Hours earlier than opening night time, 25 dancers clad in leotards, leggings and glossy black helmets march in unison, breaking into tight formations then coming collectively once more to the beat of the whimsical music.
Periodically, they pause whereas a former Rockette named Kathy Dacey locations tape on the stage to mark the dancers’ spots. At the finish of the quantity, they salute, then stay in place whereas Dacey offers directions. Then it’s on to rehearsing the subsequent quantity.
For the 56 college students in the North East School of the Arts (NESA) dance program, these ultimate rehearsals mark the finish of the semester-long preparation for Steppin’ into the Holidays, staged 4 occasions in three days.
Now a practice at the arts-focused magnet program positioned at LEE High School, Steppin’ into the Holidays traces again to 2003, when Dena Mabry, NESA’s dance director at the time, determined to have a holiday manufacturing for dance college students at NESA.
She knew she wished to instill a “Rockette feel” to the show, just like the annual Christmas Spectacular the famend dance firm phases at Radio City Music Hall in New York: excessive kicks, precision numbers and class. So she referred to as Dacey to assist her convey a few of that magic to the show she envisioned. Mabry and Dacey met at Oklahoma City University, the place they each had been college students in the faculty’s acclaimed dance program.
Putting the show on stage got here with its personal set of challenges. Mabry recollects not having a finances for the show for the first couple of years. It additionally took some work adapting a well-known quantity the Rockettes carry out in their holiday show: a quantity in which the dancers painting toy troopers that finally fall down in a slow-moving domino trend. Unlike at Radio City Music Hall, there isn’t any crash pad to cushion the dancers as they fall onto each other.
Now, 20 years after its inception, the show has change into a staple at NESA. Although Mabry retired from NESA in May to concentrate on working her family-owned dance studio, she returned to pair with Dacey to work on the holiday show.
Students sit up for Dacey’s go to yearly as a result of they get to spend every week with a former Rockette who can share suggestions discovered from her profession as knowledgeable dancer and assist elevate the college students’ performances. During rehearsals the week earlier than the show, she works with the dancers to shine and refine their actions in each quantity, a course of often known as cleansing.
Among the issues college students study whereas making ready for the show with Dacey is “professionalism both on and off stage, perfecting choreography and refining technique,” mentioned Isabella De Leon, a NESA senior at NESA who hopes to pursue knowledgeable dance profession. “My favorite part of Steppin’ into the Holidays is spending time and performing with my friends.”
“[Dacey] has an eye for the precision type of stuff,” mentioned Mabry. “Even the non-Rockette type of numbers get much cleaner with her direction.”
This 12 months, Dacey choreographed the Toy Soldiers and Happy Holidays dance numbers, which have been a beloved a part of the show yearly since the first show.
“Before the dancers even come on stage, when they that trumpet blowing, you hear the collective gasp from the audience from the excitement,” mentioned Dacey.
She choreographed one other Rockette-style quantity, referred to as Holiday Belles, in which dancers play a xylophone mounted on the again of the adjoining performer.
The collaboration between NESA and Dacey is a singular alternative for college students, and it permits them to be uncovered to completely different kinds of dance, instructing and professions, a precedence of Mabry’s.
“Down here, the kids are great. They really want to learn,” mentioned Dacey. “Everybody tries so hard, and that is something I appreciate about coming down here.”
From the dance college students which have walked the halls of NESA, about half a dozen have gone on to attend the Rockette summer season coaching program after going by a extremely aggressive audition. One former scholar went on to change into a Rockette herself.
Many others have change into improbable skilled dancers whose careers have gone “way beyond mine” mentioned Dacey. “It’s nice to be able to say, ‘I taught him down at NESA and now he’s starring in a Broadway show!’”
As the performing arts middle at LEE High School begins to fill, college students kind a tight-knit circle backstage and maintain fingers as they obtain phrases of encouragement from Dacey, Mabry and dance administrators Carolyn Gresham and Anthony Martinez. They squeeze one another’s fingers, and after they let go burst into screams, hugging and leaping in pleasure.
“It’s exciting for me,” mentioned Dacey. “It’s really exciting for them.”
