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| Our Rockette Instructors |
Showgirls in the making ...
If you read my
Blogging and the City 2.0 (part 1) post from yesterday, then you know that I recently returned from a trip to New York City to attend BlogHer, "the" largest women's blogging conference.
One of the things that I love about going to BlogHer is that the organizers partner with sponsors to not only keep the conference fee down to only $199, but also to put on FREE one-of-a-kind events for small groups of conference attendees. These events are filled on a first come, first serve basis. Last year at BlogHer11, I attended a sponsored event where I met
Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser.
This year, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare sponsored a special event at BlogHer12 involving the Radio City Rockettes. About 100 conference attendees got to take a private dance lesson taught by the Rockettes and I and Laura from
LauraInTheMotorCity were in the house - SWEET!
I learned that the Rockettes teach paid 3 hour dance classes that I am sure cost big bucks. So I was very glad to have a FREE one hour lesson to find out more about the basic Rockette dance moves, including their signature kick line.
When Laura and I arrived at the side entrance to Radio City Music Hall, we had to go through two security checkpoints and show picture ID to be verified as invited guests - good to know that they keep the Rockettes so safe.
We were broken up into two groups of 50, and each group was put into a separate dance studio with two Rockette instructors. Everyone was so giddy with excitement that we were all acting like little girls. We were put into two lines with the taller women in the middle and the shorter women (including me) on the ends. This is how the real Rockettes line up for their dances.
We were each given a number that corresponded with a number on the floor in front of us. That number is how we figured out how to line up and now much space to keep between each other.
The first move that we were taught was how to walk like a toy solider. Everyone knows about the Rockettes' Toy Solider dance routine, but I can tell you that it looks a lot easier that it really is. We had to keep our legs perfectly straight and squeeze our butts while keeping time with the music in perfect line formations - NOT EASY!
We next were taught the famous Rockettes Kick Line. One move that you probably don't notice is that each girl has an arm behind the girl on either side of her at special positions. But guess what? You are not allowed to actually touch the other girls. Your arms and hands must be held an inch or two away from their backs in mid air - HARD!. After we got that move down, we went on to how to do the high kicks on queue. Then the the music was added and the heat was on.
Yeah, we all need to keep our day jobs because we will never get a job as a Rockette in real life, but it was a lot of fun. At the end of the kick line routine, we all had to do a showgirl pose in a slight bent poster with our hands crossed over our knees and then end the song with our hands in the air - it was too cute.
After the class was over, there was a question and answer period where we learned that our Rockette instructors are very tall (you have to be at least 5'6" to be a Rockette), eat like athletes (no squirrel food for these beauties), and compete in marathons in addition to all the dancing that they do in their regular jobs.
On our way out of Radio City Music Hall, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare treated everyone to smoothies which we all sucked down with abandon - dancing makes you hungry.
So if you ever get a chance to go to BlogHer, make sure you signup for one of the special sponsored events. I cannot think of anywhere else except at BlogHer that I would be in "the" Radio City Music Hall taking a FREE private lesson with a Rockette. These are the kind of moments that we always remember.
Watch for my next post in my
Blogging in the City 2.0 series to follow more of my adventures in the Big Apple at BlogHer12.
UPDATE: CLICK HERE FOR BLOGGING IN THE CITY 2.0 (PART 3)
Enjoy!
Disclosure: Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Caltrate® and Centrum®, sponsored our FREE Rockettes workout. All my trip photos were taken with the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone loaned to me for my trip to BlogHer by Verizon Wireless. All opinions are my own.
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