The Rockettes are officially looking for some fresh faces. For the first time in almost a decade, the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall is expanding its yearly open call in New York City to add audition locations in Chicago and Atlanta. The creative team wants to widen the pool and reach even more dancers.
So how can you get chosen out of hundreds of hopefuls?
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is full of dancing, including the Rockettes. Photo courtesy Macy's
Don't get us wrong: We're totally looking forward to enjoying a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. But one of our favorite parts of the holiday actually happens in the morning. We've got six reasons for you to wake up early on Turkey Day, and they're all part of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The 92nd annual holiday event airs at 9 am Eastern on NBC, and this year, you can catch live performances from five Broadway shows, plus everyone's favorite high-kicking dancers, the Radio City Rockettes.
The intensive dancers learn what it takes to move specifically enough for a kickline. Photo courtesy MSG Entertainment
On a humid summer day in midtown Manhattan, construction goes on outside the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Inside, another type of building goes on: In separate basement studios, two groups of 40 dancers focus their attention on their instructors. It's the Rockettes' summer intensive, a rare chance for students to work with professional Rockettes, not to mention Julie Branam, their director and choreographer.
Rockette Bailey Callahan demonstrates in front of one group. Hers is a classic Rockette story. She attended their intensive every summer from 2009 to 2011; being a Rockette was her dream. Then, in 2012, she was asked to attend the program's invitational week. At the end, she received her Rockette contract.
Corey Whalen photographed by Carl Scheffel; Courtesy MSG Photos
Performing around 100 shows of the annual Christmas Spectacular per season, Radio City Rockette Corey Whalen can practically do her stage makeup in her sleep. "I give myself about 20 minutes to do my makeup, and then I keep it on—even if we have a four-show day," she says. With a full look that includes light contouring, liquid eyeliner, false eyelashes and a red lip as precise as the Rockettes' famous kick line, that's no small feat.
