Fort Myers native dances, kicks with Radio City Rockettes in New York City Christmas show

Alexis Campbell remembers the exact moment she knew she wanted to be a Rockette.

The Fort Myers native was about 15 years old, and her dance studio had just performed the opening number for The Rockettes' touring Christmas show in 2010. Afterward she and her dance-teacher mom got to sit in the audience at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall and watch the show.

Campbell loved every minute. She watched, mesmerized, as The Rockettes kicked and tapped and did their thing onstage.

"It was amazing," Campbell says. "It was an incredible show … I was like, 'Mom, I could totally see myself doing something like this.'"

Now, 13 years later, she's doing just that.

Campbell makes her official debut as a Radio City Rockette on Friday, Nov. 17, at New York City's famous Radio City Music Hall. She'll perform every week through Jan. 1 in the popular show "The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes."

The Cypress Lake High Center for the Arts graduate still can't quite believe it, she admits.

Any minute now, she says, someone's going to pinch her and she'll wake up.

"It's incredible," she says. "I still feel like it's a dream come true."

How do you become a Rockette? Never quit.

It wasn't easy getting into that beloved, super-precise dance troupe, though. It took Campbell five years of New York City auditions and one heartbreaking cut after another.

But she never stopped auditioning. She never quit.

"I just kept going back," she says. "I was just like, 'I'm not gonna give up on this. I can totally see myself doing this job.'"

Her former dance teacher, Robin Dawn Ryan of Cape Coral's Robin Dawn Academy, was there every step of the way ― just a text or phone call away.

Campbell, 28, would call Ryan after every failed audition and they'd talk about what went wrong and what she could do better next time.

Then Ryan got a text while teaching a dancing class in April 2022.

And this time was different.

"My name was capitalized all the way with, like, a hundred exclamation marks," Ryan says and laughs. "And I'm looking at it and going, 'Oh my God.' And the kids are looking at me and I go, 'She got it, she got it, she got it.'"

Of course, Ryan called right back, and Campbell answered with excitement in her voice.

"She said, 'I'm a Rockette!'" Ryan says. "I was crying. She was crying. We were both crying."

This isn't Ryan's first student to make it into that famous dance troupe. She's had two others, but the last one was about two decades ago.

It's a big deal for any dancer, she says.

"The Rockettes is one of the most prestigious, most honorable dance groups you can belong to," she says. "When you tell people you've been a Rockette, they look at you in a whole different light."

When were The Rockettes founded?

The Rockettes are probably the most famous dance troupe in the world. The dance company was founded in 1925 and debuted in 1932 at Radio City Music Hall, back when they were known as the “Roxyettes."

The "Christmas Spectacular" started the following year and quickly became a New York tradition. It still features numbers from that very first show, including the "Living Nativity" and the iconic “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers."

More than 70 million people from around the world have seen the "Christmas Spectacular" since then, according to a Rockettes news release. They all come for the glitz, the show-stopping numbers and The Rockettes' famously intricate, super-precise dance choreography.

All that precision doesn't come easy, though, Campbell says. After passing her audition last year, she went to the invite-only Rockettes Conservatory for a week-long, intensive training program at Radio City Music Hall.

That's where she really learned what it takes to be a Rockette, she says.

"It's the dedication of going and going, even when you're tired," she says. "Not giving up. If you feel like your leg is straight, you can probably straighten it a little more (laughs). Just giving it more and more."

It didn't get easier once she graduated from the Rockettes Conservatory to actual rehearsals with The Rockettes.

"It's difficult," Campbell says. "We rehearse six days a week for six hours a day. … We need to learn quickly and be on our game the whole, entire time."

She admits she can get pretty sore after rehearsals.

"I usually come home and take a bath," she says. "I have my heating pad right by my bed (laughs). I'm all about the self care."

84 Rockettes, almost 200 Christmas Spectacular shows

But it'll be worth it when she finally takes the stage this week, she says. This year's 90-minute show features many jaw-dropping numbers, including "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" and "Dance of the Frost Fairies" ― a reimagined fan favorite that features The Rockettes as winged fairies and also fairy drones that fly out high above the audience.

Campbell is one of 84 Rockettes that make up two different "Christmas Spectacular" casts. Together, they'll perform almost 200 shows through New Year's Day.

Campbell will generally do morning and early afternoon shows. She won't dance with The Rockettes in New York City's annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, though, according to a Radio City Music Hall representative. That'll be the night cast.

After January, Campbell will have to return to her regular life in New York City. The Rockettes only perform for the holiday season, and the dancers have to audition each year for their roles.

Campbell says she's not sure what she'll do after that. Maybe visit her friends and family in the Fort Myers area.

But for now, she's just enjoying being what she likes to call "a lady of the line." And she can't wait to see her first audiences at Radio City Music Hall.

"It's amazing," she says. "It still feels surreal."

Her former dance teacher, Ryan, isn't surprised at all that Campbell landed in that famous dance line. Campbell's always been very determined, she says. She even moved to New York City with that one big goal: To become a Rockette.

"She never gave up," Ryan says. "That's been her goal and she never, ever gave up."

Ryan can't wait to see her former student perform at Radio City Music Hall. She already has tickets to see the show with her daughter and granddaughters in December.

'Yellowstone' to 'Longmire': Actors from Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Marco Island

If you want to know which audience member is her, she'll be the one crying her eyes out when Campbell takes the stage.

"I am over the moon for her," Ryan says. "I am so, so happy for her."

How much are tickets to see The Rockettes?

Tickets for "The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes" start at $49. You can buy them at rockettes.com/Christmas.

Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. Follow or message him on social media: Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), X (formerly Twitter) (@charlesrunnells), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram (@crunnells1).

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Rockette from Fort Myers says upcoming debut a 'dream come true'