it was a long time ago," Chapasko said. She was 16 years old when her South Garland High School Drill Team performed in the holiday parade. "It's crazy! I've tried to tell them that the performance is a blur. You hardly remember that performance, but the walking through New York City is crazy!"
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That's because there aren't just people lining the streets along the parade route.
"The thing that is most surprising to me is the people in the high-rises," Chapasko said. "There are celebrities up there watching the parade, like waving at you like you are a celebrity!"
For Chapasko's students, the experience is more than just dancing.
"We have tried very hard at the studio to build a family environment to build not just good dancers, but good people," Chapasko said. "Because the reality is not everybody ends up dancing after high school or after college. So how can we prepare these kids for their future?"
Steppin' Out Dance Company in Mesquite was started by Director/Owner Jennifer Giles Baker in 2007. This will be the company's first time performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"We want our hometown people to be able to cheer us on," Chapasko said.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade airs on NBC 5 on Thursday, Nov. 23. It will also be on the Peacock streaming platform.
