Silver Lake’s dance team to perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

SILVER LAKE, Kan. (WIBW) - The Silver Lake dance team is just days away from performing in one of the biggest national holiday events of the year.

“I went when I was a senior in high school. My mom was my dance coach, so she gave me the opportunity,” said head coach Jena Brown. “So I thought this year being my 10th year as a coach here, and we have a huge senior class, I just thought what better way to kinda go out with a bang for them than to go to the Macy’s parade.”

Usually high school teams need to submit an audition video to get approved, but since the Eagles have a team of six seniors, it was an automatic yes.

“I feel like we’re a bigger group, and so we’ve really bonded and stuff,” said senior Avri Broxterman. “It’s really special that we get to do this together.”

Saying the girls were excited to get the news would be an understatement.

“It was kind of a dream, like it wasn’t real,” said senior Maddie Fieger. “I was like ‘Wow we’re going to New York and we’re dancing in the Macy’s day parade?’ Because growing up I always watched the parade on TV Thanksgiving morning. So it’s just kind of a dream come true.”

“It’s crazy. I think it’s really good to put myself out there in the dance world and stuff, so I’m really glad I got this opportunity,” Broxterman added.

For most of them, it’s their first time in New York City. So even though they’re doing a lot of rehearsing right now, they’ve got lots of fun on the agenda too.

“We do get to go see the Rockette’s and get to go to a Broadway show, so we get to do lots of sightseeing as well,” Coach Brown said.

The Eagles are happy to represent the Sunflower State in the Big Apple.

“We’ve been looking at everything and most people are from Texas or Florida. So it’s really awesome to be just from little old Kansas and get to go,” said Coach Brown.

All while having a once in a lifetime experience.

“We’re gonna make memories that we’re gonna remember forever,” Fieger said.

They’ll be performing with about 550 other boys and girls from across the U.S., and will be wearing purple and teal costumes. The parade begins at 7:30 a.m. CT on Thursday morning.

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