BWW Interviews: Abigail Gatlin - Behind the Scenes of the Rockettes

I recently had the pleasure to attend the Radio City Christmas Spectacular right here in New York City at Radio City Music Hall. And let me tell you, this show definitely put me in the Christmas spirit. If you have yet to see it this year, or even ever at all, take my word for it- GO. But, if you don't want to trust my opinion, perhaps one of the lovely Rockettes can convince you.

I got to sit down for coffee with current Rockettes dancer, Abigail Gatlin, 26, from small-town Cleveland, Tennessee, and learn what life is really like as a Rockette, what goes on behind the scenes, and what it's like transitioning from a small town to New York City and becoming a member of one of the most amazing dance ensembles in the world!

KD: Santa says in the show that the real magic of the Rockettes is that it keeps getting better and better every year. This was my third time seeing the show and I definitely have to agree. This had to be the best performance I've seen to date. So I'm curious to know when the first time was that you saw the Rockettes and when you first discovered the magic and fell in love with the show.

AG: I grew up watching the Thanksgiving Day parade with my mom, but didn't see the show until I was 16, in Nashville. I begged my parents to take me because I'd grown up watching every year and being so enamored with the Rockettes- their beauty and strength and how much talent they had... watching all the women work together and knowing that I wanted to do something like that. So I saw it for the first time in Nashville when I was 16, then saw the show again when I was living in New York when I was 19. I had taken a year off from college and was up here in New York as an intern at Broadway Dance Center. I was learning how to live here. It's a tough place. There's a reason they say, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere." It's not the easiest city to live in. So one day I had an evening off and just decided that I was going to take myself to go see the Rockettes and I cried so much just watching. I was in the third mezzanine- I bought a really inexpensive ticket- and to be so far away and still see the magic and the beauty of it all. I just thought to myself, 'that's what I want to do. That right there.' I hadn't really discovered musical theatre because I wanted to be a company dancer or a ballerina growing up, but watching this and how strong the women were... and the teamwork really appealed to me and it appeals to a lot of us. It's not about the prima ballerina or the soloist or the principle dancer. It's about all of us working together, which I think is really cool. We all do the same number of kicks in the show. We're all working really hard. And I think it's really exciting and really cool that what we do that other dance jobs don't provide is that level of comrade that we're able to get because there's not the competition about who's going to get the solo or be the principle.

KD: How many girls are in the Rockettes currently?

AG: There are 40 in the cast and we have two casts in New York, so there are 80 women in New York. 36 are in the line and each line has 4 swings. A lot of really talented, hard-working women.

KD: And how many girls did you have to audition against to get that spot?

AG: I think every year at auditions there are a solid 500 or 600 women at each audition. And they hired 4 new women in New York my first year. So it's definitely an honor to join the ranks. We audition every year.

KD: How long have you been dancing?

AG: I started dancing when I was three, but getting serious- about twelve or thirteen. That's when I started asking my mom to take me outside of my small town and spend summers elsewhere and getting different teachers and exposing myself to different styles.

KD: The show features a lot of different styles of dancing. It's got ballet, tap, jazz, so which style did you train the most in growing up and which one did you find most useful in learning the difficult choreography?

AG: I think ballet definitely is where I had the most training growing up, and I think it's really helpful for having good lines in dancing. You instinctively know how to make a straight line in a diagonal because you know where your body is in space. I think ballet is really good for knowing how to use your legs, using your plie, making sure that all of that basic technique- straight legs, pointed toes, makes everything really easy so that those don't have to be something you have to think about, because there are so many details in the choreography. You don't want to have to think, 'oh, I need to pique onto a straight leg' because you have too many other things to think about. But jazz, too. At my internship here, I started training in musical theatre and getting a lot more jazz training, and I think the strength required in jazz helped a lot with this. Although, I have never needed so much strength for anything as I needed in this. I think you have to be so strong to execute the choreography correctly. I don't know that anything really prepares you for it, which is really cool, because it pushes you to the next step.

KD: So what is it like working with live animals or floating snow orbs? How does it make this show a different experience from other places you've danced with?

AG: It makes it really exciting! There are times when I'm in the nativity and you look around at how beautiful the scene is and you just think 'that's a camel! That's a real, live camel!' The sheep are led by people in the cast, some Rockettes, some ensemble members, the skaters... and we all take part in the nativity, which is a cool time that we all get to be on stage. And cool things like the 3D screen and the flying snowflakes... the production level at Radio City is always just the highest. These snowflakes float on their own with their own GPS coordinates that they follow every night. They fly up and go on their path and it's really exciting to see those out there while we're dancing.

KD: Did you find that distracting when you first starting dancing with the Rockettes? Dancing while all of these high level productions were going on around you?

AG: Oh, absolutely. But that's why we have a really in-depth tech process. You know the show inside and out before we move to the theatre. We have time- we do things quickly, but there's still plenty of time to adjust to the lights (the lights are so bright) and the stage is so big. My first year was so overwhelming. The first time you get on that stage and you're dancing at the front and there's so much empty space in front of you... and to know that you're still doing the same steps, you know exactly what you're doing. You just have to trust that you know your numbers and your depth and your details and not let it take over and take away your focus from what you're doing.

KD: This is your second year as a Rockette. Do you feel that there was more or less pressure coming back?

AG: I think it may be a little bit of both because your first year, you know it's going to be the hardest thing you've ever done, but you don't know what that entails. But coming back this year, I knew what would be required of me, so I had really high expectations of myself- that I was always going to take my notes immediately, clean things up as quickly as possible, and focus on things that I had trouble with last year so I wouldn't have trouble with them again this year. But you also have a really exciting level of confidence, because you know that you can do the job. You know you can because you've done it before. I did last year's season... 110 shows, so you know you can come back in and you know how rewarding it is, how rewarding all the hard work is.

KD: How much of the show was different this year? Are there a lot of differences year to year or is it a lot of the same familiar choreography?

AG: It's a lot of the same. There was a whole new number this year- Snow.

KD: Was the video game 3D number there last year?

AG: It was! I believe this is our third year doing video game. So it's still fairly new. But Snow was the completely brand new number. So, brand new finale- really exciting! So that was a lot of new things to learn, which is really cool to be a part of.

KD: Do they add a new number to the show every year?

AG: No. Not every year. They definitely are always updating things, keeping it fresh and updating details in choreography, which keeps it exciting for us and keeps us on our toes. We're always searching for the best, cleanest choreography, so details may change, but things like Wooden Soldiers never changes. Same choreography since 1933.

KD: Yeah! My favorite routine has always been Toy Soldiers. The fall at the end...

AG: It's so cool!

KD: Exactly! How much time and practice goes into that? How many hours, weeks, and months are you rehearsing for the Christmas Spectacular?

AG: Six hours a day, six days a week, starting in the middle of September. We rehearse for about a month before we move into tech, then we're adding in the stage and the lights and all of the other technical aspects in a very, very organized fashion. It blows my mind, all of the details. Before we do costumes, we do a shoe-through where we go through the whole show and we just change our shoes so we learn where our changes are. Because everything that happens backstage is as choreographed as what happens onstage. In our 78 second change...

KD: Wait... how many seconds?!

AG: 78 seconds from Wooden Soldiers to New York at Christmas.

KD: Are you serious? Wow!

AG: It's very fast. Yeah... very fast. So that is incredibly choreographed as to what we do first. We have the best dressers in the world back there helping us out. So you have to learn all of that choreography as well and that is all organized and they teach that to you just like they teach you the dance steps. So there's a lot of work going on around and above you.

KD: And Radio City is huge. So what's it like maneuvering that backstage and making it to the dressing rooms for those quick changes? Do you have to go to the dressing room each time?

AG: We don't actually ever go up to our dressing rooms again. Once we leave for Reindeer, we have all of these quick-change booths. There are all of these spots all around the theatre where we make our changes. There's a lot of traveling underneath the stage to get to the other side. It's very well-organized. It's amazing.

KD: And the hair and make-up- do you do that on your own?

AG: Yeah, we do!

KD: Does someone come in and teach you how to do that?

AG: There are often impromptu French Twist tutorials that we have. It takes a while to get the French Twist down so that you know it's going to stay for the whole ninety minutes. And we have hair and wig prep stations backstage. The make-up- we definitely have a guideline for how they like us to appear. We have a fantastic make-up artist that comes in at the beginning of the year and talks to us about what looks good on stage under the lights. But yeah, we do it all ourselves. And in Wooden Soldiers, those are actually fabric cheeks that we stick on. I wish I knew the number of fabric cheeks they go through. We use double-sided tape, because that's the 78 second change...

KD: So you don't have time to actually paint those cheeks on.

AG: Yeah. We just rip them off.

KD: And, of course, I have to talk about the famous kick line. How much practice and work does it take to get it so perfect? It's always completely symmetrical and everyone is always together.

AG: It's a lot of work. They teach the choreography for the kick-line first, so then you can know it in your own space first. You learn the steps, you learn how to kick. Because they definitely go into detail. You want to use your abs and not the back of your legs: making sure we have long, straight legs and pointed toes that go right to our eyes. So you have to learn how high that is and to not kick too high or too low.

KD: And you're all about the same height, so that has to help, right?

AG: Yeah, we have a four and a half inch gap, from 5'6" to 5'10". Tallest in the center and shorter on the ends, and because the heights are so staggered out and there are so many of us, it creates the illusion that we're all the same height. And if we all kick to our own eye, then it looks like we're kicking to the same height. And we don't touch in our kick-lines. We never put pressure or weight on our lovely neighbors. You don't want to push anybody over to support yourself and I think that's a really cool thing about our teamwork. We all rely on each other to do our own part. Everybody has to carry your own weight.

KD: And that's where the strength comes in, because I would be up there so tired, wanting everyone to hold me up.

AG: Right, and we're all tired! That's the thing. It's like, everybody's tired but you really have to dig in and find your strength. And tune in to the music, too. You really have to listen for the symbol crash. There's a symbol crash whenever our legs go up, so we really tune in so that the height of our leg meets just when that symbol crash happens- no earlier, no later.

KD: About how many kicks do you think there are in the show?

AG: I haven't ever really done the math, but I think they say it's around 300. It's a lot of kicks.

KD: And everyone usually does multiple shows a day?

AG: Yeah.

KD: So you're doing more like 900 kicks a day.

AG: Right. You have to learn how to kick very economically and efficiently. You have to use your abs to help your legs come up- not using your hips, not using muscles that will over-tire. We spend a lot of time building up that strength.

KD: Do you have any kind of training routines you guys do to stay in shape?

AG: Yeah! We all do different things in the off-season. I really enjoy dance-cardio because I think it helps the most with my stamina and I also really enjoy it. Running is not my favorite. And that's also a different kind of stamina than what it requires to dance for ninety minutes. I really enjoy dance-cardio classes and I teach Barre style fitness classes that are based on ballet barre and strengthening your core and your legs, using all of the muscles there so that you're really strong and focused on having really good alignment. So that's one less thing you have to think about when you're dancing. You know that your shoulders are going to be over your ribs are going to be over your hips.

KD: What else do you do during the off season, when you're not dancing with the Rockettes? Do you dance elsewhere?

AG: I teach and audition and perform regionally in musical theatre. I really love musical theatre, so I try to do a lot of that in the off-season. I had the opportunity to do four shows last summer at Merry-Go-Round in Auburn, New York. It's fun and just something completely different from the Rockettes.

KD: So a lot of the readers out there at BroadwayWorld are dancers, so is there anything you would like to say to them? Any advice or inspiration for aspiring Rockettes?

AG: I would definitely say take as many styles as you can. Of course, we're very strong in ballet, tap and jazz, but I think more exposure to more styles makes you a more versatile dancer and allows you to pick up a choreographer's specific style very well. And especially in precision work, you really have to be able to hone in on our director's style. And never give up. I think that's really important. I auditioned 6 times before I got the job. A lot of women auditioned less and a lot of women auditioned more, but I think that level of dedication and persistence allows you to do better in the job. It takes so much hard work and so much strength and dedication- go ahead and work towards that before you even get it. I kept going back, kept trying to get stronger, working on stamina and athleticism, because that wasn't something I had ever focused on. I started watching more videos of the Rockettes on-line and I would watch and say, "ok. They're really strong. I don't know if I'm that strong." so I started working on that. I worked on it really hard and kept coming back and I think that's the ticket.

KD: And final question. What's your favorite number to perform in the show?

AG: Wow- I don't know! I really love Reindeer. It's the perfect number to start off the show. The charge downstage... the wind's swirling and we charge down the stage for our first section of dance and it's really exciting. And then I think Wooden Soldiers. Almost every time we enter, the audience applauds. We're walking on stage and you can hear people start clapping when we form these formations and straight lines, and to know that we're here walking and focusing on all of our numbers and guiding and maintaining straight lines, but that it's so awe-inspiring is really cool, how something so simple can be so beautiful. And to know that it's been around for so long, I mean that's really cool. It's not often dancers get to perform such an iconic piece of choreography.

KD: Wooden Soldiers has always blown me away. It was my favorite as a kid, and it's still my favorite. When I just came back and watched the show I was just in awe and wanted to know how you guys were doing it. And part of me wants to ask right now how you do it, but the other part of me doesn't want to know, so I'm just going to let it go!

AG: Just let the magic happen!

With Thanksgiving over, the Rockefeller tree lit, and Christmas carols ringing through the air, now is the perfect time to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular! Performances continue until December 30, with multiple shows a day. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.radiocitychristmas.com/get-tickets.html or by phone at 866-858-0007. This is a classic show you won't want to miss!

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