"The Music Hall is almost as difficult a mechanism to operate as the Metropolitan (Opera House), with a new stage show every week, with two large dance troupes beside chorus, orchestra and soloists. Yet Miss Florence Rogge, the ballet-mistress, is treated like a human being, and she produces work of a superlative average quality, and whose popularity increases year by year."
Lincoln Kirstein
"Blast at Ballet" 1937
When Roxy Rothafel left the Roxy Theatre in1932 to become the producer for the new Radio City Music Hall, he brought with him an artistic staff that was to set the tenor of the Music Hall for the next forty years. With a combination of talent, experience and audacity, Roxy’s creative team filled the massive stage with brilliant shows that pleased both the novice and the critic alike.
The Radio City Corps de Ballet was the only ballet company in America to perform every day of the year for forty years. From its beginnings in 1932, to its last days in 1972, the ballet company cycled through a tremendous amount of dancers, however, despite the incredible work load, the artistic staff remained remarkably stable.
For over twenty years, Ballet Director Florence Rogge either choreographed new ballets for the company or created fresh arrangements for old standards. With a time limit of approximately 20 minutes, a seating capacity of nearly six thousand, and a stage larger than any ballet company had ever known, she used her skills at pattern choreography and lighting techniques to the greatest advantage.
Read critic Walter Terry's 1940 review of the Radio City Corps de Ballet.
From the collection of Julia Savoye Coletta.
