Behind the Scenes at Radio City with Rockette Heather Langham

"To me, they're just beautiful, strong dancers, and I feel like there’s no other dance company in the world like the Rockettes. The precision has always been so iconic, and I found that inspiring. Everyone is an individual coming into the line, but then they create this picture of dancing exactly alike. It’s very powerful to see 36 women out there doing the exact same thing. So I really wanted to be a part of that."

"We start rehearsals in October. We rehearse six hours a day, six days a week for about six weeks. There are two casts in New York City: a cast that does the morning shows and a cast that does the evening shows. Each cast does up to four shows in a day, so we’re pretty much working from October 1 until January 5. It’s a physically and mentally demanding job, but obviously you’re dancing about Christmas and spreading joy to everyone, so there’s something special about that."

"We have something new in the show every year. This year, it's the choreography in our finale number, Christmas Lights. I would say it takes about two to three days for us to learn it and set the details—from the angle of our shoulders to the positioning of our head, along with where we’re standing on the floor.

After about three days of working and learning a number, we’ve been able to get it into our bodies and move onto the next number. And once we know the whole show, we’ll spend a few hours cleaning specific numbers so that once we get into our full run-throughs, we’re all very comfortable with what’s going on. The next step is adding costumes, sets, and lights."

"I’m in the evening cast, so I spend my mornings at home. I usually leave an hour and a half before the show starts. I always stop at my favorite coffee place, Think Coffee, and usually get—in the season—a hot cider, but other times, I get an iced latte.

Once I get to work, I allow myself some time to settle in...we have our own vanity areas where we keep our makeup and hair supplies. I’ll do my own hair and my makeup—we’re known for our red lipstick. That’s the one thing that will never change.

A half hour before the show starts, we warm up and our dance captain gives us any notes from the previous night’s shows that we need to work on, then we head downstairs in our reindeer costumes, which we wear for the first number."

"Once the show starts, we don’t go back up to our dressing rooms until the end—all the quick changes happen down on the stage level. Offstage, we’ve got dressers [assistants who help with costumes], and everything is just as choreographed offstage as it is onstage—it’s a very hectic but exciting 90 minutes.

There are eight different costume changes in the show, with one of our quickest ones being from the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers into New York at Christmas. We have just over one minute to change, so we basically have to keep moving. As soon as the curtain comes down, we’re helping each other out by unzipping each other’s soldier jackets."

"We have about an hour and a half between shows, so we use that time to eat! I like to have plain peanut butter and jelly and a banana to refuel my body. Sometimes we take naps. We’re really into puzzles. My dressing room will spend 30 minutes puzzling or making up dances. It’s quite the scene. Then we touch up our makeup and hair and we do the whole thing all over again."

"It was when I was first starting to date my now-husband. We were in the Here Comes Santa Claus number, all dressed as Santa Clauses. At one point, we come out into the audience and each turn to an audience member and say, “So be good for goodness’ sake.” I turned and faced my seat, and there was my boyfriend at the time! I think it was a 10pm show, and he had surprised me and come. It gave me a new surge of energy knowing that he was out there in the audience. That was a sweet moment for me."

"We wear microphones on our tap shoes! They’re on the bottom of the shoes. They’re wirelessly transmitted into the sound booth and then from there out into the audience. Also, a lot of people don’t know this, but the Rockettes don’t actually touch in our kickline. When our hands are back behind each other, we’re not even touching."

"If you want to be a little bit closer to Santa [during the show], I would suggest sitting in the 300 or 400 section in the orchestra level where Santa will walk down the aisle and you’ll have a little bit more of an intimate experience. However, the mezzanine level gives you a full, broader picture of the stage. There really is no bad seat in the house."

"Be there and be present in the moment because if you’re looking at the show through the lens of your phone or a camera, you’re missing out on so much of what is happening. There’s so much going on that you really don’t want to miss out on anything! Also, try to avoid getting up in the middle of the show."

"Whenever I walk out onstage in the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers number, just because the Rockettes have been doing that one since 1933. Every single Rockette who has come and gone has put that costume on and walked out on that stage. I get a little emotional thinking about the fact that I’m a part of that legacy. It’s very simple—we’re just walking out—but it’s still so powerful. I feel like the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers is what the Rockettes are all about. The simplicity is so powerful."