Did you ever go to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and the dancers in the parades were a point of excitement for you?
The beautiful outfits, high kicks, and long legs were precisely in sync to show the Rockettes’ magnificent posture and attractiveness.
However, it is not easy to be a Rockette, and you might wonder how much do Rockettes make?
The only person who wants to know the answer to this question is not you.
Since 1925, the Rockettes have fascinated audiences with their all-female dancing precision ensemble.
They constantly play to their best abilities, leaving the audience in awe of their commitment.
Rockettes rehearse to perfect their craft for a year, and the money is good. We will talk more about Rockette and its details in this article.
Summary
| Guide | How Much Do Rockettes Make? |
|---|---|
| Average Income | $36,400 and $39,000 per year |
| Highest Income | $40,000 per year |
| Qualification | Academic Schooling not needed |
| Training | Needed |
Who Are Rockettes?
The Rockettes are an American dance troupe founded in 1925. They perform in Radio City Music and the New York parade.
They are a dance company that performs “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” and the “Living Nativity” as a tribute to the original Rockettes.
Since the performance, the stage for the show has been gotten better, and the ever-increasing demand for people to witness this magnificent art form has caused the dancers’ stage durations to be as long as 90 minutes.
Since 1993, over 30,000 Rockettes have participated in and accomplished their ambitions of performing at the famous Radio City music event, with over 75 million ticket holders taking their seats.
How Much Do Rockettes Make?
According to Go Banking Rates, although the Rockettes only perform during the summer, they make a good living, earning between $1,400 and $1,500 per week.
If they just work as Rockettes, they will earn between $36,400 and $39,000 a year, which is insufficient to live comfortably in New York City.
They do, however, enjoy their advantages all year. Many dancers work in other capacities during the off-season, such as teaching dance lessons, choreographing dances, or performing in smaller productions.
However, this just shows that Rockette profession is just a seasonal job if you want to live a decent life or even have a family of your own sustain them because the pay is not good enough even for small states or cities around the country, and not just in the bigger states.
1. How Much Do Rockettes Make in a week?
Rockettes make a minimum of $1,400 a week and a maximum of $1,500 a week.
2. How Much Do Rockettes make a year?
Rockettes make a minimum of $36,400 a year and a maximum of $40,000 a year.
Highest Salary Of Rockettes In 2023
There is not much of a difference between the average salary of Rockettes, and the highest salary possible as the number of events you can attend is limited.
The higher experience you have does not guarantee higher expectations from you as the job is pretty stable.
The highest you can expect to earn is $40,000 annually only from the events you attend as Rockette.
Is Being A Rockette Good Or Bad?
Being a Rockette is not an easy job, actually, and the pay is really low after all the effort you need to put into the job to get prepared, and you are not working all the time all year long; you have to do additional jobs which is hard to find.
So being a Rockette, if you like the stuff and are sure you can have other gigs in the meantime, is good, but most people think this is too much of a trouble.
What It Takes To Be A Rockette?
Pros & Cons of Being a Rockette
Pros
- Schooling is not necessary
- Good for women looking for seasonal jobs
- You get to do what you love
Cons
- Seasonal job
- Strict height criteria
- Physically demanding
How To Become A Rockette?
Here’s how you can become a Rockette:
- Although no academic schooling is a necessity to become a Rockette, you must be 18 years old and adept in ballet, tap, and jazz to audition.
- There is a requirement for age, and you must be able to fulfill the job’s requirements, which include kicking 1,200 times every day during the Christmas performance season.
- You must also fulfill the strict height criteria to audition. All Rockettes are between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 12 inches tall in stocking feet. If you’ve ever seen the Rockettes perform, you’ll notice that they all appear to be the same height. The illusion is all about placing the tallest dancers in the middle and descending in height to the lowest dancers on each end.
- Get training for being a Rockette and prep yourself for an audition that is held each year.
- During the audition, you will have to stand in long lines and will have to give audition in groups. Once you get selected, you are set.
A Day in the Life of a Rockette
How Many Hours Does Rockette Work?
Rockette performs for 90 minutes every day during their season, and before the actual performance, they spend time in training and train for 6 hours each day for a week.
What is the Starting Pay of Rockette?
Rockette does not work full-time, and it is not a full-time profession. They earn a minimum of $1,400 a week during their seasonal period.
The pay in this job does not increase too much even with more experience. You can make as much as $1,500 a week max.
Rockette Auditions
Rockette Training Programs
Dancers who want to be Rockettes can enroll in their summer Intensive Dance Program, which is not essential for employment as a Rockette but can provide a significant advantage.
This training takes place during the offseason of the Rockettes, and teachers train dancers in the Rockette style for six hours each day for a week.
Optional lectures on doing your own professional makeup, injury avoidance, and health and well-being are part of the education each day after dancing instruction.
During the previous 16 years, this demanding curriculum has produced 60 Rockettes.
Conclusion
To conclude, being a Rockette is not easy as it requires somebody’s power to be successful.
You need to have some kind of experience to earn other gigs besides being a Rockette because the pay is not really good if you are only going to events as Rockette.
Since there is not much for growth in your pay and the amount you can earn is undoubtedly limited to a certain level, being a Rockette is not a job that many people prefers to do but being a Rockette is more about the passion rather than the career path or the money you want to have.
If you like what the job has to offer, being a Rockette is a choice you should consider for your life.
FAQ
How much do Rockettes make when they first start?
When you start as a Rockette for the first time, you should expect to get below the average.
How much do Rockettes make if they have no experience at all?
If you have no experience – which majority of them have no experience as they learn before they start, you start from the lowest bracket of salaries.
How much do Rockettes make after a decade of experience?
After a decade of experience, you ought to make in the top %10 percent of the Rockettes, which is higher than the average salary.
Shefali Jain is a Content Writer & Editor at USWorkforce.org
After completing her graduation in hospitality, Shefali decided to follow her passion and started writing. Shefali has been writing for two years now and contributes to our website as a skilled editor and content writer with strong research skills. Writing product and service reviews, biographies, and book reviews are some of her key areas, among many others in which she specializes. In her time at the organization, she has written and edited content on a range of topics, including employment law, human resources, and business management.
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- https://www.rockettes.com/history/[↩]
- https://www.zippia.com/answers/how-much-do-rockettes-make/#:~:text=Rockettes%20make%20between%20%241%2C400%20to,do%20receive%20year%2Dround%20benefits.[↩]
- https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/How-to-Audition-For-the-Radio-City-Rockettes-20230104#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20Requirements%20to,ballet%2C%20tap%2C%20and%20jazz.[↩]