Move over Mickey. Students from the Debra Franco Preparatory School of Dance are ready to shimmy their way through the Magic Kingdom as part of the Dance The World parade, which will be held June 29 in Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Sponsored by World Class Vacations by WorldStrides, Dance The World is a dance program that allows dancers to perform in parades and stage shows at Walt Disney World. Participants can perform in parades at Magic Kingdom Park and Disney Springs, as well as participate in stage shows and master classes.

“We are so pleased to partner with Dance The World so that our dancers can perform at a Disney parade,” Franco said.

Five of Franco’s students will be participating in the event, all of whom began working on the parade choreography earlier this year.

Franco said they have been planning the trip to Florida since October. Earlier this year, they were sent a video with the choreography. And then in May, Franco had to send a video back to WorldStrides with the students performing the choreography as a means of demonstrating their knowledge of the dance.

“They will also have a rehearsal the morning before the parade that night, and if they do not know their dance or do it well, they will not be allowed to participate (in the parade) even though they’ve already put in many hours of practice getting ready for it,” she said.

The parade is scheduled to last about 30 minutes. In addition to practicing choreography, the students have also been working on endurance by doing their dance routine back and forth through the studio parking lot.

“And we’ve been outside to make sure they can deal with the heat,” she said.

In order to take part in the Dance The World parade at Magic Kingdom, participants must be 10 to 22 years of age. Four of the five students from Vicksburg who will be participating in the Magic Kingdom parade are Aubree Kirkley, Chloe Pettway, Raigen Smith and Miya Bittues.

Kaileigh White will be participating in the Parade at Disney Springs on June 30. The parade in Disney Springs is geared toward ages 7 to 9.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to all of our students. In the past, we have only had opportunities like this for our high school dancers,” Franco said, adding the choreography for the parade is the same for both groups, but the time frame of the parade will be shorter for younger dancers.

Franco said there are 48 other dance groups participating, hailing from the U.S., Canada and Guatemala.

Bittues said she was excited about performing in a Disney parade.

“I’ve never done a parade like this before, but I’ve been to some,” she said.

In addition to having the opportunity to dance in the parade, Franco’s students said they are excited about going to Disney World. A couple of the girls said they had been, but they were young at the time and don’t remember much about the experience.

The group traveling with Franco will depart from Vicksburg June 28 and stay until July 2.

Along with taking students to Disney this year to participate in the Dance The World parade, Franco has also offered students the opportunity to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.