Working on Thanksgiving Day can be tough.
But for a pair of Fordham Rams, it was another way to spend the holiday together—and take part in one of America’s most iconic holiday traditions.
Ailey/Fordham BFA in dance grad Jaryd Farcon ’20 and his sister Jhailyn, a junior in the program, took the stage side by side as “house dancers” in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast live from New York City and watched by more than 34 million viewers.
“It was so fun,” says Jhailyn, who is currently performing in Broadway’s & Juliet. As house dancers—the high-energy core performers who help anchor the parade’s biggest musical numbers—she and her brother raced from location to location and changed costumes several times during the broadcast. “This was our first real professional job together, so that was really fun.”
The pair’s love of dance is a special bond that stretches back to their days at LaGuardia High School, the famed performing arts school just steps away from Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus.
“When I went to LaGuardia, because he was [in the Ailey/Fordham program], we were already roommates and living together” in an apartment near campus, Jhailyn recalls. “So we’re pretty close.”
For Jaryd, a choreographer, educator, and award-winning ballroom dancer who has appeared on Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, the ability to study and live in that artistic hub near Fordham was crucial. “The location is the best because it’s in the middle of everything,” he says. “You get the best of both worlds.”
The chance to balance dance and academic work with professional opportunities is one of the reasons why Jhailyn applied to the Ailey/Fordham program like her brother.
“A program that would allow me to still perform on Broadway while being in school, and perform in the parade? Not every school lets you do that,” she says. “I’m so grateful that both Fordham and Ailey support me in all my endeavors.”
