Meet the new dancing queens.
This Friday, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular returns for another magical holiday season — with a slew of fresh faces joining the show’s famed Rockettes this year.
Following open-call auditions in the spring, which saw more than 800 women kick their way into Midtown to show their best tap, jazz and ballet moves, 17 exceptional ladies will join the illustrious dance battalion of 84 total.
“Having my two dance teachers grow up to be Rockettes, to see them living out their dreams onstage, it made me want to become one even more,” eager Kayla Hsu, 21, of Scotch Plains, NJ told The Post — just days before her first performance.
And while it may seem as if the weight of the world has now landed on their shoulders, the group of 17 — all freshly graduated from the Rockettes Conservatory development program — is anything but on their own, according to fellow newcomer Tamia Strickland, 23, of Silver Spring, Md.
She said that the troupe is going above and beyond to welcome the new women to the line.
“We’re in this together and even all the vets are like old sisters to us, they’re our mentors and have been like helping us in supporting us along the way in the rehearsal process,” Strickland, inspired to pursue the gig after seeing the show for the first time as a 17-year-old, told The Post.
The best advice Danielle Esposito, 22, of San Diego got from senior members was simply to remember to “breathe.”
“I have some dancers on either side of me and I have one dancer who constantly puts her hand on my back and says ‘it’s OK,’” Esposito, formerly of the Houston Ballet, shared. She switched professional gears out of love for Christmas, she told The Post.
“Just having the little reminders from them that it is OK and to stay calm and focused is what’s going to get you through the show.”
The senior support even comes in the form of commuter advice for 19-year-old Danicka Torres, who is taking the bus in from her home of Boonton, NJ, for rehearsals.
“They’ve been telling me all the best ways and best times,” Torres, who took a semester off from school in London, England, told The Post.
“It’s been very helpful and very beneficial,” she said with a smile.
As far as commuting goes, one new member, Solé Mitchell, 22, from the Dallas area, might be the No. 1 fan of the New York City subway.
“I don’t like driving and have to do it all the time in Dallas,” Mitchell, whose family will see the spectacular for the very first time with their daughter as a star, told The Post.
“Being able to take the subway… it’s so convenient. I love that. So I think that’s my favorite thing about New York.”
Making the list
New member Avery Ambrefe, 24, is most thrilled to become a role model for younger girls, just as they were to her in sixth grade during a Rockette experience at Radio City.
“I still remember the exact choreography we were shown and I think I practiced it every single day of sixth grade,” the Boxford, Mass., native told The Post.
Ambrefe distinctly remembers getting her call that she made the roster cutting in and out while on the subway — ultimately breaking down with excitement at 86th Street.
“Growing up with the Rockettes as my role models, I think really shaped who I am as a person… and getting to be that for another young audience or growing up is just amazing.”
For others, like 26-year-old Jaclyn Salerno, Friday night has been a long time coming — six years and 13 auditions to be exact.
The Manahawkin, NJ, native fell in love with the idea of being a Rockette as a sixth grader when her mom had a coupon for a Rockette experience coupon, but after initial years of not making the final cut, she had the backup plan of being a high school math teacher.
Salerno said about four to five years into routine auditions that her supportive family gently would let her know “that some things aren’t meant to play out” — but she persevered.
“I was like, ‘No, I’m doing this,’” Salerno told The Post, recalling that each time she failed, friends who made the Rockettes encouraged her to keep pushing as she was “so close.”
Now, finally, the dream comes true.
“When I got the call I made it my family and I were just all crying. It was a full-circle moment. ‘I can’t believe it you did it, you really did it.’”
“Yes, I did.”
‘My little American dream’
Rose Hinoul, 22, who came to Manhattan by way of Belgium as a child, will never forget the moment she told loved ones the good news of making the cut. It was as she boarded a plane to her native nation to see her grandparents.
Hinoul had the magic moment of letting them know the second she touched down in Europe a few short months ago.
“They were in complete shock,” Hinoul told The Post. “It is something so iconic, especially if you aren’t from the US.”
For her at age 8 and her family, the Thanksgiving parade became a major tradition in adjusting to life in the States. It also served as her introduction to the Rockettes, as they danced in Herald Square.
After years of hard work at dance plus studying sociology at Fordham, she gets to shine on camera come Turkey Day for her family close and abroad to appreciate.
“It’s like my little American dream come true,” she said, fighting back tears.
