They came from across the country — Utah, Arizona, Hawaii, Florida — all with one dream:
To become a dancer with the Rockettes, the New York City precision dance troupe best known for their high kicks and their appearances at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.
Once a year, the Rockettes have an open call audition, which means that anyone can sign up, and about 1,000 people did.
Eight hundred of them lined up outside the gold stage door of Radio City Music Hall, including Alyssa Gallagher, 28, from Pittsburgh.
This, she said, is her 10th time auditioning.
"The whole journey has been long, but I've been patient and I'm continuing to go for my dream," she said.
Before there was Radio City, there were the Rockettes
The Rockettes began in 1925 in St. Louis, where they were a company of 16 dancers called "The Rockets."
At the time, precision dance was considered "new-fangled" and "cool," said Adrienne Gibbons Oehlers, a theater and dance professor at Wittenberg University who's writing a book about the Rockettes — and is a former one herself.
"These ideas of industrialization were really prevalent. And so, how do we do things mechanically organized in unison? That was a novelty. That was really interesting and awe inspiring." She added, "It still is."
When John D. Rockefeller built Radio City Music Hall, he wanted it to be so opulent that even Great Depression audiences would come see a show. It opened in 1932 with a gold-leaf ceiling in the lobby, chandeliers and art deco murals. The Rockettes soon made it their home and expanded to 36 dancers, so the kickline could stretch across the enormous stage.
The first Christmas Spectacular debuted in 1933, but unlike the present day, the Rockettes also performed year-round as part of a variety show before movies.
"It was like a four-hour ordeal," Oehlers said. "It would start with this organ prelude, these amazing organs that are still at Radio City today. There was a full ballet company. There was a glee choir. The Rockettes would do a number. Then they would all do this grand finale, and then they would show the movie."
Entertainment — and American culture — have changed significantly since the 1920s (for one thing, people no longer go to movie theaters weekly), but the Rockettes kick on. Oehlers said one of the reasons is likely because the company has a physical home.
"Dance companies that are connected to buildings and have permanent homes do much better and have a longer legacy. If you think of, you know, the New York City Ballet, places that are connected deeply with a location have that gift of continuity," Oehlers said.
Nostalgic — but contemporary
Another reason, though, is that the Spectacular tries to balance the nostalgia that keeps parents and grandparents coming back — the Rockettes have performed "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" every year since the beginning — with contemporary notes that feel current to young people.
"I always am looking to make sure the choreography feels up to date and keeping music fresh," said Christmas Spectacular director and choreographer Julie Branam.
But most importantly, the Christmas Spectacular needs to feel ... well, spectacular.
"You'll see 48 Santas onstage at once. You'll see 36 Rockettes kicking. You'll see camels. You just never know what you're going to find here," Branam said.
Rockettes are a sisterhood
Although all Rockettes need to audition every year, many of them return annually. One of those is Danelle Morgan — this is her 20th year as a Rockette and she's now the assistant choreographer and dance captain. She's also one of the few Black women in what has been historically an overwhelmingly white cast.
Unlike many of the auditioners standing in line who said they had wanted to be a Rockette since they were preteens, Morgan said she was training at the Ailey School and just wanted a job. She went to a workshop, loved how challenging the dancing was — and then, after auditioning three times, she got cast.
"When I stepped into the line, I immediately had an awareness that I was different. When you look at the line, I looked different than most of the women in the line. And so I definitely felt that I had a responsibility — I told myself, I want to be the strongest. I don't want to pull focus, because by nature I pull focus."
So she just worked hard, she said. She isn't the first Black woman to be a Rockette — that was Jennifer Jones, who joined the company in 1987 — but her longevity has made her a role model for people like Rockette hopeful Alyssa Gallagher, who said Morgan was the reason she auditioned.
"Year after year, I see more dancers that look like me, not just in the line, but in the auditions," Morgan said. "What I love about the company is I think that we've acknowledged that a lot of work needs to be done and that we're taking the steps to do the work."
And once you're part of the company, she said, the Rockettes are a sisterhood. They rehearse six days a week, six hours a day, for six weeks leading up to the holiday season. There's an alumni group. They have reunions. In short, they wouldn't be the Rockettes without each other, they say.
"I think what's really beautiful about the Rockettes today in 2025 is that we can have unity, we can have precision, and we can also have individuality," said Rockette Valeria Yamin. She's been part of the company for five years and is from Caracas, Venezuela, and South Florida. "We each bring a different background, a different fire, a different passion to each move. But we're all thinking about the count the same. We're all thinking about the moves the same."
She feels lucky, she says, to be dancing next to the other Rockettes.
"That's what we look for here: beautiful dancers, beautiful humans," Yamin said. "And I think you can see that in the audition room and when we get out there and we show our stuff onstage."
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