11 Surprising Rules the Radio City Rockettes Must Follow, from the Eye-High Kicks to the Iconic Red Lipstick (Exclusive)

These rules keep the Rockettes on their toes!

As the stars of the Christmas Spectacular, there’s a list of guidelines the dancers must follow to ensure that their performances are nothing less than perfect when they take center stage at Radio City Music Hall each holiday season.

How do you think their eight dance routines are effortlessly executed in a nine-number show (complete with eight costume changes, of which one number requires 78 seconds to do so)? How do you think their hair and makeup stay flaw-free throughout the 90-minute showtime?

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, three Rockettes — Feeny, Alexis Payton and Jordan Betscher — share the little-known rules and guidelines the 84 dancers that make up the two casts must follow, between the eye-high kicks and the iconic French twists.

For a performance that’s drawn millions to the historic Manhattan music hall since it first opened in December 1933, the show’s rooted in rich tradition that’s been nearly untouched for almost a century. The Radio City Rockettes continue to keep the charming, Christmas magic alive today.

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“The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” for example, is a recurring number that debuted in the show’s inaugural year and requires precise direction that the Rockettes must follow to perfectly execute the awe-inspiring illusion.

“We do the same steps every single time to make sure that we have a safe fall and it really is iconic,” Britain Feeny, who’s in her third year as a Radio City Rockette, tells PEOPLE of the memorable number. The dance concludes with the famed fall, as it has for the past 91 years.

In addition to the choreography technicalities — plus the hair, makeup and wardrobe requirements that add to the dazzle of the glittering and shimmering Rockettes on stage — there are several requirements dancers must meet in order to be eligible for casting, too.

Read on for 11 surprising rules you didn’t know the Radio City Rockettes must follow in the Christmas Spectacular this year!

Rockettes must meet a minimum age 

The legendary Rockettes are the stars of the show at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Photo credit: MSG Entertainment

The Radio City Rockettes span a range of ages; however, there’s a minimum age dancers must meet to be eligible to audition. All Rockettes must be at least 18 years of age or older.

While there’s a minimum age requirement, there’s no maximum. As long as the dancer meets the physical requirements to match the caliber of work needed for each show — along with the talent and dance background, of course — anyone can audition to be a Rockette.

(In fact, 92-year-old Mary Silvestri of Connecticut was among the 800 dancers who attended the 2023 April auditions at Radio City Music Hall in New York City!)

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Rockettes must wear red lipstick 

Radio City Rockettes Jordan Betscher.

MSG Entertainment

If there’s one element that’s nearly synonymous with the Radio City Rockettes (outside of their famed kicks), it’s their iconic red lip that beautifully compliments each of their festive costumes in each of their dance numbers.

While the choreography and costumes are perfectly synced up between women to give off a cohesive and clear effect with their choreographed lines on stage, you’d think their makeup has to be done the same across the board. However, Payton reveals that’s not the case.

“The only stipulations or requirements that we have for the job are that you wear an eyelash and a red lip,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. As for everything else, she says “whatever color and whatever brand” works best for your complexion “is up to you.”

She adds, “That’s something that’s really great about the company. I think they’re very flexible in terms of finding what works best for you and meeting you where you are.”

Rockettes must do their own makeup 

Radio City Rockette Britain Feeny.

MSG Entertainment

One of the biggest misconceptions about being a Radio City Rockette, according to Betscher, revolves around the glam. “I think it actually might be that we do our own hair and makeup,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively.

“A lot of people think that we might have makeup artists, but we do it every single day and with our red lip, our iconic red lip and our lashes just to get out there on stage… and also our French twist!” Betscher adds, noting that it takes her about an hour from start to finish.

“But I’m also slow with it,” she makes clear. “I’ll sit there and I’ll do my eye makeup and then I’ll fix my hair, make sure it looks perfect — and I’m a bit of a perfectionist.”

Feeny tells PEOPLE that she grew up as a competition dancer, so she was “pretty familiar with the stage makeup look,” meaning glamming wasn’t too much of a learning curve for her. However, she admits that she was “not very good” at a French twist in her debut year as a Rockette.

“I was very fortunate to have a bunch of my Rockette sisters help me my first season,” she says. “But now I feel like I’ve nailed it down to a routine and I can probably get it done, start to finish, in like 30 minutes, which is pretty quick!”

Rockettes must wear their hair in a French twist 

The Rockettes in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
Radio City Music Hall

While the Rockettes are allowed a bit more freedom with their glam, the way they style their hair must be the same for the entire show. “We all have a French twist,” Feeny tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Even when their costumes require headpieces, the French twist remains! “We actually get hat fittings,” she says of the process that ensures their styled ‘do stays intact beneath the accessories. “We have a lot of hats and wigs and headpieces throughout the show.”

Feeny explains, “We do nine numbers in the show, so we have a lot of hat changes.” Therefore, she says “it’s very important to have your twist stay the same shape and size so that your hats can fit throughout the season.”

Despite the efforts to keep the French twist locked in place before the show starts, Feeny says there are “a lot of hair stations backstage” that the Rockettes can utilize if their hair gets “a little messy” when they remove their hats between numbers.

“We have hairspray and bobby pins and everything backstage to make sure we can come on stage and look good,” Feeny says, revealing that she once counted 86 bobby pins in her hair at the end of one show! “I have thick hair,” she laughs, adding, “But you’re looking at pretty high for some of us.”

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Rockettes must kick to a specific height 

The Radio City Rockettes perform at the 90th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Eric Liebowitz/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

When you think “Rockettes,” you undoubtedly think kicks. The flawless, in-sync kickline performed by the linked-up dancers is what makes the synonymous choreography such an impressive sight to watch.

Well, that’s because there are a number of technicalities associated with the routine, combined with an intense level of athleticism required by each dancer in order to bring the iconic illusion to life. All kicks are “eye-height,” Peyton tells PEOPLE of the height their legs must reach.

“We call them our eye-height kicks. We’re all kicking to our eye level,” she explains. Believe it or not, the dancers can kick up to 650 times in one day and 160-plus kicks per show, according to the Rockettes official website.

Rockettes do not have to be the same height

Radio City Rockettes perform “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” at the Christmas Spectacular.

Doug Gifford/Getty

Despite what it may look like, Rockettes do not have to be the same height! In fact, Betscher says it’s “an illusion!”

She explains, “We put our tallest women in the center and we like to say our less tall women on the outside of the line so it gradually decreases and it looks like we are all the same height.” As for their kicks, that’s a trick of the eye, too!

“When we kick, it looks like we all have the same length of legs. So it’s a very cool illusion,” she says.

Rockettes have to make very quick costume changes

The Rockettes perform at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Jordan Curtis Hughes/NBC via Getty

They don’t call it the Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes for nothing! Out of nine numbers in the show’s entirety, the dancers change their costumes eight times!

For a show that spans exactly 90 minutes, no time is to waste. That means, the changes have to be super quick without flaw in order to make it back on stage and ready to perform. Of course, the women have a system down pat.

“We all like to do our hair and makeup first, and then we’ll get into our costume,” says Payton. “We have an amazing team of dressers backstage that help us get into and out of costumes. It’s just as choreographed onstage as it is backstage.”

The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers to the New York at Christmas number is the quickest time the Rockettes must change costumes: 78 seconds!

“I know I’m always going to take my earrings off or I’m going to take my gloves off from soldiers and do it in the same order each and every time,” Payton says.

Rockettes must practice six weeks before showtime 

Radio City Rockettes rehearse before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Santiago Felipe/Getty

The performances you see on stage are perfect because of the rehearsal time the Rockettes put in before the show kicks off in November each season.

“We do rehearse six hours a day, six days a week for six weeks leading up to the show,” Feeny says. “It really is a rigorous and intense process, but that’s just to get us to the most perfection that we can when we get to our opening.”

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Rockettes must come to rehearsal warmed up 

Rockette Jordan Betscher rehearses for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

MSG Entertainment

After the opening night of Christmas Spectacular, there are no more rehearsals due to the jam-packed schedule of shows each day (each cast performs a minimum of four shows daily, with the exception of special performances, like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade).

That means, the dancers must put in the work on their own time to ensure their bodies are primed and ready to hit the stage each day. “We’re expected to come up to rehearsal warmed up and ready to go, so however you need to warm up is up to you,” Payton says. “I think it’s very individual-based.”

For Payton, she likes to warm up on a ballet bar. “Sometimes I need more of a stretch, more yoga, more centering, more grounding,” she adds. “Just really depends on what I need from day to day, but yeah… During shows, we don’t have any more rehearsals.”

While there are sometimes additional rehearsals for the specialty shows, Payton makes clear: “For the show itself, we don’t have any more rehearsals once we’re open.”

Rockettes must keep up their personal fitness

The Rockettes perform “The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers”.

Doug Gifford/Getty

Due to the physical demands the dancers put themselves through full-time in the season, it’s important that they keep their bodies healthy and strong throughout the year. When the show’s not in season, Betscher tells PEOPLE she stays in shape working as a freelance dancer.

“I’m auditioning, I’m doing TV, film, theater work and I’m always taking class too to make sure I stay in tip-top shape,” she says. “[Rockettes] have some off-season events that we do as well… We’ve performed in the Tony Awards, we’ve also performed at the VMAs…. the Cheetah Awards.”

She adds, “We do a lot of things in the off-season as well to keep it fresh and to stay alive.”

Rockettes must re-audition every year

Rockette Jordan Betscher.

MSG Entertainment

Just because you were cast as a Radio City Rockette one year, doesn’t mean you’re automatically guaranteed a spot the next. “We have to audition every year,” Payton makes clear.

“Auditions are in April. For new women that audition, it’s actually like a three-day process,” she explains. “You start with a jazz combination, and then you get into tap. Sometimes you’ll build on those combinations as the days go by.”

Betscher adds, “Every year we re-audition and it truly keeps the line fresh for every single season!”

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