Radio City Entertainment and the union that represents the Rockettes reached an agreement Wednesday that offers 41 veteran dancers buyouts of US$30,000 to US$120,000 and allows the traditional Christmas spectacular to go on without a strike.
Earlier this month, Radio City, which is owned by Cablevision Systems, disbanded the roster of 41 Rockettes with guaranteed job security, mandating that they audition annually to be on the kick line, as do the rest of the 200 Rockettes nationwide.
PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Under the agreement, the 41 Rockettes will be bought out for US$2 million, distributed according to length of service.
"It's not the price the Rockettes wanted, but in the context of the negotiations, it was a reasonable price," said John Hall, chief negotiator for the American Guild of Variety Artists, which represents the dancers.
The 41 will also be guaranteed spots in this year's Christmas Spectacular, which is to open Nov. 7 at Radio City Music Hall. Eleven out of the 41 were offered an additional US$12,000 to retire voluntarily.
There are 80 Rockettes who rotate into the Christmas show -- including two casts of 36 as well as standbys. Forty percent of the Rockettes in the Christmas Show will be offered a place the following year, but not in future years. Hall called this agreement "thinly-veiled job security."
Seth Abraham, president of Madison Square Garden/Radio City Entertainment said in a statement, "We are delighted to have reached a fair, long-term agreement."
The settlement allows the production schedule for the Christmas Spectacular to proceed and Radio City to avoid an unflattering battle with the chorus line that has become a beloved New York institution. Over the last few days, members of the roster had been passing out flyers in front of Radio City, saying their jobs were at risk.
Under its original buyout plan, Radio City had offered each dancer US$3,000 for each year of employment, a proposal the dancers unanimously rejected.
The agreement is the first national contract for the Rockettes; previously contracts were divided between dancers in New York and those in satellite Rockette troupes elsewhere. Under the new contract, dancers outside New York will now receive benefits, Hall said. Debby Kole Murphy, a veteran Rockette who was also one of two union representatives on the negotiating team, said Wednesday she had yet to decide whether she would accept the buyout and whether she would audition to be a Rockette in the future. "I need a little more time to think about how I feel about it," she said.
Murphy is perhaps representative of the members of the corps whose future was called into question by an increasingly bitter labor dispute.
In an interview on Friday, Murphy said Radio City had underestimated the value of experience, that being a Rockette wasn't as simple doing eye-high kicks at Christmas and putting on a Radio City smile.
"We are a precision dance team," said Murphy recently, wearing a "Rockettes Unite!" T-shirt.
"That is what made us famous for 75 years," she added. "It takes a lot of years to synchronize our movements."
In eliminating the roster system, which was akin to tenure, Radio City said it wanted to level the playing field and have all dancers audition annually for positions.
Even for those on the roster, being a Rockette is a part-time job; New York Rockettes earn US$24,000 to US$32,000.
In Friday's interview, Murphy, said that Rockettes were not so easily replaceable. They are dancers who have spent years perfecting the not inconsiderable skill of moving exactly the same way at exactly the same time.
"If they get what they want, there's going to be no consistency on the line," she said.
Murphy, who was born in Philadelphia and raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in many ways fits the profile of the longtime Rockette. "I was excited and proud to become a Rockette," she said. "And I'm still proud to be a Rockette."
One of four children, Murphy started dancing at age 3, because her older sister did. She was encouraged by her mother, who works in the accounting department of an eyeglasses company, and her father, a life insurance salesman.
When Murphy was a teenager, her father would drive her to New York and wait outside while she auditioned -- sometimes for eight hours at a time -- for dancing jobs. She got her first break at 16, as part of opening acts in Philadelphia for stars like Connie Stevens and she was hired as principal dancer for a local television variety show, "Evening Magazine."
After attending Philadelphia University of the Arts, where she majored in dance, she danced in commercials, cruise ships and variety and convention shows. In addition to performing in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the Easter Show in New York over the last decade, Murphy toured the US with the Rockettes between 1993 and 1994.
When Murphy auditioned to become a Rockette, she was one of 12 picked out of about 400 women. The audition was rigorous, Murphy recalled: she had to prove herself proficient in jazz, ballet and tap, and in singing as well. Plus there was an interview. "They want to see your public speaking skills," she said. "How you would represent the Rockettes."
Because Murphy is New York regional vice president of her union, she has had to juggle her identities as dancer and labor activist. "But there is nothing that's going to get in the way of how I feel about being a Rockette," she said.
The troupe spends long hours rehearsing in front of a mirror in Radio City's ninth-floor rehearsal studios. Dancers have weigh-ins, when they are evaluated according to a fixed equation that factors in body fat, frame and height and has a six-pound weight range. "Although that is tough, it's an objective way to do it," Murphy said.
Friendships among the dancers build over time and Murphy said this adds an intangible to the quality of the corps. "We work together, side by side, day in and day out," she said. "There's a camaraderie that boosts us."
The veteran dancers are also expected to be an example for the rookies.
How many veterans will remain is now an open question.
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