The Radio City Rockettes are taking their talents to the Sphere in Las Vegas, kind of. They will be featured daily on the exosphere as part of a first-of-its-kind activation throughout the holiday season.
There is a magic here that we’ve created with Sphere, and there is a magic that is created by the Rockettes every year in the Christmas Spectacular. There is nothing more artful than the Rockettes or more scientific than Sphere, so bringing these two together on the Exosphere in such a unique way is the essence of what we do here at Sphere – uniting art and science to bring wonder to the world. This is particularly exciting because it is the most complex combination of real-life footage and animated content we’ve created for the Exosphere to date.
— Guy Barnett, SVP, Brand Strategy & Creative Development, Sphere Entertainment
It opens with a vibrant red and gold Christmas ornament, which spins off to reveal perhaps the most iconic legs in the world. As the top of the ornament continues to rise, the Rockettes arrive.
At 125 feet tall, the precision dancers perform their choreography while rotating around the outside of the Sphere. Their performance, of course, concludes with the kickline!
A lot of planning went into the display, which was extremely technical. The creative visual is meant to be transparent, so the Rockettes’ backs are visible throughout their performance. It marks the first time that such a technique has been used on the immersive digital canvas.
They are the first “live” performers featured on the Sphere and a lot went into making it happen. 15 Rockettes were captured in groups of five. The Sphere Studios team took those three clips and composited them together. From there, the videos were multiplied and stitched together to stretch across the entire exosphere.
The entire process was a lot more complicated than you might think! And for a dance team that is known for its precise performances, every single movement was magnified on the Sphere.
We are all about precision. But with Sphere, we really need to make sure that every single thing – from the tip of our finger to the height of our signature eye-high kicks – is completely in sync because of the scale of the Exosphere.
— Danelle Morgan, Radio City Rockette, dance captain and assistant choreographer
A behind-the-scenes video from the collaborative process provides a really cool look at everything that went into the activation. Getting to see it all come together is pretty cool.
There were a lot of challenges, even beyond the actual dance element!
Both the Sphere and Radio City Music Hall fall under the MSG Entertainment umbrella so this partnership made a lot of sense. It brings the flashiest and most iconic performers in New York City to Las Vegas. Pretty neat!