Maria Clara Talebi - unit 9

Dancebox - sixth form year 2

Maria Clara Talebi

Unit 9

Tiller Girls

Rockettes and their origin

Tiller Girls

Tiller Girls: a precision dance company founded in the United Kingdom by John Tiller in the 1890's. They first performed in 1890 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Liverpool and the Tiller School of Dancing and the Tiller Girl Troupes were founded right after that. In each troupe, the girls were matched by height and weighted, and individuality was discouraged in order to achieve the precision lines. Their routines consisted of high kicks and geometric figures, amazing audiences all over the world.By 1920, eighty troupes were performing all over the world, and that was when Russel Market first saw the Tiller Girls and was inspired to create an American version: The Rockettes.

The Rockettes are an American precision dance company founded in 1925 by Russel Market (chief choreographer) - who retired in 1971. The Rockettes have performed in New York Radio City Music Hall since 1932. So far, more than 3000 women have performed in the Christmas Spectacular since the opening night. The Rockettes primal inspiration was the Tiller Girls.

In 1977, the girls had to petition to take the show on road when Radio City Music Hall's management began closing, and they went on to Las Vegas. As Radio City was slated to close, the Rockettes led the crusade to save it, and it was in the 1980's that they moved on to a new format: they were no longer showing movies, only live performances.

American entrepreneur. Roxy did not want the group to leave New York City after becoming a hit, so he brought them to Roxy Theatre, and that is when they became the Roxyettes (1934). They became the Rockettes once Roxy and the Radio City Music Hall parted ways. In 1940, after the Pearl Harbour attack, The United States entered World War 2. The Rockets volunteered for the USO (United Service Organisation) to entertain the troupes abroad. A decade after, Radio City Music Hall became the group's home because of their demanding schedule. They made their first TV appearance in 1957 in "Wide, Wide World" as America started to turned to television for entertainment. The 60's were a time of social change and in a salute to the space age and feminism, the Rockettes danced as astronauts on the Great Stage. Their number reflected a variety of costumes: they appeared as Geisha Girls, can-can dancers and even bull fighters.

Early years

Rockettes

Market's intention was to create a group of dancers that were taller than the Tiller Girls and had longer legs. Originally, to take part in The Rockettes, you had to be between 5 ft 2 and 5 ft 5 (160cm and 170cm). The group was originally called Missouri Rockettes and after their debut show in St, Louis, they performed in New York and were discovered by Roxy Rothafel: an

“The pants are foam pants. Because back in the day, when I started the show, they starched-pressed the pants. Theystood up on their own — those were very intense.” (Zofko, R. 2015)

Costumes

In every Christmas Spectacular, over 1100 costumes are used by the whole cast. The iconic wooden soldier costume was designed by Vicente Minnelli (Lizza Minnelli's father). As the dance requires minimal movement, the costumes are quite stiff and strong. The picture on the bottom right's one of the first drawings that Vicente Minelli drew for the costume in 1933 and the costume remains the same.

The Christmas Spectacular is an annual show performed at Radio City Music Hall. Its is a 90 minute show that contains more than 140 performers and an original music score and choreographies that combine dancing and singing. The first version was performed in 1933 and today it has become a New York tradition.

Christmas Spectacular:

In 1982, to celebrate 50 years of Radio City, the Rockettes performed a lavish show with 50 years of Rockettes costumes.With the restoration of Radio City in the 1990's, 269 seats were removed, making every seat in the theatre have an adequate view of the stage. The Rockettes performed in its reopening in 1999 with Christmas Spectacular.

Rockettes - costume differences:- The costumes have trousers attached. - Their hats are black and yellow and very big. - Feathers on top of the hats are white and big. - The costume contains four gold buttons around the bust area. - Dancers wear tap shoes. Costumes similarities: - Red cheeks and red lips. Dancebox - costume differences: - The one-piece costume has shorts attached. - Hats are blue with gold buttons and smaller. - Feather on top of the hats are red and quite small. - No buttons. - Dancers wear heels. Costume similarities: - Red cheeks and red lips.

Dancebox Xmas Extravaganza is heavily inspired by the Rockettes. Here is a comparison between the soldier costumes:

Choreography:

Apart from designing the costumes, Vincent Minelli has also choreographed the "Toy Soldiers" choreography.The choreography is iconic because of its formations and patterns. The dancers have to work as a team to maintain the lines and achieve the "wooden soldier fall". Wooden soldier fall: the 36 Rockettes line up on height order: tallest in the middle and shortest on the ends. This is what the Rockettes call the "ultimate display of teamwork". It starts by having someone rock up on their heels and fall back. The person behind raise their hands, slide them through and open their arms. Their feet have to be completely in line. It is a complete team effort. The Rockettes use code words to ensure each movement they do is the exact same, such as: - About face: 180-degree turn of your entire body. - Covering off: when you are dancing directly behind someone you are "covered off". - Guiding right: “As Rockettes, we always ‘guide right.’ That means that in a kickline or formation, I confirm my spacing based on where the dancer to my right is. We each ‘guide right’ all the way down to the stage-right end—that’s how our formations stay so clean!” (Mesher, S. 2019) The Radio City stage is gridded out with solid lines as a way to show the dancers exactly where they need to stand.

Here is a picture taken during at Dancebox Xmas Show Extaravaganza in a tech rehearsal. The picture shows the stage from the left side and it is possible to see chairs all around. The guests have the option to have dinner while watching the performance. The tables are located around the runway.I believe both Rockettes and Dancebox's performances work very well. The choreographer behind the Dancebox version of "Toy Soldiers" did a very good job at adapting the choreography to a different stage, still keeping beautiful formations throughout the whole number. Even though you get different views of the number depending on where you are sat, you still get to experience the shapes created by the dancers. In contrast to the Rockettes version, where the audience will have the same view of the number.

The main comparison between Rockettes and Dancebox is: Rockettes perform on a "normal" stage, gridded out with lines to guide the dancers throughout the number and to make sure they are getting in the right patterns and shapes.Meanwhile, the toy soldiers choreography at Dancebox is performed on a runway stage, similar to the one in the picture below. Changing the shape of the stage means that the choreography also has to change. The number was cleverly adapted so the dancers march their way up from the front of the stage and slowly fill in the whole space. When performing, the dancers main concerns is the risk to fall off the stage, as it is quite easy considering there are no wings around it; just a stage. The audience is sat all around the "T shaped" stage (except from the back of it), so the choreography also had to be adapted to that as well. Depending on your seat, you will end up getting different views of the choreography.

Lighting:

David Agress has been working as lighting designer for the past 13 Christmas Spectaculars at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. In 2019, the show introduced immersive videos by Obscura as well as 100 dancing intel drones.In an interview for "LiveDesign", David Agress mentions that by 2008 he changed most of the lights to LED lights as they started to rely more on digital scenery. The purpose of lighting is to enhance the dancers on stage, so David tries to keep the Rockettes either the brightest thing on stage or at least the most light-directed. As part of special effect features, the show contains: pyro, smoke, fog, flying, streamers, bubbles, light-up costumes, a 50' turntable, a 70' wide band car that can raise on the orchestra pit, travel up stage and lower on any of the three stage elevators. When it comes to colour, David considers it "the blending factor that connects it all". The "Toy Soldiers" choreography for example, was originally done on a bare stage against a black background. The reason behind it being: less distractions. The audience should be hooked by the dancers and the formations in the number, not the lighting around it. In comparison, at Dancebox Christmas Extravaganza, the Toy Soldiers choreography is performed with blue lighting (picture taken during Christmas Extravaganza 2023). Even though it is very different from what is seen in the Rockette's version, I feel like it still works very well. The blue matches the costume and it gives a nice lift to the number.

Sound:

To support performances at Radio City Music Hall, a LEO Family reinforcement system has been installed. The venue supports 6,000 seats which makes it the largest indoor theatre in the world, so it is very important to make sure that everyone in the audience gets a one-of-a-kind experience. The main system used consists of 16 LYON line array loudspeakers (similar to the one shown in the bottom left picture) plus a centre array of eight LEOPARD loudspeakers.The show also counts with live orchestra, vocal, playback and supplementary sounds. During tap numbers, the audience is able to experience all the tap sounds live, with the help of microphones built into the Rockettes tap shoes. For our Dancebox Christmas Extravaganza, when it comes to the Toy Soldiers choreography, we make use of instrumental music just like the Rockettes do, the main difference is that we added sound effects to it, such as: - A whistle in the beginning to symbolise the start of the number, - A whistle mid piece to symbolise the change in tempo The sound effects are very helpful when performing this number, as it is an indication of two very important parts of the choreography: the beginning and the tempo change.

Review comparisons

Christmas Spectacular

For the next few slides I will be sharing two contrasting reviews on the "Rockettes Christmas Spectacular" from 2019 and analysing them.

From the two paragraphs above, we notice a clear change in Jimmy's opinions about the show. From feeling "bored" to describing it as "witty, nostalgic and commanding". After briefly talking about some numbers from the performance, Jimmy gives us his final thoughts:"It was a Friday night well spent, and I highly recommend it… even to New Yorkers who never go to Broadway shows like me. The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular was inventive, engaging, funny, charming, and the talent was beyond next level." (Im. J,, 2019)

At the very start of this review, the writer Jimmy Im reveals that he attended the opening night for the 2019 performance."At the beginning of the entire 1 and 1/2 hour show, I didn’t know what to expect really. I knew there’d be women with incredibly strong legs dancing in unison with famous leg kicks, but the show had to entertain with more than leg kicks for almost two hours, right?" (Im. J, 2019) he tells us how he had no previous knowledge of The Rockettes before attending, therefore had no expectations. "After the first ten minutes or so, I have to admit, I became a little… well, bored. There was a a lot of dancing and singing, but that was about it. — but the acts changed quickly… and the pace picked up. "The performance was witty, nostalgic and commanding. The way the Rockettes marched in perfect precision and unity to angular assembly is no easy feat, and of course, there was the iconic wooden soldier fall, which was incredibly impressive" (Im. J, 2019).

Review 1:

Reading the title already gives us a rough idea of where this review will take us: more of a negative side."I have to say all I could do was wonder wistfully what the show looked like 40 years ago. With the exception of a few scenes, I found the Christmas Spectacular to be a disappointment." With the opening paragraph, the writer seems to have a good understanding of The Rockettes and makes his opinions about the show very clear. They state that the music was painfully loud and mention the existence of a sub-plot throughout the show: "the addition of a sub-plot revolving around finding the perfect gift turned the show into a capitalist extravaganza." From their perspective, the performance became too focused on the new elements (such as 3d animations) and they had expectations of watching a performance that looked a bit more like the old traditional version. At the very end, they state their disappointment, arguing that: "Christmas is one of the few times of year when people really get into tradition." and they expected to see more of that. Both reviews are from 2019, so they are very contrasting considering the writers watched the exact same show. Personally, I believe the two reviews are very valid: the writers presented their point of view on the performance. The first one having no expectations prior to it and the second having knowledge about the Rockettes before watching.

Review 2:

Dancebox Christmas Extravaganza is heavily inspired in the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, so researching about it allowed me to have a better understanding of the show I am taking part in. As part of sixth form, my year group will be doing an adapted version of the iconic Toy Soldiers choreography. Researching about it will support me going forward into rehearsals and it will give me the opportunity to support new students that have not done this number before. My research on the Rockettes have highlighted the importance of synchronization, and that reflects on their professionalism. I have learned how important it is to be professional during a rehearsal process and how much team work can be important throughout the whole process, from rehearsal to stage. I hope to apply the knowledge I gained with this research in order to have a brilliant Christmas Extravaganza.

Research conclusion

Madison Square Garden (2017). History of the Rockettes | The Radio City Rockettes. [online] The Rockettes. Available at: https://www.rockettes.com/history/. ‌Anon, (2014). The Tiller Girls - The Tiller Girls. [online] Available at: https://tillergirls.com/the-tiller-girls/. [accessed 30/10/24] ‌ Patacsil, A. (2020). Showgirl Story Time: What is a ‘Tiller’ girl? -. [online] Available at: https://www.showgirls.life/2020/07/09/showgirl-story-time-defining-tiller/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2024]. ‌ Nast, C. (2012). Photos: Photos: The Rockettes’ Costumes, Leggy Frames, and Quirky Choreography Over 85 Years. [online] Vanity Fair. Available at: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/photos/2012/12/photos-rockettes-costumes-choreography. ‌ Bowlby, K. (2023). Secret Behind The Rockettes Wooden Solider Routine Baffles Fans. [online] Country Living. Available at: https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a45920667/rockettes-wooden-solider-routine-secret/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2024]. ‌ Lampert-Greaux, E. (2019). By Design: Lighting The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. [online] Live Design Online. Available at: https://www.livedesignonline.com/theatre/by-design-lighting-rockettes-christmas-spectacular [Accessed 9 Nov. 2024]. ‌ Meyersound.com. (2016). Radio City Music Hall. [online] Available at: https://meyersound.com/news/radio-city-music-hall/. [Accessed 9 Nov. 2024] Dance-enthusiast.com. (2014). Too Much Trying to Happen in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. [online] Available at: https://www.dance-enthusiast.com/get-involved/reviews/view/Too-Much-Trying-to-Happen-in-the-Radio-City-Christmas-Spectacular-112419 [Accessed 25 Dec. 2024]. ‌ Im, J. (2019). The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular Review: Is it worth it this year? [online] Travelbinger.com. Available at: https://travelbinger.com/rockettes-christmas-spectacular-review-at-radio-city-music-hall/. [Accessed 25 Dec. 2024]

Bibliography

Week 1: rehearsals

Monday: for our first day of Toy Soldiers rehearsals, our dance captain Eva supported our choreographer Louisa (as she has not done this number before). It was very difficult to learn the choreography and have to teach such a large amount of people, so we all found it stressful - there are a lot of new students and Toy Soldiers requires a very specific amount of people, so changes had to be made in the choreography which made the rehearsal happen slower than normal. It was a lot for Eva and Louisa, so throughout the day me and my colleagues supported the two of them the way we could: by connecting movements that we remembered from last year and, very slowly and with a lot of patience from everyone, we managed to get through half of the number. For "Toy Soldiers" to be successful, we need to work as a team at all times, helping each other and mostly the new sixth form students: and that is what we are trying to do. It is vital that the dancers are in sync at all times, so we all took a few minutes to write down our counts to make sure we can go through them on our own. Tuesday: during the morning, we did a quick recap and started to learn the rest of the number. We found it very tricky because we have an extra 10 people this year, so Louisa had to change the choreography in order for the classic pinwheels to work. The solution: the 10 people that were in the front line for the section before will not participate in the pinwheels and will go down a step from the stage and do a separate motif. After that, they will join the choreography as an extra line at the back for trumpet lifts (I am one of them). The choreographer and Eva spent the rest of the day figuring out how to adapt the choreography, not only because we have extra people but also because there were people missing, which made the process even more difficult. As second years, we are aware that first years have never danced in heels before, so for their health and safety we decided not to wear heels for the whole day - instead, we take breaks. We managed to learn all of it and decided to clean it the next day. Wednesday: Danielle, a third year degree student was nominated as the new dance captain. She has been in the "Toy Soldiers" number many times before. As soon as we started cleaning the choreography, I had to ask to sit out. I have really bad shin splints and on Wednesday the pain got worse, so Danielle recommended that I should sit down and take notes. We spent the whole rehearsal going over sections multiple times until everyone learned their numbers and positions. Meanwhile, I was sitting on the corner of the studios massaging my legs and putting a hot water bottle on them. My goal for the rest of the week is to rest so I can come back feeling better to start learning a new number for our Christmas Show. Sitting out was frustrating but it did not interrupt my progress with the number. I know the choreography very well and I feel very confident doing it.

For both numbers that I will take part in during Dancebox Christmas Extravaganza, I need a good core strength. Toy SoldiersI intend to record videos os myself practising core strength exercises. I will aim to achieve this target by next week. As rehearsals started, I need to make sure I feel better. My goal for this week is to find different ways of getting rid of my pain and make sure I take care of myself for the upcoming weeks. I will aim to achieve this goal before our Christmas Show.

1- To improve my core strength. 2- To learn effective healing methods (shin splints).

SMART Targets: week 1

I set myself 2 SMART targets for this week:

SMART Targets: week 1 - updates

From left to right.1 - This week, I learned from a third-year degree student how to use a spiky massage ball to relax my muscles and help with the pain cause by shin splints. So far, it has been really helpful. I have also learned how to use kinesiology tape to support me when walking and dancing - as it is possible to see in the first video, the tape starts on my foot and goes all the way up to my leg. 2 and 3 - In previous jazz and stretch and condition lessons, I learned core strength exercises and have been practising them since.

Week 2: rehearsals

Monday: we were taught a new choreography called "Stuff Like That There", it is a brand new piece that has never been done before, choreographed by Louisa. Differently from Toy Soldiers, this number is done in white plimsoles that are very slippery so thinking of our health a safety Louisa asked us to rehearse barefoot very often throughout the day. Keira, a third-year degree student will be singing the song while we will be dancing to it, so she was required to be in the studio with us. As it was the first day, we needed Keira mostly for spacing and figuring out the choreography around her considering she is the lead on stage. Tuesday: we rehearse on studio 5 everyday as it is one of the biggest ones in the building, but it is still not big enough to fit all of us while dancing, so after lunch we walked down to the church where there is a bigger space available for us to rehearse. We had some disruptions during the rehearsal due to students talking when they were not meant to, which delayed the process but we managed to learn all of it. After feeling confident that I knew the number, I decided to sit down, take notes and record videos in order to help. There is a tricky part of the choreography where we all have to jump at different counts, so I decided to record my colleagues doing it so they could watch it back and practise - if people jump at wrong counts, the effect does not work, so it is very important that we all practise (bottom right video). While rehearsing at the church, we were surprised by Matthew (-) who watched us do a run through for th very first time Wednesday: the rehearsal had to be interrupted twice as Dancebox was holding a "virtual tour" where they needed students in random areas around the building and it was also "picture day", so we all had lashes and lipstick on which helped with the rehearsal. In my opinion, when we have makeup on the rehearsal feels more serious and we perofrm more than we would on a regular day, so I would say it went really well and Louisa seemed very happy with our progress.

SMART Targets: week 2 - updates

For week 2, I will keep on working on my previous targets.1 - After practising core strength exercises, I felt an improvement when rehearsing jazz this week. Our choreographies for Christmas Show require precision, and core strength will help me achieve it. That is why I will keep on working on it - first video. 2 - This week, I learned from one of my tutors that icing my shins can help with the pain; and it really did. I managed to rehearse better than last week, even though I am still not jumping and/or running. I have been doing it multiple times every day for at least 20 minutes.

Week 3: rehearsals

Monday: The "T" shaped stage makes it harder for new students to understand the choreography and spacing, and it is also very difficult to dance the whole choreography full out in the studio, so we kept turning the choreography around, facing different directions so everyone eventually had the chance to dance the number properly. I have had the chance to try my costumes for the first time as well and make sure they fit. I took home the "Stuff Like That There" costume home with me to make some adjustments. Tuesday: As we have been very focused on "Stuff Like That There", Louisa decided to do a run through "Toy Soldiers". I had to sit out again (second video), so I decided to make notes while watching my colleagues dancing not only to give feedback but also to learn from their mistakes. I had a conversation with Louisa about how frustrating it is to sit out during rehearsals and she was very supportive, reminding me that I am trustworthy and take the rehearsals very seriously even being injured which made me feel better about the situation. After, we moved on to "Stuff Like That There", analysing the choreography in smaller sections. Louisa gave us final feedback - Tuesday was our last rehearsal with her so she wanted to make sure the number was polished before Gemma took over. We applied her feedback and recorded the choreography, ending on a very good note. Wednesday: Gemma and Kat took over for rehearsals and we spent the day figuring out our entrances and exits. Being a part of the Christmas Extravaganza for the second time means I will be supporting new students during our time in the Venue. Gemma asked me to do a tour with some of them and explain our entrances and exits as there are multiple doors, and for both choreographies we have to walk in during the number before so I will also be responsible for making sure my group knows exactly when to walk in and out. We also had the opportunity to ask questions about hair and makeup and timetable for our show week.

SMART Targets: week 3 - updates

1- Scrolling online I have found a list of exercises for shin splints using a band. I have done them everyday during this week and by Wednesday I felt a good improvement. The one in the first video is the most helpful exercise I have found and it is called "resisted inversion with a band". As I kept doing the exercises in between rehearsals, I have our Toy Soldiers costume on. 2- Recording myself practising "Toy Soldiers" made me realise that I have improved a lot. The core exercises helped me feel more stable when dancing and I also noticed a big improvement from last year's performance.

Week 4: Show Week

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: We spent three days rehearsing in Dancebox and did at least one dress run each day. For Monday, makeup was not required, as we decided to focus more on costumes. We all made sure they fit properly and did some last minute fixes. The sailors choreography contains a lot of jumping and doing jazz fourths, so some peoples trousers ripped when rehearsing and we did not want that to happen again going forward so we took the day to sort them out. For Tuesday and Wednesday, show hair and makeup was required and we did two run throughs each day. Thursday: We moved on to the venue on Thursday to do a tech day and I took it as an opportunity to show the 6:1s around. There are multiple entrances and the stage can be quite confusing, so I gathered some of the newer students to explain our entrances and exits throughout the show. The day was very exhausting. Each choreography took around 40-45 minutes on stage, so considering sixth form is in only two numbers we had a lot of free time. We got to watch the other numbers and film content for Dancebox's social media page. Friday and Saturday: On Friday, we started the day with a run through the show with makeup, hair and costumes on. We all gathered in the audience for notes that we should apply during the performance, and the main one was to "engage with the audience". The switch between dancing in a studio in front of a mirror and dancing in front of an audience is big, and all of our tree shows were sold out, so it was really important for us to interact with them. After notes, we started to prepare for the performance - which went really well. On Saturday, we did not do any run throughs as we had two shows. Doing two shows in one day can be very tiring, but it definitely paid off.

Performance + SMART Targets conclusion

Over the past four weeks, I have been working very hard for the Christmas Extravaganza. After analysing the videos from the performance, here are my considerations.I am very happy with the final result and I see some major improvement from last years Xmas Extravaganza: from feeling more comfortable wearing heels during Toy Soldiers to having the most fun on stage I have ever had with Sailors (Stuff Like That There). I felt very relaxed on stage, and I knew exactly what I was doing - without even having to think about it. If I were to perform again, I would make sure my shoes were put on properly for Sailors (Stuff Like That There), as during the last performance I felt like they were coming out of my feet which restricted me a bit while dancing but I still managed to pull through. My SMART Targets were essential during this process. I felt an amazing improvement on my shin splints which allowed me to take part in this performance, and that would not have happened otherwise. Dealing with shin splints while having to rehearse was not easy, but I am very proud of my progress. I am also pleased with my "core strength" target that helped me with both choreographies. I have achieved both of my Targets for this term and going forward I would like to work on ankle strength and feet strength.

THANK you