The Mavettes go to Macy’s

Article by Noah Buckner and Genevieve Darst

Photo from the Mauldin Mavettes Instagram

Perhaps one of the most shocking developments of January 29th, 2024 was the announcement that the Mavettes (Mauldin High School’s Dance Team) would be going to New York City to perform in the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Starting all the way back in 1924, the parade has become a staple of American holiday tradition, featuring beloved celebrities, characters, and performers. According to the Holiday Reporter, the 2023 parade had an audience of around 28.5 million viewers, and in the upcoming year our very own Mavettes will showcase their abilities in this iconic parade.

We spoke with Mary Belvin, the sponsor of the Mavettes, to gather her thoughts on being a part of the upcoming performance. Belvin is responsible for hiring most of the team’s choreographers. “When we hire[d] choreographers we hire[d] one from the Carolina Panthers, one from the Atlanta Falcons, and two from the Carolina Girls, which is the collegiate dance team of USC,” Belvin said as she twirled a pen in her hands. This assortment of professional dance coaches has consistently given Mauldin an edge over other schools when it comes to dance teams. Despite this, the Mavettes are currently not competing at the moment. “We have decided to focus the Mavettes on school spirit and different events in the community and school. Because we don’t travel to competitions and that kind of thing, we wanted to find a different way to do something that would be able to show our Mavettes to a larger audience,” Belvin said.

This decision to appeal to a wider audience ultimately reached its peak when the Mavettes submitted a video (filmed by a professional videographer) to Macy’s. The goal to be in the Macy's Day Parade has been around since the Mavette’s inception. Belvin states, “The very first year I started following other dance teams from other states and just to see, to get ideas. I saw that one of them had gone to Macy’s, so I started researching, ‘How do you do that?’” The process of waiting was agonizing for Belvin, “I [had] been checking my email like a madwoman,” but it finally paid off one fateful Saturday. “I thought ‘It’s Saturday, they're not going to send it out on a Saturday.’ I just happened to check it and I was sitting at my kitchen table and I saw the email and I was like ‘Oh my gosh,’” Belvin said. She immediately messaged the Mavettes and called them to an emergency meeting the next day, making sure that they didn’t know whether or not they had gotten in. Initially, the students didn’t think that they made it in. Belvin rested her head on her hand as she recounted what happened next.

They watched their audition tape, unsure of whether they had been accepted. When the video finished, Belvin finally announced that they had been accepted into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Belvin immediately perked up and smiled as she described the reaction to her announcement. “They were excited and screaming and jumping up and down. It was fun.”

Emmimae Peden, a sophomore Mavette, recalled the moment they were told that they had made it into the parade, eyes wide and excited she said, “I had a feeling it was coming, ‘cause why else would you bring us in on a Sunday? We were all really excited and we had these confetti things we were throwing.”

Kate Roemmich, a sophomore Mavette, hardly believed it either. “There was a lot of screaming. We were standing in the library and I did not believe it at first, like it's hard to believe that I’m going to New York to perform in the Macy’s Day Parade,” Roemmich said.

Everyone involved was ecstatic about their opportunity to not only compete, but to see the parade in person. “We were talking about how we would probably meet some of the Rockets, cause that would be fun,” commented Peden.

“The night before when they do their big rehearsal we will probably get to see all the people that are performing,” Roemmich added. But performing in front of the entire country comes with a degree of nervousness. Roemmich shared that she is “very nervous because that's like thousands of people,” but she is still excited at the opportunity to go to New York and participate in something so big.

Above all, Mrs. Belvin hopes that the parade will forever be a memorable experience for the Mavettes. “I want them to have the best time together and I want them to have an experience that, I mean, everybody knows what the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is, but very few people have actually been able to be in the parade. My goal is that it’s a lasting memory for a lifetime for them,” Belvin said.