Rockettes welcome fresh new talent ahead of ‘Spectacular’ season

Meet the new dance queens.

This Friday, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular returns for another magical holiday season – with a host of fresh faces joining the show’s famous Rockettes this year.

After open auditions in the spring, where more than 800 women poured into Midtown to show off their best tap, jazz and ballet moves, 17 incredible ladies will join the illustrious dance battalion of 84 in total .

“With my two dance teachers growing up in the Rockettes, seeing them live out their dreams on stage made me want to be even more,” Kayla Hsu, 21, told The Post. years old, from Scotch Plains, NJ – just a few days ago. her first performance.

And while it may seem like the weight of the world has now fallen on their shoulders, the group of 17 – all fresh graduates from the Rockettes Conservatory development program – are anything but on their own, according to new colleague Tamia Strickland, 23. of Silver Spring, Md.

She said the troop is going above and beyond to welcome new women into the line.

“We’re in this together and even all the vets are like old sisters to us, they’re our mentors and they’ve helped support us along the way in the rehearsal process,” Strickland, inspired to pursue the gig after Duke first saw the show as a 17-year-old, told The Post.

The best advice Danielle Esposito, 22, of San Diego got from senior members was just to remember to “breathe.”

“I have a couple of dancers on either side of me and I have one dancer who keeps putting her hand on my back and saying ‘it’s okay,'” shared Esposito, formerly of the Houston Ballet. She switched professional gears out of love for Christmas, she told The Post.

“Just having little reminders from them that it is IS Okay and staying calm and focused is what will get you through the show.”

Senior support even comes in the form of commuter tips for 19-year-old Danicka Torres, who is taking the bus from her home in Boonton, NJ, to tryouts.

“They told me the best ways and the best times,” Torres, who took a semester off from school in London, England, told The Post.

“It’s been very helpful and very helpful,” she said with a smile.

As for the ride, one new member, Solé Mitchell, 22, of the Dallas area, may be New York City’s No. 1 subway fan.

“I don’t like driving, and I have to do it all the time in Dallas,” Mitchell, whose family will see the spectacular for the first time with their daughter as a star, told The Post.

“Being able to take the subway… it’s very convenient. I love it. So I think that’s my favorite thing about New York.”

Making the list

New member Avery Ambrefe, 24, is excited to become a role model for younger girls, just as they were for her in sixth grade during a Radio City Rockette experience.

“I still remember the exact choreography that was shown to us, and I think I practiced it every day of sixth grade,” the Boxford, Mass., native told The Post.

Ambrefe vividly remembers getting her call that she made the list by popping in and out while on the subway — ultimately breaking down in excitement on 86th Street.

“Growing up with the Rockettes as my role models, I think that really shaped who I am as a person… and to be that for another young audience or growing up is just amazing.”

For others, like 26-year-old Jaclyn Salerno, Friday night has been a long time coming — six years and 13 auditions to be exact.

The Manahawkin, NJ, native fell in love with the idea of ​​being a Rockette as a sixth-grader when her mom had a voucher for a Rockette experience voucher, but after the initial years of not making the final cut, she had the plan reserve to be a high school math teacher.

Salerno said about four to five years into routine auditions that her supportive family would gently tell her “that some things aren’t meant to be played” — but she persevered.

“I was like, ‘No, I’m doing this,'” Salerno told The Post, recalling that whenever she failed, friends who made the Rockettes encouraged her to keep pushing because she was “so close.”

Now, finally, the dream is coming true.

“When I got the call, I called my family and I was just crying. It was a full circle moment. “I can’t believe you did it, you really did.”

“Yes, I did.”

‘My Little American Dream’

Rose Hinoul, 22, who came to Manhattan from Belgium as a child, will never forget the moment she told her loved ones the good news about the amputation. It was when she boarded a plane to her native country to see her grandparents.

Hinoul had the magical moment to let them know the second she touched in Europe a few months ago.

“They were in complete shock,” Hinoul told The Post. “It’s something so iconic, ESPECIALLY unless you are from the US.”

For her at age 8 and her family, the Thanksgiving parade became a big tradition in adjusting to life in the United States. It also served as her introduction to the Rockettes as they danced in Herald Square.

After years of hard work in dance and studying sociology at Fordham, she will shine in front of the cameras on Turkey Day to appreciate her family at home and abroad.

“It’s like my little American dream come true,” she said, fighting back tears.