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| Dance major Katie Reid spends her fall training for and dancing as a Radio City Rockette at the Grand Ole Opry. |
As the holidays commence, sophomore
dance major Katie Reid will spend the season performing in an iconic Christmas spectacle.
“I was first inspired to become a professional dancer, and specifically a Radio City Rockette, when I saw my first Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Detroit,” Reid said. “My classes at OU helped prepare me for the audition so when a new style, instructor or personality was presented I was able to quickly adapt.”
Becoming a Radio City Rockette
“One of the best parts of my job is when I come down the aisle of the Grand Ole Opry, catch the eye of a little girl and see her excitement when I give her a wink,” Reid said. “It seems like I was just that little girl when I was inspired by a ‘real Rockette.’ Now, I am one.”
With childhood dreams of dancing on the big stage, Reid became a Radio City Rockette after years of trainings and intensives. She auditioned as a senior in high school for the dance company, and although survived as one of the top 30 dancers, did not receive a call back. Her “call” came a year later while a sophomore in Oakland’s dance program, after she tried out again for the Radio City Rockette Open Call Audition in the spring of 2014.
“I had become a much stronger dancer during that first year at OU and felt even more prepared and excited at the possibility of once again making it through all the cuts,” Reid said. She is currently performing with the Radio City Rockettes’ Nashville, Tennessee, cast through Christmas Eve.
The Radio City Rockettes are a world-class dance company that casts 250 dancers nationwide each year. Every season, only about 10-15 new dancers are cast in the three Christmas Spectacular shows. Since the 1930s, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular has provided holiday entertainment at the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York. Now, the company dancers travel nationwide to perform the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
“This was her dream for such a long time,” said OU dance Assistant Professor and former Radio City Rockette Alison Woerner. “Katie was well prepared in all different levels and genres, with a solid modern, ballet, jazz, and tap background.”
Balancing academics
Although Reid is pursuing her dream dance career, she values the importance of her college education. The OU dance faculty offered Reid constructive ideas about how to obtain her degree while becoming a professional dancer. She plans to train and perform as a Radio City Rockette from October through December each year that she is re-hired, and return to Oakland for the winter, spring and summer semesters.
“Each semester at OU will build on my dance attributes and will help define the dancer I am now as well as the dancer I have yet to become,” Reid said.
The dance program at Oakland trains dancers to perform in a variety of platforms, enriching students through concerts, classes, festivals, two student dance companies, and the opportunity to present their work both on and off campus.
“I’m so proud of Katie for doing the shows, and then coming back (to Oakland) in the winter,” said Woerner. “She understands how important her education is in her career.”
Reid plans to continue her career as a Radio City Rockette for “a long time.” After that, Reid will use her OU dance degree in another, presently uncertain, dance related field. Until then, though, she is elated with her path toward academic and professional synergy.
