All Photos: MSG Entertainment
If you have the opportunity to attend this year’s Christmas Spectacular with the world-renowned Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, you will see on the stage only two premier precision dancers in the company from the Delaware Valley. One is Vineland native Jordana Rosenberg, daughter of Doreen Rosenberg and Dr. Michael Rosenberg.
Jordana, 28, who began dancing when she was three, has melded skill, arduous effort, unflinching focus on meeting her goals, and a bit of luck to reach one of the pinnacles of dance performance.
Jordana graduated in just three years from Arthur P. Schalick High School in Pittsgrove, NJ, where she stood out as a jazz and ballet dancer in its famous performing arts program.
She immediately accepted a traineeship with the Atlantic City ballet, then studied with the American Repertory Ballet Theater in Princeton. Jazz began calling to her again, though, and she performed with a cruise line for a period of time.
Then, she went to New York with the lights of America’s most beloved holiday show in her sights.
Now, Jordana is a part of the longest-running precision dance company in America and a staple of the holidays in New York City. Since it began at Radio City in 1933, the Christmas Spectacular has brought holiday joy to more than 71 million people from around the world.
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In her own words:
“When I moved to New York, I was laser focused on becoming a Rockette. Eventually, I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the Rockette Conservatory—a no cost, invite-only training program that offers the study of specifically Rockette-style precision jazz.
“In 2022, after six audition attempts, I finally booked the job.
“We have a grueling athletic training regimen, we eat healthfully always, and try to get eight hours of sleep every night. We can have a schedule of four shows per day and 17 shows per week. We have to have a lot of stamina so we’re always ready to go.
“To get ready for the Christmas Spectacular, we rehearse six hours a day—six days a week—for six weeks before the show. Then, when we get to the theater for the technical portion of our rehearsal, we add in all of our other elements, such as costumes, lighting, stage movement on set pieces, everything.
“Another one of the special things is the sisterhood that we all share and I don’t think many people would realize how close we all are. We get to spend all of our holidays together and it really creates a family among all of us.
“I’m studying mathematics and environmental science in an online college. I wanted to find out more, maybe one day I’ll work in that. Right now I’m focused on dancing and performing as a Rockette—this is so intense that it’s pretty hard to see beyond it.
“We must work together, all of us as one, onstage and backstage. We actually have a 78-second quick change between our Parade of Wooden Soldiers number and New York Christmas. We have to change everything from our socks to our gloves to our earrings. It’s really important, that teamwork that goes on backstage to put up the show.
“I think that if (becoming a Rockette) is something that you really want to do and have the determination to train and to improve in the style, anybody can do it. It just takes a lot of perseverance and hard work.
“This is my third season. It’s your entire life for at least four months. Obviously, this is famous, but it exceeds what I expected.
“It’s the most incredible thing to perform and see the joy in the audience members’ faces,” Jordana says. “I think as a performer that’s the most special thing you can have, and we get to experience it multiple times a day with different audiences.”
