Interview with a Broadway Rockette

Ever wonder what it takes to become one of the famous high-kicking Radio City Rockettes?

UMass graduate Elaine Winslow-Redmond knows about this job that requires a dancer to be between five-feet six and five-feet 10 and know tap, jazz, ballet and modern dance. Winslow-Redmond dances as a Rockette in New York City and is also the Rockette's certified athletic trainer. She recently returned to the UMass Amherst campus to talk about her career at the invitation of the Five College Dance Department.

After six-day-a-week studies at the Boston Ballet School, Winslow-Redmond followed her dad's advice to broaden her studies at a university. At UMass Amherst, Redmond said she expanded beyond ballet to other forms of dance and also developed an interest in learning about a varied range of subjects from nutrition to Middle Eastern history.

During her last semester, Winslow-Redmond turned down a job offer on a cruise ship to finish her studies. The job offer as a dancer for a month on the ship was made again later this time with twice the money and Winslow-Redmond, degree in hand, accepted. She added the job to her resume and used the money to move to New York. Her intent was to get a job as a dancer within five years.

Winslow-Redmond told members of the audience, some of them aspiring dancers, that her routine back them included working as a waitress during breakfast hours, taking classes later in the day and bartending at night. Free times was spent walking, rain or shine, to auditions all over Manhattan.

Winslow-Redmond said she could be called back as many as eight times for an audition and still not get chosen for the show. Yet, she persevered and auditioned six times to be a Rockette.

Winslow-Redmond said the audition required a person to "sing and perform proficiently in ballet, tap and jazz." She made it all the way to the finals the first five times. However, because she measured just shy of the required height, Winslow-Redmond said she was not selected. On her sixth try out, Winslow-Redmond tipped a little on her toes. She was hired!

Winslow-Redmond had to decide whether to do the popular Christmas show in New York City or tour the country with the Rockettes. Since she wanted to learn different kinds of dances, she chose the tour and was off to Oklahoma despite being a little nervous about flying.

"I had four rehearsals, six hours each and I had to learn eight numbers in only four days Monday through Thursday," Winslow-Redmond recalled. She noted that a dancer must "have sufficient flexibility in her hamstrings especially to execute the eye-high kick."

"To practice, we kick just to our own eye level repetitively to maintain a perfectly straight line of kicks." Winslow-Redmond said.

She still remembers being one of the five new women in their very first show. "I was very excited and very nervous. To be a Rockette you must be perfect. There are 35 other women on the stage counting on you to be perfect with them. It is a huge responsibility but very rewarding," Winslow-Redmond said.

Winslow-Redmond named "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" as one of her favorite numbers. As one of the shortest dancers, she would be at the end of the line and usually be the first "soldier " to fall into the line and the arms of the dancer behind her.

"It was an amazing feeling to be part of American history," Winslow-Redmond said of her most cherished memory-dancing at the inauguration of President George W. Bush in 2001.

Touring can take a Rockette to 27 cities in four months. Dancing at Radio City means many shows a day during the holiday season, 90-second costume changes and, oh, aching muscles. "We have a lot of upper-body concerns because of the costumes, which weigh quite a bit. The antler hat, for instance, was 15 pounds. One dancer had harmed a shoulder while putting on a costume. We have a lot of hip issues as well due to our famous high kicks," Winslow-Redmond said of the physical demands of being a Rockette.

It was these demands that got Winslow-Redmond interested in bringing in-house sport-medicine care to the Rockettes just like basketball and hockey players have. She began work on a master's degree at New York's Columbia University in exercise physiology and nutrition and an athletic training certification.
Winslow-Redmond describes this as a most difficult period of her life. She would take a subway to Columbia in upper Manhattan, return to Radio City in mid-town for one of 17 shows a week and then hop a subway back to Columbia for another two hours of class. Columbia University honored her as one of the top four people in her program when she graduated.

Winslow-Redmond has since helped develop an injury prevention program for the Rockettes. She is proud of her varied roles with the Rockettes which these days includes working with a dance-medicine physician and a physical therapist backstage.

"Through athletic training, I learned how to become injure-free. I also take pleasure in helping other performers prevent many injuries. I advise them for a 45-minute pre-performance warm up, educate them on the importance of a conditioning regime and help them to heal quickly. I feel a deep fulfillment with my job. I've always cherished the experience of being a Rockette; now I'm still working with them to make sure each one of them glistens on stages and brings happiness to the audience."