High-kicking Radio City Rockettes mark 100 years with Christmas
Spectacular
[November 06, 2025]
By PHILIP MARCELO
NEW YORK (AP) — A staple of the New York City holiday season is marking
a century of wowing crowds: The high-kicking Radio City Rockettes are
turning 100.
The famed dance troupe will celebrate the anniversary with its annual
Christmas Spectacular this week — a festive performance of synchronized
dance routines that includes the troupe’s signature precision kick line
as well as the fan-favorite “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” in which
the costumed dancers march in military-like formation and then famously
collapse like dominoes.
The Rockettes represent a throwback to old-time New York, when Broadway
was dominated by extravagant music and dance spectacles, elaborate
costumes and lavish sets. Their journey through the past century has
seen their modest Midwest beginning as a troupe of 16 precision dancers
evolve into a large company of more than 80 staging as many as five
shows a day. The shows incorporate a range of dance styles, including
jazz, tap and ballet.
One thing that hasn't changed: generations of little girls have grown up
dreaming of joining the troupe.
Isabelle Harris, a 20-year-old, newly-minted Rockette from Utah, said
she's still floored to be a part of this year’s milestone.
“In my mind, the Rockettes were this amazing, strong, unique, glamorous
group of women that I wanted to be a part of,” Harris said before
rehearsal last week. “It’s so exciting to be joining the line this
specific year.”
Rockettes through the years
The Christmas show dates to 1933, but the troupe itself traces back to
the creation of the “Missouri Rockets” in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1925.
They were brought to New York City by S.L. “Roxy” Rothafel, a theater
impresario who initially renamed them the “Roxyettes” before eventually
settling on the “Rockettes” when the act moved to the newly built Radio
City Music Hall in 1932.
The troupe famously performed for weary American soldiers during World
War II and have been a mainstay of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
for decades. In more recent years, the Rockettes have appeared on the
NFL's Super Bowl Halftime Show, Broadway’s Tony Awards, MTV’s Video
Music Awards, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” among other major events and
broadcasts.
“There is something about the Rockettes being the main event that is
sentimental, riveting and iconic,” says Lauren Gaul, chair of the
commercial dance program at Pace University in Manhattan that’s produced
many of the troupe’s dancers and a former Rockette herself. “Most times
as dancers we are the background, the back up dancers, the core
ensemble. We rarely get to headline.”
The Rockettes’ popularity waned in the 1960s as the counterculture and
women’s rights movements took off, she said. They even went on strike
for nearly a month in 1967 seeking better pay.
But as Radio City Music Hall faced closure and demolition in the late
1970s, the troupe reinvigorated its image by becoming the public face of
a successful campaign to preserve its storied home.
In the late 1980s, after decades of resistance, the all-white troupe
finally integrated when Jennifer Jones became the first Black Rockette
in 1987.
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The Rockettes rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," a number
in which the costumed dancers march in military-like precision and
then famously collapse like dominoes, in the Christmas Spectacular
at Radio City Music Hall, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP
Photo/Richard Drew)
 In the ensuing decades, the
Rockettes launched touring productions, which expanded their
national reach before ending in 2014. New directors and
choreographers also injected more complex and contemporary dance
elements into the production, according to Gaul.
Rockettes' signature Christmas show
The troupe’s signature Christmas Spectacular is a blend of the
traditional and modern, says Julie Branam, the show’s longtime
director.
The choreography in many of the most famous numbers have remained
largely unchanged since the troupe’s founding, including the “Parade
of the Wooden Soldiers."
Some of the costume designs have also stood the test of time, she
said, though the materials have been upgraded to withstand the
rigors of the holiday season, which runs through Jan. 5.
Modern touches have been added over the years, from digital
projections to drones, holographic animations and even an actual
double-decker sightseeing bus, which features prominently in “New
York at Christmas,” a relatively new song-and-dance number.
This year’s shows, which are expected to be viewed by more than one
million people, feature a new, immersive sound system similar to
what’s used at the Sphere entertainment venue in Las Vegas.
But one of the most marked changes over the years has been the
increased technical abilities of the dancers, which has allowed the
troupe to incorporate faster kicks and more challenging dance moves,
says Branam, a former Rockette. The dancers perform more than 200
kicks during each 90-minute, intermissionless show, she estimated.
“What’s truly amazing is that we are all exceptional dancers but we
are also athletes,” Taylor Shimko, an assistant dance captain in her
16th season. “We say that we’re athletes dripping in diamonds. Every
part of this is hard work, but it’s all about making it appear as
though it’s easy.”
Danelle Morgan, a dance captain in her 20th year with the company,
said if she was to travel back in time to the troupe’s founding,
she’d thank those early pioneers for the legacy they left to
generations of dancers.
“Being a Rockette is something I didn’t anticipate,” she said before
rehearsal last week. “It becomes a piece of your identity, this job.
It’s something that’s really special, and I didn’t necessarily see
that coming.”
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