Kicking their legs and dancing in perfect unison since 1933, the Rockettes are an iconic New York Christmas institution watched by one million people each year at the biggest indoor theater in the world.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is performed up to five times a day from November 13 to January 3 at Radio City Music Hall at Rockefeller Center, America’s most popular Christmas destination.
It’s a 90-minute show of music, ballet, ice skaters, dancing Santas, 3D cinema, fireworks, Christmas window displays that come to life, and streamers and snowflakes bursting from the ceiling.
There is a Nutcracker with a teddy bear fairy godmother. Santa Claus flies through the clouds on a sleigh ride only to turn up in the audience, before whisking two children to the North Pole.
The theater is all art deco opulence, with thick carpets, 6,000 silky smooth seats and an enormous stage that oozes Golden Age glamor, where some of America’s greatest entertainers have performed.
Together with the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, the Rockettes are a cornerstone of the winter holiday season, with New York expected to welcome 5.3 million visitors.
“I was taken by my family to see the show when I was a little girl and I know looking out to the audience that repeat families make it part of their holiday tradition too,” said Samantha Beary Burns, a Rockette for seven years.
“You kind of pinch yourself, is this really my life?” she said.
“Coming to New York at Christmas it is truly an experience that no one should miss.”
One number, “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” which sees 36 dancers collapse like dominos, has been performed every year since 1933 with the same choreography and the same costumes.
“It’s an audience favorite,” said Julie Branam, the first Rockette to direct and choreograph the Christmas Spectacular.
– Keep the show fresh –
The other constant is a living nativity scene that includes three camels, a clutch of sheep and a donkey, as shepherds and wise men pay homage to Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.
The animals live in the building, and each morning sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 am the camels are taken for a stroll around Rockefeller Center, Branam said.
“The show is based on tradition, which is great, but every year we’re trying to bring in new elements,” she added. “We’re always trying to think of ways to keep the show fresh.”
The Rockettes have two casts of 40 dancers but put only 36 dancers on stage for each number. The minimum age is 18 and each April the performers have to re-audition to keep their place.
They rehearse six hours a day, six days a week for six weeks. Once the show opens, each woman performs four shows a day, six days a week.
The dancers range from 5 foot six (1.67 meters) to five foot 10 (1.78 meters), with the tallest women performing in the middle of the stage, spreading gradually out to create the illusion that they are all the same height.
“They make it look so easy when it is so difficult,” says Branam. “They are so highly trained, it really is every form of dance and they’re athletes on top of it.”
During the performance there are eight costume changes: the fastest allows the dancers only 78 seconds to get out of their soldier costumes into little dresses, white fur hats and fur-trimmed coats.
Burns said her favorite number is “The 12 Days of Christmas,” in which the dancers portray the various objects from the famous holiday song.
“It shows our personalities,” she explained. “It really shows our athleticism as professional dancers and I think it highlights the history and the iconography but it’s still contemporary.”