It's a hard knock life for us

Not many people get a look at the Rockettes when we are backstage and un-glamorous. We hide the pains we feel on stage because we get paid to make it look easy. But the truth is, this dancing is HARD! Last Saturday we had our first four-show day. It was a jump from having only done two shows in one day to four shows in one day. One at 11:00, 2:00, 5:00, and 8:00. Luckily they feed us on those days since there is only one hour between shows and we don't have a lot of time to get nourishment, fix hair and makeup, and work out any other problems. After our long "Christmas in New York" number we get a 15 minute intermision that seems to fly by. We generally lie on the floor for a bit, maybe roll the cramps out of our feet, and elevate our tired legs before we have to strap on a 15 pound fat suit for the dance number where we all dress up as Santa Claus. Here is a picture of Ashley and me resting at our stations during intermission of the fourth show of the day. We are wearing our tights for the "Ragdoll" number which is after the "Santas" number, and our t-shirts that absorb the sweat from prancing around in a fat suit. That day was an unprecedented challenge for us. But we're not complaining. It's the only four show day we have to do in the whole run! Yay! The other cities have to do them every Friday and Saturday.

The coffee table book is now available!

So, I haven't seen it in person yet, but the coffee table book celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Radio City Rockettes is now available! My friend Leah went to pick one up at Barnes and Noble today because she happens to be on the cover. I am supposedly featured in this book, though I haven't confirmed it yet. I flew back to NYC this summer for the photo shoot where we got to wear vintage costumes of the Rockettes. It is entirely possible that they left out all the costumes that my group wore, but I hope not. Here is a link to the book on barnes and noble.com: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780061565380&itm=1
and here is the front cover with my friend Leah (who is also a new girl and who I stand next to in the kick lines) front and center!

A Thanksgiving Miracle

So, our final number in the Christmas Spectacular is a live nativity. We have three live camels, and three live sheep, and a donkey. Apparently one of the sheep was pregnant and when we came back for the show on Sunday she had a little lamb. They gave her the day off to take care of her baby, which I think was appropriate. The rumor is that she actually went into labor on stage the night before and her water broke on stage, but it might have just been urine. I don't know what to believe. But either way, look how cute!

Truly Thankful

So the best part of my Thanksgiving day this year wasn't the delicious lunch I had courtesy of Ellendale's restaurant in Nashville, nor was it performing that evening with the Radio City Rockettes, it was immediately following that performance when I came home to find my fiance waiting for me at home. I knew that he would be there, it wasn't a surprise visit, but it had been 5 weeks since we had seen each other and that is entirely too long. I am so grateful that he traveled all day on Thanksgiving to be with me! It was the best thing ever. It was one of those moments that I kept trying to picture in my mind, wondering what it would be like to see each other again, playing out different scenarios in a dream like bubble. It couldn't have been better. I meant to take a picture of the entirely store-bought meal that we had at 11:00PM that night, but I guess in my excitement/hunger/tiredness I forgot. It was actually really delicious. I guess I bought things from all the right stores. I had a fantastic weekend with my Greg. The next morning I got to meet his brother Patrick and wife Jen (the only family members I hadn't met until then), and we had some fun trying to navigate the city. That night they came to the show with a couple of friends who were in town, and imagine how pleased I was when they seemed to like it. We snapped some photos afterward. The next day we went to the ICE! exhibit right next to the Opryhouse where they have an entire wonderland made of ice. This year it was celebrating the 50th anniversary of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". It was pretty terrific, despite it only being 10 degrees inside. They did bundle us up in Smurfy parkas to keep us warm. Here we are going down the slide made entirely of ice! We were lucky enough to see one man overestimate the strength of the plastic handles that were embedded in the ice at the top of slide--he tried to push off of them from a standing position, and he took the handles to the bottom of the slide with him. So, we had to merge lines with the other slide and ride the bigger one. It was a pretty impressive display overall! Greg came to watch me dance again that evening, as did my friend Camron and her husband Adam, which was so much fun! They even sacrificed a chance to see Billy Ray Cyrus and Hannah Montana to come hang out with me and Greg and drive our non-rental-car-having butts around town. I laughed more this weekend than I have laughed in the last 5 weeks. I remembered how funny Greg really is! Sadly, the fun weekend had to come to an end this morning, but I will always be grateful fo this Thanksgiving weekend with friends and family.

The Ideal Man

How many of us were asked at some point during our schooling, be it public, private, or spiritual, to make a list of attributes of our ‘ideal man’ (or woman). I know I had the assignment multiple times. It seems like the moral of the exercise was that your list might have things that ‘would be nice to have’, but you really should narrow it down to things that were essential to have a successful, loving relationship. Basically, a person was missing the point if their top priorities in a companion were things like good hair, good fashion sense, hot body, and other seemingly shallow desires. The real important things were things like sharing life goals, making each other laugh, being close to God (if that’s important to you), etc. So I kind of had the impression, from these list-making exercises that you shouldn’t count on getting everything you wanted on that list. Imagine my surprise when, during the course of dating my fiancé, I realized that not only did he have the essential things, he also had the ‘inconsequential’ things, plus a bunch of other bonuses I didn’t even think were possible to find in one man. I really didn’t think such a man existed! For example, it’s strange, but for some reason when I was younger I always imagined myself with someone very Italian-looking. You know, tall, dark, thick dark hair, chiseled features. I couldn’t really imagine being with someone who actually WAS Italian, just someone with that look. Oddly enough, I never dated anyone with that look. Until Greg came along. Physically, this guy was the picture I had always had in my mind of who I would be with, so I was naturally interested in what else he had to offer. Amazingly, he had everything to offer me. We had the same interests, he made me laugh, I could go on and on, and probably will at some other time and place, so I restrain myself here. Another silly example: When Disney’s Tarzan (the movie) was released in theatres I was very excited to see it. I watched it at the Villa theatre in Salt Lake City, and I was enchanted. Not just with the musical score, the cute adaptation, the wit of Minnie Driver’s ‘Jane’, but with Tarzan himself. Seriously, the dude is a cartoon, but I was really getting into this whole idea of finding my very own Tarzan. It dawned on me the other day, “I did!”. Now, perhaps the most obvious connection that people have made with Greg’s ‘look’ is that of the most amazing human to walk the earth: Jesus Christ. Come on, people. It’s undeniable.So, I like to think that somehow, I found the perfect cross between Tarzan: “King of Apes”, and Jesus Christ: “King of Kings". Is that blasphemous? I'm not trying to be. I just feel like the luckiest girl on the planet to be marrying the man who is the surprising combination of all the men I think are perfect. I love you, Greg!

A visit from the rents

My mom and dad managed to make it to three performances while they were here, and they still wanted to see more. There’s a lot going on in this show, so it’s hard to see it all! After the last performance they saw, I gave them a short backstage tour, and we were able to snap some pictures in one of my costumes. The one I am wearing is for our first number “Need a Little Christmas”, or as we like to call it, “Wreaths”.We get to dance with these giant wreaths, holding them at eye level and flipping them back and forth from either a gold side, or a green or red side, depending on where you stand. Apparently it’s a really beautiful effect, though I wouldn’t know since I’ve never actually been able to watch it. The wreaths are a bit tricky to maneuver, but we do it because it’s our J-O-B (just a little saying that our director likes). I’m not sure that this is our most exciting, or quintessential, costume, but the two costumes that most people take pictures in were actually thrown into the wash before I had a chance to get pictures, so I’ll have to get those later. Here I am, hoping for a letter at the Grand Ole Opry post office. Nothing yet. But I'm still smiling!

After the performance we decided to check out the Opryland Hotel, which is right next door, because it is renowned for its Christmas decorations as well as its beautiful interior and design year round. It was the first time I had been through the hotel, and it really did surprise me how grandiose everything was. There are a number of different wings of the hotel, and each wing has a large atrium area in the middle with loads of plants, trees, waterfalls, and rivers winding through. There are walkways at all different levels of the hotel to view these atriums. For Christmas, there are lights hanging all over the place, along with different themes in each wing. The first one had jungle animals in hot air balloons hanging from the glass ceiling, all of them dressed in holiday garb. Sounds crazy, but it was also crazy cute. Another wing had a large nativity where the people and animals were made out of colorful tent-like material and were lit inside, and they were surrounded by palm trees wrapped in colorful Christmas lights. A third wing had an outdoor all-white nativity with statues sitting in a shallow pond. The reflection in the water gave it a really nice effect. The trees outside of the hotel are all covered in lights as well, and some of the Rockettes in our group participated in a tree-lighting ceremony before we opened our show. I guess these are some of the things that won Nashville the title of one of the top ten places to spend Christmas by Travel + Leisure magazine! I am loving it!

Opening Night!

So, after our invited dress rehearsal on Wednesday night, we had another invited dress rehearsal on Thursday afternoon, and then opening night was Thursday night. We all wanted to live up to the great show we had the night before. Everything went well, we had a great audience, and it was so exciting to know that the rehearsal process was over. We finally got to meet with our producer after the show, and he said some kind words to us. He told us that some of the sponsors who attended the previous night had told him this year was the best production they had seen so far. And while they had changed a backdrop or two, he remarked that this was the best cast that had been in Nashville in the 7 years they have had a production here. That was really great to feel that I was part of such a great cast. Everyone is really talented, and they are good people, so I am really grateful to be part of this particular production. After the show I said hello to my parents and my aunt Patti and uncle Rog who were in town visiting. How great to have family in town for the opening night! After the show we had a cast party at the Opryland Hotel next door. We ran home for a shower, and then boarded a stretch Hummer limo back to the Opryland Hotel. It was fun to see everyone so happy and in a festive mood. Of course there was lots of dancing on the dance floor, although I ran out of energy about halfway through the night and spectating had to suffice. Here is a picture of the six new girls of Nashville! Laura, Dani, Me, Leah, Darci, and Nikki. On the way out of the hotel, Leah and I struck a pose from our 'sit down drill' as we so lovingly call it from the number 'Christmas in New York'. If you think that kicking your legs when you're sitting down is easy, you're mistaken. It's still hard! We didn't kick due to our dresses, so we just hit one of two 'leg out' poses. Leah and I are always right next to each other in the kick lines. Originally they thought we would be the two center girls, but one of the veterans turned out to have higher shoulders than mine, so she beat me out for center. Now I am one off of center, and right next to Leah. That is a beautiful hotel. More pictures of that to come!

Victory

So the last few days of rehearsal one of the directors came to watch us and see if we were up to par. It's a little nerve-racking when you are part of a production that is known for precision in their performance. Attaining perfection is always a little daunting for me. But maybe that's just me. Anyway, all of us were a little nervous, but especially we new girls were really feeling like we were doing a terrible job and would just never live up to expectations. The night before opening night, we had an 'invited dress rehearsal' where sponsors, media, friends, and family are invited to preview the show before the official opening. It was our first audience, which was both exciting and nerve-racking. Feeling like we had not achieved the perfection we had hoped, we were nervous to gather in the green room after the show to get our director's reaction. We anxiously sat together as a cast, and when she excitedly yelled "That was GREAT!" We exploded into a celebratory cheer. While she acknowledged that there were still improvements to be made, we were all so excited that she was pleased with our performance that night. And while some of you may be thinking, "Big deal. Doesn't everyone say that just to keep your spirits up?" The answer is, no, they don't, especially not in Rockette land. So this was good news to our ears when, in other years, the cast has instead heard things like, "you guys need to get your $@#! together". We took this victory picture. It was the happiest I think I have been in the last month!!!! Yay!!!

Technical Rehearsals

So the first few days of rehearsals were 'technical rehearsals' where we have to set all the lighting cues, and practice with set pieces and props. It's a long process where you do small portions of each number, and pretty much every time you move places you have to stop and allow the technical team to get everything set. Then you get to run the number from top to bottom to be sure that everything worked. It was really exciting, though, to finally be on stage and have a real understanding of what performing will be like. It's very different to be on the real stage, especially when there isn't an audience and you are smiling into a dark abyss. The Opryhouse is beautiful and I am very excited to be performing there. It's a pretty cool set up inside because the theatre is very steep, rather than deep, which means that most of the seats are a pretty great view of the stage. Also, all the seats are old church pews (they have now cushioned them for comfort). Once we got all the lighting set, we got to add costumes. Then it gets really interesting. Wooden Soldier pants are starched beyond belief, every number includes a hat that is uncomfortable to wear and difficult to keep on, but it all comes together for a pretty great effect, I think. I was very excited when we left one night and all the animals for the live nativity had arrived and they were taking the camels for their first walk through on the stage. We hadn't had the opportunity to rehearse with them quite yet. I can't remember all their names at the moment, but I know that 'Wendy' stands right behind me on stage. Not sure which one I snapped in this picture on my way out of the theatre. Yes, they do occasionally relieve themselves on stage. Hey, these are the things that make a live performance more interesting. No editing here, people. You never know what's going to happen!

Two weeks late

So, apparently I have already been in Nashville two weeks today. I've had really spotty internet access since I got here, so I've fallen terribly behind. Also, I've been terrible at taking pictures. So, where to begin? Well, we are staying at a hotel here where we each have our own little studio apartment with a kitchenette so that we can cook for ourselves while we are here. It's great! I love it. They treat us very well. We have free internet access while we are here, free breakfast (and it's actually good), and the local Gold's Gym gave us free memberships during our stay. Nashville is really beautiful this time of year, it's still very autumn-ish. The colors are beautiful and the weather is a great temperature. Today it was about 63 degrees, and it stays really pleasant in the evening, too. The first week we arrived we spent most of the time getting settled, and the rest of the time at the Opryhouse rehearsing. So even though I haven't seen all that much yet, I'm really excited to be here and really enjoying the new surroundings!

Waccamaw Factory Stores

So, while in Myrtle Beach we got to rehearse in an abandoned strip mall. I guess that Madison Square Garden Entertainment leases a bunch of the old stores for rehearsal space, wardrobe, prop building, etc. It was a bit strange at first, and equally as difficult to capture digitally. I've tried to take a few pictures to show what it was like. We had a large rehearsal floor, and a small rehearsal floor. We were mostly in the large space, but when the rest of the cast arrived (ensemble, Santa, the elves) we shared it with them and had to move to the small space half the day. Here you can see a picture of us in the small rehearsal space here is a picture of part of our large rehearsal space. This was on the last day that the Florida cast was in rehearsals, and following tradition, they ran around all the other rehearsal halls wearing their Florida attire. The tape you can see is marking different set pieces that weren't present during rehearsals. The mirrors you see got taken away from us for the last couple of days of rehearsal. Now that we are in Nashville on the real stage it is really fun to see how it's really going to be!

Halloween 2007

Halloween seems to go on for days, and I just can't seem to get enough of it. While I don't partake in scary movies or haunted houses, I do enjoy costume parties and Halloween candy. I was saddened by my inability to take a costume with me to Myrtle Beach (due only to my priorities in packing, I suppose), so I had to improvise a little this year, but I really get a kick out of seeing other people's creativity. Our cast went all out dressing up for rehearsal, and we snapped a few pictures before we had to take them all off and perform for the boss. Then that night we got together for a house party, though most of us had faded by about 9:30PM. It was a very long day of dancing. Just before we headed home, you can see Darci, myself, and Leah in this photo. I'm the blonde, male NBA basketball player from the 70's in the middle. Whatever. Darci and Leah are in the same car as me, meaning, we are all assigned rental cars that we share with three other girls. It's a good time.

Old Girl

I'm really learning to appreciate proper care for your body after exercising it. Well, at least for a speedier recovery. It kind of sucks to be older now and to have permanent injuries. My right hamstring is all messed up, and it's very high maintenance right now. I injured it somehow last year when I started the cruise ship contract totally out of shape, it finally healed, and then the Rockettes had to throw a right "jump split" into one of the dances. I thought they were kidding at first, but I should have known better. For those who aren't familiar with the terminology, a "jump split" is when you jump up in the air in the splits, and then you allow gravity to work its course while you remain in that split until you meet with the floor. It's not pleasant. But I digress. I was trying to introduce you to the pictures of our physical therapy room, shown below, where we are all congregating in the morning before rehearsal to prepare for the day of dancing ahead. We are equipped with tons of tape of various kinds, blister treatment/prevention, icing, moist heat, ultrasound for deep heating, stretching, and probably some other stuff, too. I love this place. It's tucked in the back corner of our lunch room, which you can see behind me in the picture below. The real point of the picture is not the lunchroom, however, but my buffness. Our opening number requires that we coordinate our dancing with a prop, which happens to be a large tinseled wreath, and dancing with these wreaths is building our upper body strength quickly. Check me out! my shoulders are unbelievable. Well, they will be by the end of the run, I'm sure. The truth is that I was wrapped with ice and saran wrap for the drive home so my arms wouldn't be so sore in the morning. I'm telling you, it looks ridiculous, it smashes my chest together, and body heat melts the ice into a drippy mess, but it works!!!!

Muscle Maintenance

So, I made it through the first week of rehearsals! I managed to get sick the second day of rehearsals, which definitely put a damper on my first week. I'm not the toughest person when I'm sick. I'm finally feeling better, just struggling with a nasty cough, but getting better. Last Wednesday we had our orientation with the rest of our cast where we learned about our benefits, had some media training for the many interviews and promotions we will be doing in Nashville, and had some fun sexual harassment training and what not. Then we had three more days of dancing where we learned a 7 minute long tap dance. It is craziness. Yesterday we had the day off, and I spent the whole day in bed after going to a non-denominational church in the morning (stake conference this week down here). Doing everything I can to take care of myself and remain healthy and strong. Today we are back at rehearsals for our first week of six straight days of dancing. One of the things we do every day after rehearsal to take care of our muscles is to take ice baths. The budget only provides for two tubs for about 72 girls, so we have to share. We ice anything from our hands (the Rockette style makes EVERYTHING sore) to our entire bodies. These tubs are between 40 and 50 degrees fahrenheit, and we stay in for about 10 minutes. It isn't very fun, but it really does keep the lactic acid at bay so that we don't get as sore. And since it helps to talk through it, it's a good bonding experience for us! Here 's Danielle, me, and Keltie midsoak today .

The bane of my day

So one of the moves that kept getting me in trouble was this awesome 'spin to the back and lean to the right as far as you can and then do a giant ZAPping kick with your left leg'. I never could seem to lean far enough. We decided to take a picture of what it should look like, since I can never see myself in the mirror. So here I am with Leah. I think she and I will be splitting center stage for the show. Surprisingly we are the tallest girls in the show. The beach is beautiful, the air temperature is perfect, and the water is nice as well. I am so grateful for this day off to recover.

Rockette Reality Check

So, today was my first day of rehearsals as a Rockette., and I have the sore body and humble spirit to prove it. We started off at 10AM in this strip mall that the "Christmas Across America" tour seems to have purchased to house their rehearsal spaces, costumes pieces, and set building for show preparation. Each city has their own rehearsal spaces inside an old mall store. I'm a little bummed I can't tell which store was the previous occupant of the Nashville rehearsal stage. But, it turns out to be a pretty good space with a good floor and mirrors and such. I am here three days before most of the 18 girls in our cast. There are 6 new girls to the cast this year, and we are all learning some things together before our other castmates arrive. Today made me realize I was still underprepared, despite my attempt at getting into "Rockette shape". And by that I don't mean losing weight or achieving a specific level of sinewiness. I mean more like, being able to dance in high heels for hours on end without tearing your feet apart, or being able to make kick after kick after kick look easy whether standing in place, sitting on a hedge, or travelling across the stage. Some sort of tendon on the inside of my knee is terribly sore from "flicking" my legs in and out quickly at all different heights, my hips are stiff (though certainly less than they would have been had I not taken that ice bath directly after rehearsal), my wrists are sore from the constant flexing of my hands, and my back is all knotted up from holding my arms and upper body in so many terrifically awkward positions. I achieved a blister on my left heel within the first hour of rehearsal, and managed to split the bottom of my left toe open before lunch. The great thing is that they have physical therapists on hand to treat our every ailment from hurt hamstrings, ankles, backs, hips, feet or what have you. I got a good taping job during lunch and made it through the rest of the day without my feet giving me too much trouble. Instead, it was my lack of strength and stamina that got me. Wouldn't you know it. Though I felt a little discouraged about my own personal overall performance today, as a group we did pretty well. They let us finish about 45 minutes early, which they told us never to expect again, but for which we were extremely grateful . I am really hoping that I find my strength as the days go on, rather than find that I grow increasingly weaker and injury prone. As luck would have it, I get tomorrow off to recuperate and rehearse on my own, and then I go back for rehearsal again on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is an orientation with the rest of our cast, and then it's on like Donkey Kong. I just hope I can make it through these next few weeks. I'll put some less disgusting pictures on here at some point, I'm sure.

Twenty Niner

It was my 29th birthday on September 30th, if I can believe it. It was a pretty great birthday week. On Wednesday, my fiance Gregory took me to the LCD Soundsystem/Arcade Fire concert at Thanksgiving Point. It was terrific. On Friday, I had the day off of work, so I spent it taking bridal shots with the talented Rachel Thurston of www. rachelthurston.com up millcreek canyon. What a party! To prepare for that, my visionary friend Molly Hyer did my hair and makeup with some classic 40's glamour, and my dear friend Sarah Lovett consulted and kept us company. Friday night my amazing fiance Gregory went with me (despite me causing us to be late) to learn how to fox trot. The first man to ever go ballroom dancing with me. He wins the prize! Then, I acquired a cold. The only downer to the weekend. Saturday, I spent taking engagement shots with my splendid fiance Gregory, and the talented Rachel Thurston at the downtown SLC library despite an early season snowfall. Saturday night I dined on delicious Japanese food with my dearest friends, and then partook in some bowling with some more dear friends at the Ritz classic bowling. The extraordinary Caroline King graced us with delicious german chocolate cupcakes, and my fiance Greg delighted us with pictures of our rear ends while we aimed for a strike. Sunday I spent with my beloved family. What I'm trying to say of course, is that I would be nothing without my friends and family! I love you all!!!

Living the Dream

People keep telling me things like, "you're living the dream". I suppose it's true. I mean, this Friday morning at 6 AM I leave Salt Lake City to fly to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to rehearsals so that I can dance with the Radio City Rockettes this holiday season. I am being paid (handsomely, if I do say so myself) to dance, fed breakfast, housed in my own room, and provided a rental car. Then I get to fly to Nashville, TN where I get to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in a national tradition, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. That's pretty amazing. Not that dancing with the Rockettes, specifically, has been a dream since my childhood, but dancing professionally has been. It was only a few years ago that I realized this would be the perfect dancing job for me, and I set my sights on making it happen. And now it's happening! I am still a bit in denial.

The only sad part about living this dream is that I have to leave my dream man, Gregory Hunt, back in Utah for 2 1/2 months. The irony! I am so blessed to be with a man who supports me in pursuing my talents and my dreams. Enjoy your higher than average amounts of gym time and guy time while I'm away, Gregory, cause when I return it's ON. Full Throttle. Charlies Angels 2.

Feeling Sheepish

So, I was all excited, er, well, maybe anxious is more the word to describe my feelings about finally starting my own blog. I thought it would be a good opportunity to record some of the stuff that is going on in my life--to act as a stand-in journal for the journal that I so often neglect. When I finally found a url that wasn't already taken, I promptly posted my first blog, only to find that I wasn't sure what else to really say. I had all these confused feelings about posting my thoughts on things on the world wide web. Not that anyone is even reading this blog at the moment, but, I had certain feelings that I didn't have anything new to share with anyone at the moment. I was sharing these sheepish feelings with my fiance, Greg, and he shared his own feelings that it's an opportunity to feed some creativity. Now that was a reminder I could use. Thank you, fiance! I have been saddened by what seems to me to be a significant loss of creativity in the last ten or so years. I tend to blame part of it on the eight years hiatus I took from dancing (my major creative outlet), and part of it on the near four-year marriage I was in, and in which I chose to suppress a great deal of emotion in some sort of survival experiment. Whatever the reason, I am renewed in my efforts to forge ahead with this blog thing. Go easy on me, I'm new at this.

The Rockette Confusion

This year I get to dance with the Radio City Rockettes for their Christmas Spectacular show. I will not be dancing at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, however, I will be dancing at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN. Virtually every person I talk to is unaware that The Rockettes have expanded their performances to other cities besides NYC. Here is a link to the Radio City website, and their link to "Christmas Across America": http://christmas.radiocity.com/ontour.html.
I auditioned back in May in NYC, and when I made it to the final cut they advised us (about 30 girls left) that they were unsure how many openings they had, and they would get back to us hopefully by June. We then had our measurements and photos taken, and we filled out information forms where we could request our top choices of cities. If you are assigned to the NY stage, the weekly compensation is the same, but housing and transportation are not covered, whereas if you perform anywhere else, all expenses are paid (besides some food). So, I checked the "put me anywhere" box, as I love to travel and would be happy to perform in any of those cities. I was actually very excited to be placed in Nashville as I have never really spent time in the south, and I've heard Nashville is beautiful.

This year happens to be the 75th anniversary for The Rockettes, so I am really excited to be a part of it! They are publishing a coffee table book to commemorate this anniversary, so all the girls this year were able to participate in a photo shoot. I flew back to NYC in August for a one day shoot, where we got to pose in three different vintage Rockette costumes. It was great! But you might be surprised how painful it is to remain static all day in high heels, tights, and uncomfortable costumes. Here is the "diamonds" costume from the old Easter show that used to be put on at Radio City: Not really sure what this one is, but we were calling it the Easter egg costume: And here is the line up of girls from that day. There were only 18 of us on this particular day, girls from all different cities. This was our last photo, and we were all very tired. You can probably tell.