Alainna Dunnahoo recently had a birthday that is a hard one to top.
“It was timed pretty perfectly, and I was pretty excited about it,” Dunnahoo said. “It is going to be a hard birthday to follow.”
Dunnahoo performed with more than 600 dancers in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
“It was amazing, and it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said. “Everything we did was just magical — it was a lot of fun.”
Dunnahoo dances competitively for Susan’s Studio of Dance in Sheridan, and the dancers compete around Arkansas and in surrounding states.
“We compete at local competitions, and sometimes they offer studio scholarships for good techniques or professionalism, which is what we got our scholarships for,” said Susan Ledbetter, the owner of Susan’s Studio of Dance. “They have different opportunities around the United States, and of course, the Macy’s parade was one of them.
“It was offered to all of the students, and Alainna accepted the scholarship and was able to raise money, and she was able to go,” Ledbetter said.
She said it was an honor for Dunnahoo to be chosen to go and that her parents were willing to help her through it all.
“She is a very hard worker and very dedicated to what she loves and she loves to dance,” Ledbetter said of Dunnahoo. “She is very determined.”
Of the approximately 680 dancers, Dunnahoo was also chosen to be one of the 50 to dance immediately before Santa Claus was introduced in the parade.
“I’m not exactly sure how they picked those 50 people, but it was really surprising to be chosen to do that, and I did not expect it,” Dunnahoo said. “It was awesome to be there, but getting to dance with 50 to introduce Santa — it was just the best.
“We got to work with some really cool choreographers who have choreographed stuff like Sesame Street — it was a lot of fun.”
Dunnahoo said she had to learn the choreography at the studio at Sheridan, but once she got to New York, they had lots of rehearsals to practice the material as a group. She said she arrived in the city a little more than a week before the parade.
“It was my first time in New York City,” she said. “I had been to Long Island before, but I never got to go to New York City to visit — they had a lot of things planned for us.
“We took a harbor cruise around the Statue of Liberty, we saw Frozen: The Musical [on my birthday] — so that was a lot of fun. We got to see the Empire State Building and the big Macy’s store and One World Trade Center.
“We definitely got to do a lot of cool activities.”
Her entire family went with her to New York City, including her mom, Nancy; dad, Jason; and two younger brothers, Ryan, 12, and Colin, 11.
“It was an amazing opportunity for all of us,” Nancy said. “It was a good experience because none of us had ever been in Manhattan like that — so it was a good experience for the entire family.
“I’m glad we were able to pull it off.”
Nancy said the studio received a scholarship, and Alainna was the only one who took advantage of it.
“The choices were Los Angeles, New York or Disney, and she chose the Macy’s parade because that is something we have done ever since the kids were little, is watch the parade while we get ready for Thanksgiving,” Nancy said. “To have the opportunity to dance in it — she wasn’t going to turn it down.
“Her dad, the super supportive person that he is, said, ‘We are going to make this happen.’”
The Monday before the parade, the dancers performed for some producers for NBC. Alainna Dunnahoo said she didn’t know about it until that day, so “that was a little scary.”
She said at that performance, she got to interact with actor Alex Brightman, who plays the title character Beetlejuice in the Broadway show.
“I’m a very big fan of that show, so when he walked by, I told him he was awesome, and he said ‘Thank you,’ so that was very big for me,” Dunnahoo said. “We got to meet a [Radio City] Rockette and have a question-and-answer session with her.
“We also had multiple classes with choreographers for Broadway shows, so that was a lot of fun as well.”
Dunnahoo is home-schooled and has been dancing since she was 3 years old. This is her fifth year dancing competitively. She recently starred in the Grant County Theater’s production of Peter Pan as the title character, and her dad played Captain Hook.
“It was a lot of fun, especially the sword-fight scene,” she said. “To say I got to sword-fight my dad with metal swords was a lot of fun. and [I was] nervous because mine was really sharp, and I was scared I was going to miss and cut him.”
She originally auditioned for the role of Wendy, but after reading for the part, she was asked to read for Peter.
“This is great. I look like a boy,” she said, joking. “It was a really good experience to get to play the lead character for the first show.”
She said she has also performed at the Royal Theatre in Benton, but this was her first lead role.
“I enjoy having an outlet where I don’t have to think about anything else, except for the movement I’m doing — it is always something I’ve enjoyed,” she said. “It has never felt like a chore to go to dance class.
“And acting is just another outlet where I can be this other character and not myself.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.