Dancing queen

Lakeview grad fulfills dream of joining Rockettes

By Felicia A. Petro

Allied News Staff Writer



From showing swine to showing her legs, Erin Harold has blossomed from a Stoneboro country girl into a Radio City Rockette.

“I used to show pigs in 4H. I was an American country girl,” said Ms. Harold, 22, in a phone interview before a performance on Friday at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

“This is so different, but I absolutely love it. The production is amazing.”

Ms. Harold is 5 foot, 9 inches tall, which was one leg in the door to her dream with the famous Rockettes. The production doesn’t consider dancers unless they are between 5 foot, 6 inches and 5 foot, 10 inches in height.

In high school, “People wanted to recruit her for basketball,” said Debbee Harold, Erin’s mother.

“But her passion has always been dance. She didn’t want to do anything else. She loved ballet and was leaning that way, but being that tall, realistically how tall can ballet dancers be?”

Erin was accepted for Mercyhurst College’s ballet and modern dance program in Pittsburgh.

However, she took a scholarship with Point Park College in Pittsburgh in 2006 for its dance program, which she said is more versatile.

“When you have all that, you’re more marketable and well-rounded,” she said.

That versatility also gave Ms. Harold a second leg in the door to becoming a Rockette, who must be proficient in jazz, tap and ballet.

Her training with Dottie McGill Dance School in Grove City growing up also helped prepare Ms. Harold for her dream.

“Dottie was always very into classic concert jazz dance and competitions. It led me in the direction of the Rockettes. They’re very concert-like entertainment.”

“That’s all Erin’s done since she was 4,” her mother said. “I took her to Grove City three to four times a week.”

Now Ms. Harold dances two to four times a day, six days a week in the two-hour Christmas show, which is a holiday tradition for the Rockettes, who are also known for their dancing in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Erin would watch the popular parade on TV each year, but got to see them live in Cleveland when she was in middle school. She said to her mom, “I think I can do that,” Mrs. Harold quoted her daughter.

“As a parent, you like your kids to dream, but how many actually make it? We didn’t think she’d take it that far,” Mrs. Harold said.

The Rockettes have numerous groups that tour in various cities this time of the year. “All together there are 200 Rockettes,” Ms. Harold said. After her first live viewing, she saw them perform in New York and Pittsburgh.

After her freshman year at Point Park, Erin felt it was time to go for her dream.

Between May 2007 and May 2008, “We went to New York City three times” for Erin to audition, her mother said. She was cut “right away.”

An audition in Chicago that May did better for Ms. Harold. She was called back four times for two days of intense auditioning.

“Then they said, if they need her, they’ll call. We were happy she got that far,” her mom said. “Only a select few make it and hundreds of girls audition every year.”

Ms. Harold got her dream, and was called back in July 2008.

It was a whirling of activity by October when she signed a contract with the Rockettes and went off to Myrtle Beach for 7-hour rehearsal days, six days a week for three weeks before a holiday tour from November to January in Chicago and St. Louis, Mo.

As a parent, Mrs. Harold wondered about her daughter’s education. Erin told her that “she could ‘always finish school,’” her mother quoted her.

Although re-auditioning for the Rockettes annually is normally the protocol, “This year, they asked her to come back” for a tour in Pittsburgh and Seattle, her mom added.

“Hopefully next year she’ll do it again.”

The show schedule is tough, Ms. Harold said. Her mother added that Erin gets her feet taped – especially when breaking in new shoes – and takes ice baths to stay injury-free. Keeping up her carbohydrate, protein and water intake is also important.

The production team “treats us well,” Erin added. It provides nutritional support, an athletic trainer – and even some limousine rides to promote the tours to the public.

“It’s intense, grueling and tedious, but the perks are so much better,” Ms. Harold said.

This year, she’s been interviewed by Pittsburgh radio stations, and appeared on KDKA. Erin’s considered the “local” Rockette, her mom said. “I’m excited to be here in Pittsburgh, it’s like my hometown,” the dancer added.

The Pittsburgh-tour Rockettes have also visited “local nursing homes and Children’s Hospital to spend time with people, which is truly touching,” Ms. Harold said.

It would be easy to let all the glitz get to her head, but Erin’s “very humble and down-to-earth about this whole Rockette thing,” her mom said.

“She doesn’t take anything for granted. She works hard and doesn’t take it as a way to showboat, but as a profession. She loves the dance and has a passion and it’s always been what she wanted to do.”

Although she’s had to take off the last two fall semesters to dance with the Rockettes, Erin’s not missed a beat in school. She majors in dance with a jazz concentration. She’s taken courses online and in the summers. Ms. Harold also takes a full course load of 18 credits in the spring.

Erin, who now lives in Pittsburgh, graduated from Lakeview High School in the top 10 of her class in 2006, her mother noted.

“She’s a very organized, determined young lady,” her mother said.

After graduating from Point Park in the spring, Erin would love to continue dancing with the Rockettes, she said.

“It’s only three months out of the year, so I’d have to figure out what to do in off-season. I’m looking at Summer Stock (Theater) or cruise ships; or being personal trainer in a gym, teaching pilates or doing massage therapy. You have to be able to do something else as well.”

While her daughter is touring, Mrs. Harold continues her small-town life in Stoneboro with her husband, Andrew, where they have lived for 27 years. They have an older son, Ryan, 26, who also lives in Stoneboro with his family.

Mr. Harold is a water quality specialist with the state Department of Environmental Protection in New Castle. His wife retired early last year as a special education teacher at George Junior Republic.

Mrs. Harold was treated for breast cancer “which has given me a different way to look at life,” she said.

She wouldn’t have been able to see her baby dance with the Rockettes if she hadn’t retired.

She and her husband have gone to Myrtle Beach during Erin’s rehearsals the past two years.

They’ve been to Chicago and St. Louis to see her perform. They saw her once in Pittsburgh before seeing her another time during Thanksgiving weekend, and plan to see Erin dance again this weekend.

“We’ll probably go to Seattle after that,” her mom said. “I’m a fanatic. We won’t brag about about our kids, but if someone asks, you can’t shut me up. It’s a lot of fun.”

Growing up, Erin showed pigs in 4-H for “four to five years, and she earned a showmanship award,” her mother added.

Now being in the Rockettes’ show-stopping performances “is just amazing,” Mrs. Harold said. “We’re just so happy she’s fulfilling her dream at such a young age.”

“Just being able to perform, the good feeling you get from moving, it’s like your own little high. It’s the most amazing feeling,” Ms. Harold said.

“Dance is a part of my life,” she added. “If you get to do what you love, you understand that feeling and spreading it to the people watching is spectacular.”

Her audience is getting the message.

With Thanksgiving bringing the holidays into full swing, tickets for the show can only be found on the weekdays. The weekends are sold out, and the Pittsburgh tour ends after this weekend when Erin and her crew go to Seattle until Jan. 3.

The Rockettes have been around since 1925, with their Radio City Christmas Spectacular starting in 1933, Ms. Harold said.

Online at www.radiocity christmas.com, it states that the show has taken on a 31-city tour this year, more than any other in its history. It features a parade of wooden soldiers, a magical Santa sleigh ride and a live Nativity.

“It’s been a great honor to carry it on. It’s a great tradition for families, to bring that back around the holidays,” Ms. Harold said. “It’s been amazing, more than I ever expected.”



Published Nov. 28, 2009 in Allied News. Pick up a copy at 201A Erie St., Grove City.

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