Macy's Tap Dance Parade (Tap-omania) First Annual Social Event 1979-08-26 From 1981-to 1988, the Tapper's Line in front of Macy's Department store on 34th Street Herald Square, held each summer, broke its own record as 3,859 enthusiastic tappers joined together in a single, choreographed routine danced in unison. Participants ranged in age from seventy-eight years to fifty to four days (a newborn bumping along in his tapping mother's arms). One week before the event, dozens of dance captains teach the routine to groups of fifty to one hundred tap dancers. Dress rehearsals begin at 8 AM performance day. Dancers dress in Macy's t-shirts and official straw hats for the noon performance. According to Jean McFaddin, Macy's vice-president and director of special productions, "Macy's keeps breaking its own records in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest assembly of dancers to perform in unison." Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.677