Some Rockettes were reduced to tears and reacted with fear after learning they’d be dancing for Donald Trump at his inaugural next month, members of the famed chorus line said.
“If I had to lose my job over this, I would,” one hoofer going with the pseudonym “Mary” told Marie Claire magazine in an interview posted online Tuesday. “It’s too important. And I think the rest of the performing arts community would happily stand behind me.”
Mary recalled one of her fellow dancers crying throughout a 90-minute show on Thursday, three days before Christmas.
“She felt she was being forced to perform for this monster,” Mary said.
Another dancer told her co-workers in an email: “I wouldn’t feel comfortable standing near a man like that in our costumes.”
Dancers learned about the Trump gig through news reports and not from their Madison Square Garden bosses, Marie Claire reported.
MSG said last week that no Rockettes will be forced to perform and that all dancers have the right to refuse any gig.
A Rockettes rep on Tuesday reiterated that the company’s statement still stands – and that no one is being forced to appear for Trump on Jan. 20.
There are actually more dancers willing to perform than available spots, an MSG spokeswoman said.
However, Mary claims that’s not what dancers were originally told.
She said most of the 80 dancers are on seasonal contract, and do have the right to turn down any performance.
But full-timers don’t have that option to say no, according to the dancer.
“Thirteen girls are full-time year-round Rockettes, and they sign a contract saying that aside from approved vacation time, they will be available to do any and all work,” Mary said.
“The rest of us are seasonally contracted: 80 dancers, two casts of 40 women each.”
The seasonal dancers received an email asking about their availability for Trump’s big day, Mary said.
But 13 full-time Rockettes received a different email, only telling them when and where the Washington DC gig will take place – with no apparent choice of skipping, according to Mary.