We love a PARADE!!!….All Star Spirit Productions LLC is proud to produce parades at Disneyland with youth performers. As we have collaborated with Disney entertainment, we have learned so many things about what makes a strong Parade Performer. Since a parade is passing a “new audience” at each spot along the route, the entire parade route is a Stage. A performer is being seen in a 360 degree performance space vs only from front angles. Also a parade is one long performance, so the front, middle and back performers are all telling ONE story, so the energy, stamina, and commitment is intense. Here are a few tips we have learned to educate performers on how to best prepare to perform in a Disneyland Parade.
A Parade Performer Must:
- Practice the choreography consistently moving forward. Dancing in a studio in a small space is a completely different feeling, than performing it constantly moving forward down a parade route.
- Consistent Showmanship is so important. Finding your personality and consistently integrating eye contact into your Parade performance is vital.
- Parade choreography is usually big and visual, as your audience sees you coming down the route, as well as you pass AND as you move on. Strengthen your arms/back and core, to be able to perform movements, big and bold, for a substantial length of time.
- Rehearse dancing in flat soled shoes, like tennis shoes. Parade surfaces are usually asphalt, which is majorly different to dance on, then a stage, marley or wood floor. A slight bend of the knees as you transition forward, will save your Knees/Hips but also ensure less fatigue in the lower body.
- Practice your spatial awareness and how you react to other performers, when you need to slow down or speed up. Your formations & space are ever evolving in a parade, so your mental awareness of the visuals you are creating with hundreds of other performers, is going to make you a smart parade performer.
- A Parade is usually outside, in the elements, so wind, rain, cold, hot, are issues that a parade performer must be prepared to endure. Practice outside in all elements to develop your ability to adapt.
- Study your parade route. When it curves, when it’s on a straightaway, narrows, broadens, etc, as these changes will affect how you move, and how to best engage your audience. In tight spaces, how do you make your moves smaller but still exciting, and when do you need to really travel to keep up. Also, In small spaces, you need lots of looks to the right and left to engage your audience. In a straight away, when the audience is bigger/fuller, you’re still making eye contact, as you pass, but now your energy needs to be broader, like in a stadium. Chin lifted, looking for the audience in the back rows, and still making those individual connections.
- STAMINA is Key. Work on breath work, and cardio to ensure the audience at the end of the parade route is receiving the best of you, just like the audience in the beginning of the parade.
We produce 3 parades a year at Disneyland with over 400 performers. It is an honor and a challenge and we love it. Follow us on social media at
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I hope your year ahead is filled with Magic!
Gretchen Noack, Owner All Star Spirit Productions LLC
Gretchen@allstarspiritprod.com
#allstarspiritproductions #BepartoftheMagic