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High-kicking hopefuls put it all on the line for Rockette dream
April 17, 1997
Web posted at: 5:00 a.m EDTFrom Correspondent Jeanne Moos
NEW YORK (CNN) -- If you've ever had a yen to be a Radio City Music Hall Rockette, this is your chance.
The producers of the famous Christmas show are on a 10-city Rockette audition. But it just might be easier to launch a rocket than to launch a career as a Rockette.
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First, you have to wait in line outside Radio City Music Hall. Then you have to fight to get one of the much-coveted ID bracelets. And then you have to get past the guy that's guarding the door to the would-be Rockettes' dream.
Undaunted, one hopeful leg-kicker says, "I've always wanted to be a Rockette. Always. Ever since I was little."
But before you can even audition, you have to measure up.
Rockettes can be no taller than 5 feet 9 inches and no shorter than 5 feet 5 1/2 inches. Although sometimes the powers that be will cut a lucky dancer some slack.
But 5-foot-4-inch Heather Shanahan was short by more than a hair.
"I tried to poof my hair, but I guess it didn't work," she says.
Those who meet the height requirement go on to stretch, nervously twist their hair and learn a dance routine on the spot, first without music, then with it. Then it's on the floor, dancing while the choreographer judges you.
And this is only the first day. Those who make the first cut have to come back the next day.
If that's not nerve-racking enough, imagine tap dancing to "Here Comes Santa Claus" in April.
The show's producers say they're looking for talent, personality and presence. Nice legs don't hurt, especially when it come to that famous kick known as the "eye high."
Take it from someone who's already a Rockette.
"If you're doing an eye-high kick, it better be eye-high," says Tara Bradley. "It can't be head-high or even hip-high."
The eye-high kick helps preserve the illusion that all Rockettes are the same height.
"We put the taller women in the center and the smaller ones on the side, so if they all kick their two in front of their eye it looks like they're all kicking at the same level," says choreographer Linda Haberman.
Surprised? Here's another shocker.
"You can't touch the other Rockettes. They have to stand on their own," Bradley says.
So in reality, they just look like they have their arms around each other's waist. Touching is actually a no-no.
"If you're feeling tired that day, you start hanging on the other girl," Haberman says.
After three months of Christmas shows, it's easy to feel tired. A Rockette can make around $15,000 over those three holiday months, but first she must make it through the rigorous audition.
The aspiring high-kickers are judged on a scale of 1 to 5. On this day, there were a lot of twos on the list. One poor woman was even labeled "frumpy."
The would-be Rockettes even have to submit to a pretend interview, to see how they would handle the press.
"There's nothing hard to being a Rockette," one hopeful responds. "You just have to smile, look pretty and do high kicks."
Still, dancing like this to "Jingle Bells" is stressful enough to send Santa to a sanitarium.
Related story:
- Rockettes give spring a kick - March 20, 1997
Related site:
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- Radio City Online - The Rockettes
- Poster World Museum - The Radio City Rockettes
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