The Rockettes

Known first as the Missouri Rockettes, Russell Markert’s  group of dancers first appeared in St Louis in 1925.

With a determination to have American dancers with the longest legs performing slick routines he created a precision chorus line boasting style and beauty, opening at Radio City in December 1932 to instant success.

The Rockettes started with 16 dancers but grew over the years to a total kicking line of 36. To keep the illusion of all the girls being the same height the tallest girls were positioned in the middle of the line with the ‘shorter’ dancers at either end. The height requirement is 5ft 6 inches to 5ft 10 and a half inches with an all round ability in tap, jazz, ballet and modern dance.

In 1933 Radio City Music Hall showed a movie every week along with a spectacular stage show featuring the Rockettes. Their precision and uniformity due no doubt, to hours of rehearsal and total dedication!

There have been more than 3,000 Rockettes and they are still going strong after 75 years.  Still performing across North America let’s hope they keep kicking for many years to come!