If someone ever needed a spokesperson for the mentality, “Don’t give up on your dreams,” 2014 Fitch High School graduate Alora-Rose Morgan is a solid candidate. After auditioning seven times and making it through callbacks four times since she was 17, Morgan was recently selected as a Rockette.
“Now that it’s actually come to fruition, it’s now also really exciting to spread that message of encouragement to others,” said Morgan, 21.
She was offered the position on Aug. 18, and the weeks that followed were a whirlwind of barre, cycling and weight training classes leading up to the start of Rockettes training at the end of September.
“Once I got the call, I have to really get myself in shape, because you have to be in tip-top physical shape,” she said. Why? To be ready for “six hours a day, six days a week and six weeks of rehearsals leading up to potentially 15 shows a week.”
They are learning the choreography of Julie Branam and Karen Keeler, and they’re going into tech rehearsals at the end of this month. Shows this season run from Nov. 10 through Jan. 1, and tickets can be purchased on the Rockettes website.
At 5 feet 8-and-three-quarter inches, Morgan is about the median height of a Rockette, with dancers ranging from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 10-and-a-half-inches.
The Rockettes create the illusion of an undeviating height by placing the tallest dancer in the center and dancers of decreasing height to either side. Thus, they create a parabola that looks like a line.
There are 80 Rockettes in total, and each cast has 36 dancers onstage at a time with four “swings” who can fill in. There are up to six shows a day, with fewer shows on weekdays and in November.
Each show is 90 minutes, and the Rockettes have costume changes that transform them from reindeer to wooden soldiers to snowflakes. Many people associate Rockettes with high kicks, but whatever they’re doing, the focus is on precision dancing.
“We have so many women on the stage, looking all the same,” Morgan said. “It’s all very precise.”
Fulfilling a lifelong dream for Morgan started with her first lessons at age 3, and at 5 her parents and grandparents took her to see the Rockettes.
“I just turned to my mom and I said, ‘I want to be a Rockette,’ and she helped me through the many processes of that path,” Morgan said, “and so luckily it all worked out.”
She acknowledges that at such a young age, “You’re in awe of everything and you don’t really know the realities of what it is you want to be.”
Early training
But as she got older, she learned more about the company, what it stands for and how it treats its dancers.
“They’re just a very inspiring group of women, how that many women can come together, work together and create something that’s so magical,” Morgan said.
Morgan was born and raised in Connecticut, but since her father was in the Navy and relocated the family, she trained at pre-professional ballet companies in Hawaii, Florida and Georgia. At age 10 or 11, she moved back to Connecticut, where she trained mainly at Eastern Connecticut Ballet.
Morgan said her family was supportive of her decision not to go to college, knowing that it could stymie her goal. Her mother, Sarah Morgan, said Alora-Rose had been accepted to four colleges but broke down crying in uncertainty after returning from an audition in Manhattan. (Alora-Rose was also modeling in high school.)
Sarah noted that Alora-Rose has only a finite amount of time to dance, and that none of the dance teams at the schools were up to her level. She reminded her daughter that she started a family before going to college.
“Your body can only do so much for so long, and I understood that,” Sarah said, “and I understood her passion, and I understood that she needed to try and give it her all in New York.”
Outside of familial support, Alora-Rose credits Fitch High School Principal Joe Arcarese with helping her pursue her ambition.
“He was the absolute best, and he did support me in my endeavors for this opportunity,” she said. “Whether it was allowing me to miss a day of school to go to an audition or just listening to my successes, he was always there, and I thought that was very important.”
Working hard
Sarah said that she and Arcarese went before the board of education to ask for leniency so Alora-Rose was not on the truancy list, arguing that this is a circ*mstance where the child is a working professional outside of school.
Arcarese told The Day he “can’t wait to go to the show” and hopes to go this winter.
“This girl is probably one of the most dynamic young ladies I’ve ever come in contact with,” Arcarese said, adding, “This is the classic story of a girl following her dream, working hard and accomplishing it.”
Trying to make it
It’s also the classic story of a young woman trying to make it in New York City.
Morgan worked as a hostess at a pizza restaurant. She worked at American Eagle. She worked the front desk at a gym. Last year, she started teaching barre fitness classes.
“It’s a hustle; it’s definitely a lot of dedication and determination,” Morgan said, “basically all the will power to get up every day and work your butt off every day to hopefully, maybe, have an opportunity to fulfill your dreams.”
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