So little time, so little blog!

Hi everyone! I can't believe how busy things have been! From rehearsal, to laundry, to grocery shopping and sleeping, there just enough time in the day! Let me catch you up....the end of last week went well....the Rockettes were totally exhausted by Saturday, but our ensemble started on Friday so we all learned the Santa number together over the weekend. It was fun to have some new faces in rehearsals! It was like one big cardio class when we were running the Santa number toward the end of the day. Then I went into the city on my day off again, literally for 24 hours, and had a great time. I also went to this "injury prevention seminar" that was organized and held by our awesome athletic trainer, Elaine, who was a Rockette for over 10 years. Anyway, what we did was go around to different stations and get tested and talk to doctors, physical therapist, and athletic trainers to educate ourselves about what areas needed work to have a healthy season. I found out from the podiatrist that I have loose ligaments, which I guess isn't a good thing because I'll never have the strength in my feet that I need....I guess that explains all the rolled ankles that keep happening!?!? Other then that, it was a positive, but much longer experience then I'd hoped for......I was at this thing for about 2 hours!!! So we started week #3 yesterday, and it was one of the best Monday's I think I've ever had! We had a film crew there taping our rehearsals because they are making a documentary on the first ever Arena Tour!! They interviewed our director and a few of the Rockettes...we are still wondering what this documentary is being used for? Someone told us it's for "in house" use, but then someone else had mentioned that they are going to show this thing in all the cities we are preforming in? We'll see! Then, a lady that lives in New London (where we are rehearsing) stopped by because she was a Rockette in 1942 & 1943! She had to be at least 85 years old! She was so funny, she was telling us stories at lunchtime about how the Rockettes used to bunk up at Radio City and how they toured the world with movie stars during the war. She had mentioned that Cary Grant was her favorite because he wasn't high maintenance at all, and he was so nice and generous to all the Rockettes!! She had brought her old photos and newspaper clippings to show us, and I love seeing those because I love all the vintage costumes and things! We are almost done learning the show....we only have 2 more numbers to learn! Today was a pretty tough day because it was mega humid and I started feeling dehydrated, plus we kicked like crazy yesterday and today so I'm soooo stiff! I did pain through a half body ice bath after rehearsal today so hopefully I'll feel rejuvenated for tomorrow! :)

Zzzzz....blog!!

It's super late and I should be getting to bed.....but instead of sleeping and reviewing dances, I though it would be more important (and much more fun) to blog about the last few days!! They keep throwing choreography at us like crazy, but somehow we absorb it and come back the next day ready for more! In less then 2 weeks we have learned 3 whole numbers, 2 of them being the longest we do! Tomorrow we start on the Santa dance....this one is a personal favorite because you just get to have fun! Yes, you have to remember your numbers and depths, but the dance is more like a fun cardio class you'd take at the gym. However my brain is so full right now, I'm forgetting basic things like where I leave my room key and stuff! Cross your fingers that my already forgetful brain can hold out for 2 weeks of learning and perfecting choreography! The other fun thing that happened was I had a fitting for my beautiful "Shine" costume!!! I honestly didn't want to take it off, I would have worn it for the rest of the rehearsal! I brought my camera down to my fitting but when I went to turn it on it was all out of battery!! grrrr!! This costume, like I said before, is literally dripping in diamonds! Funny story- When I was about 10 or 11 years old I had had this dream that Ross Perot sponsored me for baton twirling and that I twirled in this costume that was only a tan leo and the WHOLE thing was covered in rhinestones! This is what I had dreamed only better!! I'll send pics when I can! Also, tonight I had an Office party in my room! I'm so happy that fall TV is back!! Although, something happened at our hotel and in the last 4 minutes of the show all the TVs went fuzzy!! We ran down to this other girl's room to make sure it wasn't just my TV, and all of a sudden all these other girls came out in the hallway and were screaming "IS YOUR TV OUT TOO!!!?!?!?!" Ya, we were pretty mad, so I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens!

Hello Monday!

This morning was a slow morning for me....still tired from the weekend, not ready for another whole week of rehearsals!! Fully knowing that I have 5 more days till my day off is scary! I did have a great day off yesterday though! I went into NYC with another Rockette from my cast and I got see some friends and of course, shop!!! But now it's back to business...we started learning 12 Days today. I think this will probably take a couple days to learn the whole thing because its so long and so complicated! So far I really like my spot because I'm only "dancing" a few of the days. See, at the beginning we have this weaving kaleidoscope of Rockettes and only a few pop out and dance the first couple of days. So far, I only have to do "two turtle doves" and then i get to strut around and pose until I come in "five golden rings!" Anyway, last week we finished "New York at Christmas", the bus number, and we also learned and finished this number called "Shine!" This dance is so fun, and very different then any Rockette dance I've ever done, it's really beautiful....and our costumes are amazing! We are truly dripping in diamonds! It's also my favorite kick line I've ever learned too. It's hard, but I like it! The music gets you through it! Anyway, I must run, I've got to watch Dancing with the Stars!! Yay for fall TV!

Picture time!

It's my ragdoll costume! We are having our fittings during rehearsals in another studio. Our whole costume department is set up there right now! They have got so much to do, especially because this is a whole new show! Our soldier pants are different as well....no more starch!! YAY! For those of you who have seen the NY show know that our soldier pants are this stiff, uncomfortable fabric that they starch every week so that (I'm not kidding) our pants can stand alone! Our new pants are soft, but they look stiff, very toy soldier!

Okay, I'm just putting it out there that NONE of these rehearsal pics are going to cute! We are sweaty Rockettes during rehearsal, the prettiness doesn't come till we are on stage! hehe! This picture is from the second day of rehearsal. As you can see, we are super sore and our muscles just don't want to stretch!!

Haha! This is after a 7 hour rehearsal one day, if you notice we all have bags of ice taped somewhere on us! Yes, this is the glamorous life of a Rockette! These are also all the girls in my car group. From the left; Amy, Nita, me, and Melissa.

Here I am with some of the new Rockettes! One the first day of rehearsal they were asking me for advice because they told me I was a vet....and I was like, can you be a vet at 23?? Anyway, a lot of them are my age so that's cool, but they are all really great!

blah blah...

Well, my computer froze last night, that's why I didn't get a posting last night. Luckily after a long long call to Dell, my computer is okay! We had a super long orientation day and we also did our media training. I had to come home and practice because we've got a big day with our director tomorrow. I've taken some fun pictures that I'll load up sometime this week. I did have a costume fitting for my nativity costume and found out that I'm the red court gift bearer!! This means I've moved up in the world and I get to carry to gift through Bethlehem. More tomorrow!!

First ice bath...

Yes, yes, I did my first ice bath of the season today! This is where instead of comforting you sore muscles with heat- that feels great, you stick yourself in a 60 degree bath and pain through for 10 minutes! I wouldn't normally be this crazy, but it totally works and that's why its worth the pain! We learned most of this number called "New York at Christmas" today and I found out that I'm a "green" What this means is in the number there are girls who wear red and girls who wear green...and I'm a green. Apparently we have a nice break, but we have to do the double turn in our dance break. All in all I really like this number! It's really cute and flirty and feminine! It was also a beautiful sunny, hot day today....I just wish I could have said that for our day off on Sunday! It was so nasty and misty, definitely didn't make you want to go out and enjoy the day! Although the day wasn't a total bust, thanks to TBS I enjoyed several romantic comedies on TV as I rested in bed. Another funny thing, the maid keeps leaving me the hotel toiletries everyday, so I'm collecting quite a collection....mmmmm, I'm thinking Christmas gifts? haha!! :)

Arms of steel!

Well, I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I went to move my arm to under my pillow, which is its normal spot, and I found myself not even being able to lift my arm!! It felt so heavy, and my shoulders were so stiff and weak that I couldn't even move it! The good thing was I think I fell right back asleep, but I remembered my midnight moment where I felt total arm paralization! I think the first couple days are always the worse as far as soreness. Hopefully having my day off tomorrow will help the initial shock that my muscles are going through! haha! We learned a little more about the show today, we saw some concept drawings and pictures of what the stage is going to look like and I was blown away. This show is going to be HUGE! Apparently its the largest traveling show in the U.S. right now. There are going to be 36 trucks full of equipment, sets, costumes, etc. Then we have 16 cast and crew buses. That a 52 bus/ truck caravan coming to a city near you!! :) The other cool thing is a I guess the company that built our stage is the same company that does stuff for the Superbowl Halftime show and all sorts of rock concerts. One of our executive producers told us that Steven Tyler of Areosmith already called and said he needs tickets to see our show because he wants to check out our stage and technology because its so advanced!! Crazy! Anyway, tomorrow should be fun...hopefully I'll get to see some fun parts of Connecticut. Oh ya, and we got our line up...and I'm 3rd from the center on stage left! Hopefully that's a good spot!

It's Christmas in September!

Well, it's official...it's Christmas time! It was my first day of rehearsal today and we jumped right in and started learning "12 Days!!!" (this is the crazy 8 minute cardio tap number where we dance out all of the 12 days of Christmas!) It felt good to jump right in, however the first day feet blisters are definitely not a fun thing, but once I figure out the perfect way to tape my feet I should be golden. Tomorrow we should learn our line-up order. I'm always curious about the line-up because I've had such a varied position in my years of being a Rockette, like my first year I was 10th from center and last time I was 2nd from center! If we have a shorter group I should be close to center, if we have a tall group I'll be somewhere in the middle. I hope I'm closer to center!!! The space that we are rehearsing in is really cool! It's called Sonalysts, and its a huge studio lot full of production sets. There have been movies and music videos that have been filmed here, plus other concert/ arena tours that have also used this space for rehearsals. In the hallways they have all these posters of artists that have done something there....today I saw Rascal Flatts, Barry Manilow and the Cheetah Girls! Oh ya, and one more cool thing...apparently our stage has a runway!! Now I don't know what that means, we never had a runway at Radio City, but you could see a little catwalk action from the Rockettes! How fun would that be?!?