Woodrow Wilson H.S. dancers to perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

On Wednesday morning, dancers from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas rehearsed to perform on their biggest stage yet; the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

"It does not happen every day," junior jazz dancer Alberto Perez said. "But you get used to saying, oh yeah, I'm gonna be in the Macy's Day Parade."

"So I want to go over this group right here," Woodrow Wilson High School Dance Department Director Marissa Marez said switching between dance teams. "I want to see jazz right now."

The school has 22 students going to the parade to dance in pom pom and jazz routines that will be broadcast into millions of homes across the country.

"I'm not thinking about every other person watching this parade," Perez said. "I'm thinking about my family watching this parade."

"It's so awesome that we get this opportunity," senior poms dancers Quinn Ruff said. "It's so surreal. It's just something that you would never think of being a part of."

Ruff said the Woodrow Wilson High School dancers can show the country that anything is possible, pointing out most of them were not studio-trained dancers.

"You do not have to be studio-trained to be a dancer, or even to be a good dancer," Ruff said. "You just have to have that passion, that dedication to keep working, keep practicing."

"I do spend hours every morning trying to learn this dance," Perez said.

The students will spend a week in New York City. In addition to performing in the parade, they will have a chance to see Broadway shows and see the Rockettes perform. For some, it will be their first time on a plane, or first time in New York City.

"They are going to not only be in the parade, but actually work with professionals that are in the industry right now," Marez said. "I want them to dream big...shoot for the stars and thing big in anything that they do."

"I think we're all just grateful that we get this opportunity," Ruff said.