During this year’s Radio City Christmas Spectacular, after the Rockettes finish their final kicks, dancer Danielle Jolie Dale rushes out the stage door to make the last train to White Plains. We caught up with Dale between rehearsals to find out how she gets—and maybe how you can get—that rockin’ Rockette bod. No, she doesn’t do a million leg-lifts or a billion crunches: Dale is a strict devotee of yoga. “I swim and golf, but yoga is what keeps me really fit,” she says. In fact, if you really want to stay in shape like Dale, you can train with her. She is opening her own yoga studio, On the Horizon, on Central Avenue in Scarsdale.
Of course, the nonstop dancing helps a little, too. In the weeks leading up to the Spectacular’s opening, Dale’s in rehearsal five hours a day, six days a week. When the show opens, she does three 90-minute, back-to-back performances a day. During the show, there’s no time to rest—some of the costume changes take place in as little as 78 seconds. So if you’ve ever pictured yourself high-kicking on the Rockette’s line, grab your dancing shoes, sure, but make sure you have a yoga mat, too.
// Marisa LaScala
