On most weekday nights, the ticking of a metronome rings out across the University of Massachusetts Amherst athletic fields, followed by the music of the “Power and Class of New England,” the UMass Amherst Minutemen Marching Band.

Although the band and baton twirlers marched in the parade in 2013, this year, the 21-member dance team will join them on Thanksgiving Day in New York City.