Photos of the Radio City Rockettes as the iconic dance troupe turns 100

ENT

Photos of the Radio City Rockettes as the iconic dance troupe turns 100

2025-11-06 19:10 Last Updated At：19:20

NEW YORK (AP) — The iconic Radio City Rockettes are turning 100.

The famed dance troupe and high-kicking staple of the New York City holiday season is marking a century of wowing crowds as its annual Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall opens this week.

Click to Gallery

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes walk offstage as they take a break from rehearsal for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Oct. 29, 2008, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes perform in the annual "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," marking its 75th year in New York, Nov. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, on Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - The 36 Rockettes go through a dance number as they rehearse for their Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in New York in December 1963. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers dance during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Rockettes laugh as they hold Azzuri, the camel that along with other animals arrive for the first day of rehearsals for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nov. 7, 2006, in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

The Rockettes rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," a number in which the costumed dancers march in military-like precision and then famously collapse like dominoes, in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - Rockettes line up for their first rehearsal as they prepare to go back onstage after a 27-day strike and under a new agreement, at Radio City Music Hall, Oct. 13, 1967, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE — Rockettes Lynda Farmer, left, and Penny Singleton, pose like they're ready to toss picket signs out the window of the American Guild of Variety Artists headquarters, at the Hotel Warwick, Oct. 12, 1967, in New York, following a general settlement of a contract dispute between Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes and other performers. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams, File)

FILE - Dancers perform during auditions to become Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, on April 3, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

FILE — Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Corliss Fyfe, Eleanor Dunne, Ginnie Volmer and Pat White, rehearse on June 13, 1951, in New York. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Rockettes rehearse for the 2023 Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, at St. Paul the Apostle Church, Oct. 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE — Rockettes Louise Thompson of Long Beach, Calif., from left, Judy Little of Camden, N.J., and Joyce Hector of West Orange, N.J., are fitted for costumes for a new show in the Radio City Music Hall's costuming department, April 5, 1966, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - A dancer applies makeup before an audition for the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

More Images

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes walk offstage as they take a break from rehearsal for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Oct. 29, 2008, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes perform in the annual "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," marking its 75th year in New York, Nov. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, on Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - The 36 Rockettes go through a dance number as they rehearse for their Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in New York in December 1963. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers dance during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Rockettes laugh as they hold Azzuri, the camel that along with other animals arrive for the first day of rehearsals for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nov. 7, 2006, in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

The Rockettes rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," a number in which the costumed dancers march in military-like precision and then famously collapse like dominoes, in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - Rockettes line up for their first rehearsal as they prepare to go back onstage after a 27-day strike and under a new agreement, at Radio City Music Hall, Oct. 13, 1967, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE — Rockettes Lynda Farmer, left, and Penny Singleton, pose like they're ready to toss picket signs out the window of the American Guild of Variety Artists headquarters, at the Hotel Warwick, Oct. 12, 1967, in New York, following a general settlement of a contract dispute between Radio City Music Hall and the Rockettes and other performers. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams, File)

FILE - Dancers perform during auditions to become Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, on April 3, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

FILE — Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Corliss Fyfe, Eleanor Dunne, Ginnie Volmer and Pat White, rehearse on June 13, 1951, in New York. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Rockettes rehearse for the 2023 Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, at St. Paul the Apostle Church, Oct. 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE — Rockettes Louise Thompson of Long Beach, Calif., from left, Judy Little of Camden, N.J., and Joyce Hector of West Orange, N.J., are fitted for costumes for a new show in the Radio City Music Hall's costuming department, April 5, 1966, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - A dancer applies makeup before an audition for the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

The show dates to 1933 but the troupe itself traces its roots to the founding of the “Missouri Rockets” in St. Louis in 1925.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Pope Leo meets families of youth lost to illegal toxic waste dumping in Italy's 'Land of Fires'

ACERRA, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday greeted one by one families who lost loved ones to illegal toxic dumping in an area near Naples, tied to a multi-billion criminal racket run by the mafia.

Many paused to share photographs and other mementos of children and young people who have died or are battling cancer because of the pollution.

Leo's visit to the so-called Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ big ecological encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be), and indicates Leo’s commitment to carry on his predecessor’s environmental agenda.

“I have come first of all to gather the tears of those who have lost loved ones, killed by environmental pollution caused by unscrupulous people and organizations who for too long were able to act with impunity,” Leo said in remarks to family members and local clergy inside Acerra's cathedral.

The pontiff recalled that the area now dubbed the Land of Fires was once called “Campania felix,” Latin for blessed or fruitful countryside, "capable for enchanting for its fertility, its produce and its culture, like a hymn to life.

"And yet — here is death, of the land and of men,'' the pope said.

The European Court of Human Rights last year validated a generation of residents’ complaints that mafia dumping, burial and burning of toxic waste led to an increased rate of cancer and other ailments in the area of 90 municipalities around Caserta and Naples, encompassing a population of 2.9 million people.

The court found Italian authorities had known since 1988 about the toxic pollution, blamed on the Camorra crime syndicate that controls waste disposal, but failed to take necessary steps to protect the residents. The binding ruling gave Italy two years to set up a database about the toxic waste and verified health risks associated with living there.

Bishop Antonio Di Donna estimated 150 young people had died in the city of some 58,000 over the past three decades — emphasizing in his opening remarks that the number didn't take into account adults and victims in other municipalities.

He urged the pope to admonish those who continue to pollute, noting that the dumping of tons of toxic waste was reported a day earlier near Castera. Di Donna said that Italian officials had identified dozens more human-caused contamination sites throughout the country, including the Venetian port of Marghera, and the leaching of PFAS forever chemicals into groundwater near Vicenza.

"We say to those brothers of ours ensnared in evil and seized by a mirage of fabulous earnings: Convert, change your ways, because what you are doing is not only a crime, it is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance,'' the bishop said.

The pope later greeted the mayors of the 90 communities impacted by the toxic dumping, and greeted thousands of people waving yellow flags and chanting “Papa Leone” along the route of his popemobile and in a central piazza.

The victims include Maria Venturato, who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 25. Her father, Angelo, said he hopes to speak with the pope to explain their reality, “not for me … for the next generation.”

“I’d like to give these young people a future, so I’m asking for the pope’s help with this. That is, I’m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say, ‘Look, let’s heal this land of fires,’" he said on the eve of the pope's visit.

Inside the cathedral, Filomena Carolla presented the pope with a book containing memories from the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at the age of 24.

“I’m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young,” Carolla told The Associated Press on Friday.

Francis' plans to visit the area in 2020 were canceled due to the pandemic.

Photos of the Radio City Rockettes as the iconic dance troupe turns 100

ENT

Photos of the Radio City Rockettes as the iconic dance troupe turns 100

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes walk offstage as they take a break from rehearsal for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Oct. 29, 2008, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes perform in the annual "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," marking its 75th year in New York, Nov. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, on Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - The 36 Rockettes go through a dance number as they rehearse for their Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in New York in December 1963. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers dance during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Rockettes laugh as they hold Azzuri, the camel that along with other animals arrive for the first day of rehearsals for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nov. 7, 2006, in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

The Rockettes rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," a number in which the costumed dancers march in military-like precision and then famously collapse like dominoes, in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - Rockettes line up for their first rehearsal as they prepare to go back onstage after a 27-day strike and under a new agreement, at Radio City Music Hall, Oct. 13, 1967, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - Dancers perform during auditions to become Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, on April 3, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

FILE — Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Corliss Fyfe, Eleanor Dunne, Ginnie Volmer and Pat White, rehearse on June 13, 1951, in New York. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Rockettes rehearse for the 2023 Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, at St. Paul the Apostle Church, Oct. 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE — Rockettes Louise Thompson of Long Beach, Calif., from left, Judy Little of Camden, N.J., and Joyce Hector of West Orange, N.J., are fitted for costumes for a new show in the Radio City Music Hall's costuming department, April 5, 1966, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - A dancer applies makeup before an audition for the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes walk offstage as they take a break from rehearsal for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Oct. 29, 2008, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, File)

FILE- The Radio City Rockettes perform in the annual "Radio City Christmas Spectacular," marking its 75th year in New York, Nov. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, on Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - The 36 Rockettes go through a dance number as they rehearse for their Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in New York in December 1963. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers dance during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Rockettes laugh as they hold Azzuri, the camel that along with other animals arrive for the first day of rehearsals for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Nov. 7, 2006, in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

The Rockettes rehearse the "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," a number in which the costumed dancers march in military-like precision and then famously collapse like dominoes, in the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, in New York, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

FILE - Rockettes line up for their first rehearsal as they prepare to go back onstage after a 27-day strike and under a new agreement, at Radio City Music Hall, Oct. 13, 1967, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - Dancers perform during auditions to become Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, on April 3, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

FILE — Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Corliss Fyfe, Eleanor Dunne, Ginnie Volmer and Pat White, rehearse on June 13, 1951, in New York. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi, File)

FILE - Rockettes rehearse for the 2023 Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, at St. Paul the Apostle Church, Oct. 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE — Rockettes Louise Thompson of Long Beach, Calif., from left, Judy Little of Camden, N.J., and Joyce Hector of West Orange, N.J., are fitted for costumes for a new show in the Radio City Music Hall's costuming department, April 5, 1966, in New York. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)

FILE - A dancer applies makeup before an audition for the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, April 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Radio City Rockettes perform during the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, Dec. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Next Article

Pope Leo meets families of youth lost to illegal toxic waste dumping in Italy's 'Land of Fires'

Bordeaux rout Leinster in Champions Cup final and seal a French treble of European titles

Tens of thousands rally in Serbia against authoritarian President Vucic

Kyle Busch died after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, his family says

Hull back in the Premier League after dramatic late goal in playoff

US military conducts a rapid response exercise at embassy in Venezuela’s capital

Yankees and Rays postponed because of rain forecast, will play doubleheader on Sept. 22

A second Ebola treatment center is set ablaze in eastern Congo, with 18 suspected cases leaving