All 80 of the gorgeous, long-legged, wildly fit dancers who have made the competitive cut to be able to call themselves “Rockettes” say the experience is almost like having a stage filled with “sisters.”
But for the first time in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular’s 79-year history, there are actually three siblings kick-kick-kicking, fa-la-la-ing and grin-grin-grinning in the show together.
Five-foot-eight, 26-year-old stunner Kristin Jantzie is in her seventh season dancing as a Rockette, and her identical twin, Lisa, joined the touring company last year. So when their younger sister, 5-foot-6 Alison, 24, auditioned for the very first time this year, the girls’ father said he was so nervous he didn’t even want to know who had made the final cut when the show was cast in May.
“Our parents are proud of us no matter what. I don’t think he was expecting me to have good news,” says the most veteran Rockette, who says she’s very protective of her sisters, all of whom grew up in Canada.
But as Alison puts it, there was “relief and excitement,” for their pharmacist dad and for their mom, a lab technician. “Little” brother David, 20, now a student and hockey player at Arizona State University was also thrilled — and glad all those hours of playing “audience” paid off. “He sat through many hours of dance performances growing up,” says Kristin.
Indeed, their childhood was dominated by tap, ballet and jazz practice starting as early as age 3, with the three sisters all dancing at the same studio. “Lisa and Kristin were student-teachers in many of my dance classes so I had great examples to follow,” says Alison.
And although it’d be easy to think that harsh rivalry might break out between them, the Jantzies managed to change natural quarreling into a positive form of competition.
“We’re twins so there was really no excuse to not be able to do anything that Lisa could,” says Kristin. Adds Lisa, who lives on the Upper East Side, “Although we did many of the same activities growing up and were in the same school and dance classes, I never felt like I was being compared or had to outdo. I think that it helped to have each other as encouragement along the way, but I think most people recognize that we have our own individual strengths and differences.”
Radio City Spectacular choreographer and director Linda Haberman agrees: “They’re all very different, I have to say. Kristin has beautiful lines. Lisa is very focused, and I feel like she is always thinking. Alison, the newest, I feel like she is a bit more outgoing. Even if she’s making a mistake, she’ll have a big old smile on her face. But the thing they all share is they’re all really disciplined, which is, of course, mandatory for this job.”
Instead of flowers for opening night, their proud mother sent them each charms to add to bracelets they own. And for good luck, a familiar family smile is a glance away.
“I used to keep pictures of my sisters on the mirror in my dressing room,” says Kristin, “but now I just have to look across the room to see [them]!”
For newcomer Alison, this may be the closest to experiencing the “identical” bond her older sisters have shared all their lives. “Although I will never be a twin, it is nice to have this common experience to share,” she says.
Plus, she adds, with a familiar sentiment, “Being a Rockette is like having an entire stage full of sisters.”
(From left) Lisa, Alison and Kristin Jantzie are the first trio of sisters to dazzle with the Rockettes. (Jonathan Baskin)
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