The Rockettes ( [ˈrɔkɛts] , cheat. Rockettes ) is a New York-based women's dance group founded in 1925 in St. Louis (Missouri, USA). The performances combine the traditions of the French variety show and the American dance musical and are famous for their special synchronization of performance.
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History
The dance group was founded by American Russell Markert ( Eng. Russell Markert ) and was originally called Missouri Rockets (literally. "Missouri Missiles"). Entrepreneur brought the troupe to New York, renaming it Roxyettes , which outplayed his own name. The band began performing at , which opened on March 11, 1927 with silent films . French choreographer Leo Staats , who worked with dancers in 1926-1928, was invited as a choreographer from Paris. In 1929-1931, Leonid Myasin was the main choreographer of the Roxy Theater, from Leon Leonidov from 1932 until his retirement in 1974.
In the early 1930s, due to financial difficulties of the main owner of the theater, film producer William Fox , Samuel Roxy decided to leave the theater bearing his name and open a new one, more appropriate to his ideas. Radio City Music Hall opened on December 27, 1932, and Roxy moved there with a dance group, which now began to perform under the name, known to this day - The Rockettes [1] .
Activities
Since 1957, Thanksgiving has been participating annually in the traditional .
The Rockettes are especially active during the Christmas season, giving five shows daily seven days a week [2] . The colorful show, accompanied by the original musical accompaniment, involves more than 140 artists, while the dancers change their costumes up to eight times. This show, first staged by Leon Leonidov and Vincent Minelli for the opening of the theater in 1932 and attracting more than two million viewers a year, is one of the most popular concert programs in the United States.
The main venue of The Rockettes is the New York Radio City Music Hall , however, the team also toured various cities in the USA and Canada. In addition to concert activities, members of the team are engaged in charity work and conduct dance classes for young people.
Composition
Among the artists of the troupe were such stars of the American musical and cinema as Vera-Ellen , Lucille Bremer , Adele Jergens , , modernist (later became a writer), as well as winners of various beauty contests. The first Asian member of the team in 1985 was the Japanese Setsuko Maruhashi [3] . Until 1987, black members were not accepted into the troupe; the first African American woman was Jennifer Jones, who made her debut in 1988 [4] .
Since the troupe is famous for its coherence, selection in it is carried out in the most thorough way - up to five hundred candidates pass annually.
The group is part of the (AGVA) .
Recognition
In 1936, the troupe was awarded the Grand Prix of the Paris Dance Exhibition ( Paris Exposition de Dance ). In 2007, The Rockettes were included in the St. Louis Walk of Fame [5] .
- Photo gallery
Notes
- ↑ Radio City Music Hall Inaugural Program . Internet Broadway Database. (eng.)
- ↑ Rockettes dance group begins preparations for Christmas
- ↑ Radio City Music Hall Rockette Setsuko Maruhasi unopened (link not available) . Asiance . Archived February 6, 2010. (eng.)
- ↑ NY's Radio City Names First Black Rockette . Jet (eng.)
- ↑ The Rockettes Archived March 8, 2015 on the Wayback Machine