While many of us are preparing for the holiday season, Natalie Butt and Mia Wilson are bringing magic to New York City along with the rest of the Radio City Rockettes as they perform in the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In their second year as official Rockettes, Wilson and Butt have traveled the United States, performed for millions, and of course, taken the main stage at Radio City Music Hall. It’s a rigorous and emotionally-gratifying job for the two college students who grew up dancing, and it’s also been the biggest learning experience.
“It was always sort of a dream for me,” Butt, a senior at Fordham University and The Ailey School, tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “I saw the show when I was really little, and I grew up in Florida, so I wasn’t able to come to New York every year and see it. But, like most people, I would watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving [Day] Parade, so it definitely was a dream, and seemed far-fetched for a long time.”
Butt’s first experience dancing with the Rockettes was through a partnership the dance company has with The Ailey School. After taking workshops and classes, where she learned their style of dance, Butt auditioned for the Rockettes Conservatory, “an invite-only, week-long intensive training program held at Radio City Music Hall each summer” — and the rest is history.
As for Wilson, she’s a senior studying dance at Pace University and joined the Rockettes after being inspired by her classmates.“I grew up in Phoenix … I always knew who the Rockettes were, but never had the opportunity to see a show live,” Wilson tells Her Campus. “In my sophomore year of college, we had two seniors that were [performing as Rockettes], so our dance program was able to get tickets. That was my first time seeing the show, and I was just blown away, because there were these two incredibly strong women that I just took class[es] with every day. They were just my classmates, and they were doing this incredible job. I thought, if they can do it, maybe I could do it, too. So I went to the audition on a whim that year and I made it into the conservatory program.”
Although dancing has always been a big part of Butt and Wilson’s lives, balancing the Rockettes and college-life has been an adjustment. “It’s been a learning process.” Butt says. “My program, the Ailey School and Fordham University, have made it very easy for me to do this job and be able to graduate and get my credits on time.”
Wilson has a similar sentiment. “One of the hardest things for me was probably the preparation over all four years because I knew I wanted to allow myself to work. I took summer classes, winter classes, and took a total of 11 credits outside our normal semester system. That was all to make sure that if I booked something, I was able to do both because I was so far ahead,” she says.
Being two of the youngest members of the Rockettes can definitely be a lot, especially with all of the shows Butt and Wilson have to perform. But they still make time for self-care. “Sometimes, we’re performing at nine in the morning, but we tend to get off earlier in the evenings most days. That’s the time I’m able to take for myself and really wind down after doing up to four shows a day,” Butt says. “When I get home, I like it to be nice and quiet and take warm showers, taking care of my body, rolling out my muscles.”
“I’m always looking for a new Netflix show to watch,” Wilson says with a laugh. “It’s really important for me that I take time to wind down and de-stress from the day, soak in everything that we’re able to do, and just have a relaxing night routine. I’ve been taking my evenings to chill out with a good movie or good book, and I love to crochet — doing little crafts and things to get my mind off of the stress of the world.”
Since becoming part of the Rockettes, Butt has learned so much. But the biggest lesson she’s taken away so far is that she’s “stronger than I ever knew I was,” she says. “Being surrounded by all the women that do this job with me, they’re all so incredibly strong, and I just never knew I had that in me.”
Wilson, on the other hand, has learned that working as a team with the rest of the Rockettes makes everyone look their best. “When we are all working together and working at our hardest, you can feel it when we’re kicking next to each other,” she says. “You feel the energy of your sisters right next to you. And that’s not something you feel a lot of the time in a lot of other jobs.”
Being two Gen Z Rockettes, Wilson and Butt hope to inspire the next generation of Rockettes and encourage anyone wanting to audition to take the leap. “Show up as you are and be confident in what you have to bring to the table because that is enough,” Butt says. “I think everything happens for a reason and you’re going to end up where you’re meant to be.”
“If you keep working towards it and if you have the confidence, if you believe in yourself hard enough, you can do it,” Wilson says. “I really hope that anybody that wants to do this will continue to chase that dream and never give up on it, no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is. You can do it.”