The stakes are higher for 2025 Radio City Rockettes auditions as the iconic dance troupe celebrates its 100th year: ‘It takes a lot of grit’

If you see a swarm of statuesque women high-kicking in front of Radio City this week, no, it’s not Christmas just yet.

The holiday season may be months away, but springtime is when Rockettes history is made.

Each April, hundreds of hopeful leotard-clad dancers travel from all over to the Big Apple to audition for a coveted spot on the famous kickline — founded in 1925, halfway across the country in St. Louis, Missouri, by choreographer Russell Markert.

Markert was a chorus dancer at the Missouri Theater and was asked by the owners to create a “specialty dance troupe” to perform before or after movie screenings. He set out to audition girls at local dance schools and assembled the most talented of the day for the precision group in October 1925.

Then called the Missouri Rockets, the famous kickline had only 16 dancers and height requirements were in place, but they were not the same as today. Originally, Rockettes were required to be between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-6½, but today, they must be between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10½.

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“He [Markert] liked the sound of the word ‘rocket.’ It sounded really precise,” said Magdalene Linck of the Missouri Historical Society. “It matched up with the kind of precision and almost military-style precision the dance troupe moved with.”

The dancers, known for their impressive skills and exactness, were a hit in St. Louis, where they first performed — namely at the Missouri Theater, where it was common to see dancing girls and variety shows — and became “very, very popular,” Linck said.

“Group of local girls became one of the best dancing units in the world,” an article in the St. Louis Star-Times said at the time.

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Those popular girls then embarked on a tour, specifically in the Midwest and on the East Coast, just a few months after Markert cast them.

During their first nationwide tour, the troupe performed in the Broadway show “Rain or Shine” and started booking more shows in New York City. During one stop in the Big Apple, Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel, owner of the brand-new Roxy Theatre, was dazzled.

The Missouri Rockettes became so popular in NYC that the group officially moved there in 1930, all thanks to Rothafel.

When he bought the troupe, he doubled the number of dancers and called them the Roxyettes. It was a natural name for the “dazzling” headliners at the Roxy, as promoted in a Dec. 27, 1932, opening-night ad in the New York Evening Post, as the New York Post was known at the time.

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When Radio City Music Hall opened in 1932, then billed as the world’s largest indoor theater, Rothafel increased the group size again to fill the Great Stage. They performed to a packed house during an “elaborate variety show” on the hall’s debut night, the New York Evening Post reported the next day.

Of one dance interval, Post critic John Mason Brown lauded: “And there is a paper snow storm in one ballet number which is so prettily convincing as it comes swirling down on a stageful of Roxyettes that in spite of yourself you begin reaching for your muffler.”

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It wasn’t until 1933 that the group performed its first Christmas Spectacular. In that first year, a Dec. 21 New York Evening Post ad boasted of a “supreme” holiday staging that included “Roxyettes on a Christmas Tree” for a captive audience.

Today, more than 72 million people have seen the seasonal show.

In 1934, the dance team was renamed the Rockettes, but Markert was still involved. In fact, he choreographed for the group until his retirement in 1971.

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Future Rockettes

For 11 years, it’s been director and choreographer Julie Branam’s difficult task to find the next generation of Rockettes for this now-100-year-old legacy.

All dancers who meet the 18-year-old age requirement are welcome at the legendary organization’s open-call audition, because Branam wants to give everyone an equal opportunity to showcase their talent.

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“I’m always looking to do things better and to make sure that I’m giving every dancer the best chance they have to get that job,” Branam told The Post.

While it’s an extremely nerve-wracking experience, Branam and the dance captains find small ways to humanize the process — like calling every dancer by name instead of a number.

It’s a long, high-pressure day for the hopefuls, but considering the legendary troupe has been held to an exceptionally high standard for the past century — only the best of the best make it.

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Try, try again

The stakes have always been high at these auditions — even back in 1971 for veteran Cynthia Hughes Miller.

At 17, Miller didn’t get the job the first time around but was invited to audition again.

“I got a letter saying the positions were filled, and when I graduated from high school, to get in contact with them,” she told The Post. “So I auditioned again — I did the kicks, some tap, ballet, jazz and [finally] got the job.”

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The Rockettes’ assistant choreographer and dance captain Danelle Morgan, now celebrating 20 years of eye-high kicks, also experienced rejection at first.

“My first audition, I didn’t get hired. My second audition — the same thing. It wasn’t until I auditioned for the third time that I got hired,” she recalled to The Post. “But every time I went back, I stayed a little longer and I learned a little bit more about this style that was not familiar to me.”

Expectedly, audition cuts will always be made because the team of pros is only looking to fill a specific number of spots on the kickline — which varies every year.

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“Some people are starting their families, some people have gotten jobs on Broadway or are touring. Some people are going back to school,” Branam explained.

“You just never know what will be. And some people have just said, ‘This is my last year, and I’m going to retire from this,’ So there are all different reasons why the line opens up.”

After the audition process, some dancers are asked to join the invite-only conservatory and preparatory programs, designed to help dancers learn, understand and perfect the group’s unique dance style — whether they got cut or made it all the way through.

‘It takes a lot of grit’

And the specific technique the Rockettes are known for remains true to its 1920s roots — it’s just slightly updated now to keep up with the times. 

“With this big 100 number, I think back to how far the company has come. How the choreography and even the [Christmas Spectacular] show has grown, evolved and changed,” said Morgan.

“We [now] have a presence on social media, the versatility that we have to have now as dancers versus back when I even started has changed.”

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“The evolution that I’ve witnessed firsthand and continue to see is that there is now a lot more diversity and inclusion in the cast,” Jacey Lambros-Carrino, a former Rockette of 10 years, told The Post.

Known for their leggy statures, a height prerequisite remains — but Branam said it’s changed throughout the years because ultimately she is looking for “great dancers to join the cast.”

However, being a great dancer will only get someone so far because the life of a Rockette is not for the weary.

These women are athletes in their own right — training six hours a day, six days a week, for six weeks leading up to the November opening night of the Christmas Spectacular.

“It takes a lot of grit to be a Rockette and to be in the Christmas show in general. It is a 90-minute show. And you could do two, three, four shows a day with only one day off a week,” Branam told The Post. 

“The consistency is a huge factor. And for some people, that’s really hard.”

Lambros-Carrino agreed. “There aren’t a lot of 18-year-olds who can endure the magnitude [of the job] both in terms of physicality and emotional demand,” she said.

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“But it’s also really beautiful to watch somebody come in at 18 and watch the evolution of that person.”

That includes errors — Rockettes are humans who make mistakes after all, although their kicks make it look otherwise.

“We try to avoid [mistakes] and really rehearse so well that it’s muscle memory,” Branam added. 

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They put the ‘kick’ in kickline

Rockettes must always bring their A-game because every kickline dancer is constantly being evaluated. Regardless of one’s tenure, each dancer has to reaudition every season. 

“Show business is a really hard business, and I want everybody to do their best. Everyone has to stay in shape, keep working hard, keep listening and keep a good frame of mind,” Branam said.

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A strong work ethic is what every dancer must have — especially when spectators travel from all over to witness their eye-high kicks in the Christmas Spectacular.

Today, even with two New York casts, 42 Rockettes in each — these women form a close-knit bond.

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“You become intimately close with the women because you’re with them every second of your day,” Lambros-Carrino said. “I spent my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes New Year, with these people.”

Morgan agreed. “It’s one of those things that literally nobody gets unless you’ve done this experience.”

Despite the high-pressure demands of the job, when asked what it means to be a part of the Rockette legacy, all four women couldn’t help but smile ear-to-ear. 

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“Being a Rockette becomes synonymous with who you are. It’s something that you wear with a sense of pride,” said Morgan. 

Working as a former Rockette and now leading the next generation of dancers, Branam feels blessed to call this work. “I can’t believe I spent 38 years of my life here. I mean, how lucky am I?”

And while Miller may no longer be on the front line, it’s an experience she will never forget.

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“My email has the word ‘Rockette’ in it, and when I get on the phone to argue about a bill or something, and I need to give my email, they ask if I was a Rockette and their whole attitude changes,” she laughed. 

“Nothing lasts for 100 years — but I think it’s going to keep on going. They’re beautiful, talented. They’re athletes. They’re everything.”