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November 20, 2009

Edmond girl to perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

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  • PHOTO PROVIDED Karli Blalock, a junior at Memorial High School, will perform in the 83rd Annual Macy� Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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Patty Miller

EDMOND — Memorial High School junior Karli Blalock has been selected to perform at the 83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The daughter of Tom and Vicki Blalock travels today to New York City for four days of practices and one rehearsal in front of NBC cameras before the performance.

Karli has attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., for the past three summers, and she will join 60 fellow performers from that program in the first singing/dancing finale for the famous parade.

“We were researching online for a musical theater, and we thought Stagedoor Manor was one of the best,” Karli said. “I applied and I couldn’t believe it when I got accepted.”

Although she is not currently training with a voice teacher, she takes dance lessons at Diversify in Edmond.

“I started dancing lessons when I was 3,” Karli said. “I saw my cousin in a musical and decided I wanted to take acting lessons at 7 and when I was 8 years old I was taking voice lessons.”

Karli said entertaining is her first love.

More than 400 singer-dancers auditioned and applied for the Macy’s performance troupe. There are 22 states and three countries represented in the cast, ages 10-18. Students will bring a new twist to the Santa Claus finale, performing in front of the Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street.

There is an element of surprise in the finale, Karli said, and Disney wrote the music.

In a parade recognized by most people as the official start of the holiday season, Karli will join celebrities, floats, giant balloons and marching bands in this American tradition.

“We are thrilled to be chosen by Macy’s for this exciting new addition to their program,” said Stagedoor owner Cindy Samuelson. “The preparation, the rehearsals have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these talented kids.”

Karli, 16, is appearing locally at the Lyric Academy in “George M.” this week, where she also appeared in “Broadway Bound” and “Cinderella.”

She has performed in the University of Oklahoma’s “The Scarlett Pimpernell” and appeared in Los Angeles in “White Christmas” and “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.”

“Recent films she is working on or has appeared in include ‘The Mooring’ and ‘Pearl,’ which has earned accolades and awards at several film festivals,” said Vicki Blalock, Karli’s mother.

“She also appeared in the Support the Troops Tour in New York on New Year’s Eve and Find Your Grail at Edmond Memorial High School.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, celebrating the holiday since 1924, is today viewed live by more than 2 million spectators along the route and an estimated 65 million viewers nationwide.

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