“Ladies and gentlemen, the spectacular Radio City Rockettes!” Santa announces to the crowd. The iconic dancing troupe takes the stage to thunderous applause and begins performing the beloved Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, a 93-year tradition.
Tara Tubridy has been a Rockette for 19 years, and the moment still gives her butterflies each night.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Tubridy, 42, of Oceanside. “I pinch myself most days when I walk into the theater because it really is still surreal, even after all this time.”
The Chrismas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall opens Nov. 8, marking the official start of the performance season. But Tubridy and her 83 fellow dancers started preparing long before the curtains rose. Six days a week, for the past eight weeks, the Rockettes have been rehearsing to put on a show they know will be cherished by countless families.
“Looking out into that theater is like no other place, and you can just see how happy the show and the experience of the Rockettes makes the audience members,” Tubridy said. “It really brings them Christmas joy. And to know that you’re a big part of that, whether you know the people in the audience or don’t, is really — it gets you through your harder days.”
“Because it is such a physical show,” she added. “I mean, the Rockettes are truly athletes. So on those hard days, knowing how happy [you make people] — some people look forward to this all year — it really is such a great thing.”
Tubridy was once one of them. Growing up in Queens, she often went with her family to watch the Christmas Spectacular. During one show, when Tubridy was college-aged, she turned to her mom.
“I can do that,” she said. “I’m going to do that.”
It might have sounded like a pipe dream, had it been said by any other person. But after hearing Tubridy’s lifelong passion for dance and decades of hard work to back it up, it could almost strike one as inevitable that she would one day be performing those famous high-kicks on the Radio City Music Hall stage. She started dancing at three years old and hasn’t stopped since. After graduating from Hofstra University with a degree in dance, she tried out for the Rockettes. The rest is history.
Tubridy’s family still cherishes the Christmas Spectacular each year. Except now, Tubridy isn’t watching from the crowd, but from the stage. And when she looks out into the audience, she sees her three young daughters watching their mom live out her dream.
“I think the fact that they can see me doing it is a testament to — it sounds so cliche — but your dreams really can come true if you work hard enough, and you practice and are persistent,” Tubridy said. “It’s definitely difficult, but I’m proof that it’s possible. So it’s the same thing I tell my girls: you have to work hard. You have to stay strong and confident, and believe in yourself.”
The girls’ favorite part of the show is the Dance of the Frost Faries, a new number where fairy drones fly out into the audience — and, of course, the part “when mommy’s dressed up as a rag doll.”
“Whether it’s your first time or your 20th time,” Tubridy said, “There really is something new and special for everybody, and new memories to be made.”
The Christmas Spectacular is running at Radio City Music Hall from Nov. 8 to Jan. 5. For more information, visit Rockettes.com.
Read more: A Day In The Life Of A Radio City Rockette
