'Give me a drum'
Girls to dance in Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving Day
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

Sarah Pellnat and Amanda Stricko

Two dancers from Spezio's Dance Dynamics of North French Road in Getzville have been selected to participate in Camp Broadway's opening number in the 80th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Amanda Stricko of East Amherst and Sara Pellnat of Getzville auditioned recently at Shea's Performing Arts Center, competing against more than 75 hopeful dancers ages 10-14.

Stricko said the judges were looking for the dancers and actors with lot of energy. The girls learned a short dance combination and performed it with big smiles on their face.

Stricko and Pellnat, along with 34 other local performers, including Ouafummi Adelakun of East Amherst, will travel to New York City on Friday to learn the routines for the parade.

Stricko will perform a tap dance and Pellnat will be a balloon handler. Both girls are freshmen at Williamsville North High School.

Once they arrive in the Big Apple the dancers will be divided into groups to learn their individual parts for the number "Give Me a Drum." They must then learn the number and put the routine together.

The entire ensemble will consist of 600 youths from around the nation who will sing and dance before the floats begin their route through the streets of New York.

Camp Broadway, an award-winning theatre company which creates special events and educational programs for teens and children, choreographed the number, which will be broadcast at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 23 on CBS-TV and NBC-TV.