Dancers from North Shore Dance in Huntington Station are going back to Herald Square. The studio's performers will march down 34th Street in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 26, the parade's 100th edition.

The studio announced the trip on its own Instagram in August, counting down 100 days to the parade and telling families it was headed back to 34th Street for the centennial. The itinerary the studio laid out for its dancers reads like a week in midtown: rehearsals, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, a Broadway show, dinner in Times Square and a bus tour of the city.

A return trip, one year later

North Shore Dance marched in the 99th parade in November 2025, and the studio's account of that first trip explains why the dancers wanted to come back. Twenty-five of its dancers were chosen to represent New York in a single routine of 600 dancers drawn from studios across the country. They spent the week before Thanksgiving in Manhattan learning the choreography, and rehearsed in Herald Square on the star in front of the Macy's flagship before stepping onto 34th Street on the morning of the parade.

The mass dance routine is organized by Spirit of America Productions, the company that supplies the parade's dance and cheer performers. Its dancers are selected from schools and studios nationwide, which is how a Huntington Station studio ends up performing in front of one of the largest television audiences of the year. The parade steps off on Thanksgiving morning and airs nationally on NBC.

A studio built by Rockettes

North Shore Dance operates at 2 Melville Road North in Huntington Station. The studio was founded more than three decades ago by a former Radio City Rockette, and its director, Danielle Kimmins, performed nine consecutive seasons as a Rockette, according to the Town of Huntington's business directory.

The Radio City connection has carried through to its students. In December 2022, the studio auditioned for and won the spot as the opening act of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Fifty of its dancers, ages 8 to 17, performed a lyrical piece called As the Angels Sing on the Radio City stage, after a 90-minute masterclass taught by two Rockettes and rehearsals of the show's kick line.

The studio's competition teams have also taken national titles, and its trips have ranged from performances at Walt Disney World to classes at Broadway Dance Center and American Ballet Theatre.

What happens between now and Thanksgiving

The dancers will rehearse at home through the fall, then join the full Spirit of America routine in Manhattan during parade week, when dancers from every participating studio learn the number together. The parade's 100th edition falls on November 26.

Back on Long Island, the studio's own season continues, including the production of The Nutcracker it stages every other year.

For the families lining 34th Street or watching from a couch on Long Island, the routine will go by in minutes. For the dancers from Huntington Station, it is a second Thanksgiving morning on the parade route, this time with a 100 in the banner.

Sources