(The Hudson Reporter)
Former Rockette takes on challenge of teaching health, fitnessSusan Heart says she has been a performer all of her life, ever since she first put on a pair of dancing shoes when she was 7 and took tap and ballet lessons on her native Long Island.
"It's always been a part of me," said Heart, who has called Guttenberg, then North Bergen her home for the last 20 years. "I loved it from the start. I wanted to be a ballerina."
However, her dreams soon changed when she grew up. "I grew taller and taller," Heart recalled. "I started to get the shape of a woman and realized that ballet was probably not going to happen. I started taking ballet with the Joffrey Ballet and I was very serious about it, but I realized that the other dancers were shorter and thinner than I was. I gave it my best shot."
Not one to give up on a dream so easily, Heart then pursued a career in jazz dancing, working in dance videos and clubs. "I did some work with small dance companies," Heart said. "I worked in small stage performances. I was working."
One day, in 1986, she read an advertisement that the famed Radio City Music Hall Rockettes were holding auditions for possible replacement dancers. Heart decided to give it a try. "I figured I had nothing to lose," Heart said. "I went to the audition to see what would happen."
Little did Heart know that the fateful audition would turn into a stellar career with the world's most famous kicking line.
"I got the job and started rehearsing with the Rockettes two days later," Heart said. "And I remained with them for 16 years. It was the most incredible experience and the dream of any dancer's lifetime, performing in front of 6,000 fans every night."
Heart started off with the Rockettes as simply a replacement fill-in, but quickly worked her way into the regular roster, where she remained for 16 years - very lengthy for a Rockette.
"It's very difficult to become a Rockette," Heart said. "You have to be able to sing and dance to all kinds of music, as well as being able to perform well in front of a camera. Very few women have long careers as Rockettes. I was blessed."
Heart said perfecting the art of being a Rockette is demanding. "It took a lot of practice," Heart said. "You just don't learn for two or three weeks to become a Rockette. It took me a good five years to get it down. Every day, there was a new show and you might be in a new position in line, so you would learn new steps. You had to get to know everyone else's rhythm and learn to work as one. There might be 36 women, but you perform as one."
There are also height restrictions that are needed to become a Rockette. "We all had to be between 5'5 and 5'10," Heart said. "I'm 5'8 and a half, so I was right in the middle. When you sit in the audience, you think that the Rockettes are all one height, but we're really shorter on the end and taller in the middle, creating an optical illusion that we're all the same height. But we all had to be able to kick eye level and kick at the same time."
Heart never dreamed that she would remain with the Rockettes for as long as she did. "Being a dancer, you're taught that each job is like a gig," Heart said. "It's short-term and you move on. Since mine was a replacement part, I thought I would only be around a short while."
Not only did Heart perform during Christmas, doing six shows a day, seven days a week from November through New Year's Day, but she participated in other shows and promotions throughout the year.
"It was a very hectic schedule," Heart said. "During the Christmas show, we were there performing from 8 a.m. and didn't leave until midnight seven days a week. We started off with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and just kept going."
The demands go far beyond kicking it up on the Radio City Music Hall grand stage. "We did the Easter show and we did ticker tape parades in New York and Detroit for championship teams," Heart said. "We went to Super Bowls and performed on cruise ships."
Getting a leg up
Heart said that one of the highlights of her career was when she performed at President George W. Bush's inauguration, dancing up and down the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.
"Just to be on the steps with the National Honor Guard was amazing," Heart said. "It was one of the most spectacular moments of my life. Needless to say, I kept very busy as a Rockette, teaching and traveling."
Heart was also involved with the charity organization Heart Share (no relation to her name) in Brooklyn, helping underprivileged mentally and physically disabled children. She constantly did promotional appearances with WABC-TV Eyewitness News weatherman Bill Evans.
"We were able to touch the heart of some wonderful women," Heart said. "It was amazing to see these women not be afraid to get out and do something in the real world."
During her stint as a member of the Rockettes, Heart always found the time to be a dance, fitness and aerobics instructor. She never wanted to do anything else.
"Because of my obligation to the Rockettes, I couldn't take on any other job long-term," Heart said. "But I loved performing on that stage so much that I didn't want to leave it. To see all those smiling faces coming back to me really meant so much to me. It was my true love."
Two years ago, Heart decided that she had enough of the life of a Rockette and resigned her position.
"It was right after 9/11 and I had volunteered a lot of time in lower Manhattan, handing out food to the workers," said Heart. "I also had a sick relative to care for. There was so much going on that I needed to do other things."
For the last 12 years, Heart used Pilates, the increasingly popular exercise method, as a way of getting ready for performances.
"I had an injury through dancing and Pilates helped me get back to dancing, so I stayed with it," Heart explained. "It's a great exercise for breathing, for mind and body connection. It's great for circulation and it's incredible for women's bone density worries, like osteoporosis."
For the last two years, Heart had been a Pilates instructor and personal trainer, working in a Manhattan studio.
About two months ago, Heart considered the idea of opening her own Pilates fitness studio in North Bergen.
"So many people told me that it would be great if we had a Pilates studio in New Jersey," Heart said. "They didn't want to deal with the midtown traffic and it would make life that much easier. I figured it was a no-brainer. I wanted the studio to be close to my home, because I'm always there for my clients. I work seven days a week and want to be there for them when they need me."
So two months ago, Heart opened up Roxy's Body Specific, located in the 9060 Palisade Ave. Port Hudson complex. She is also teaching weekly free classes at Whole Foods in Edgewater every Friday night at 7 p.m.
"It's not only exercise, but it's a learning process," said Heart, who is a certified Pilates trainer. "People want to know why their bodies hurt. I help make them aware of how to work their bodies, the proper adjustments they need to make, and make them mindful of what they're doing. We're really reaching everyone, not just women."
Heart said that she has received great results, working with everyone from pregnant women to professional baseball and basketball players (although she won't reveal their identities).
"It's a confidentiality thing," she laughs. "But I work with the athletes in stretching and building their muscles. We've had great success."
Heart said she loves introducing new people to the fitness craze that was made famous by entertainers and performers, but is now reaching the common man and woman as well.
But her days as a Rockette are over. "Well, not really," she said. "Once a Rockette, always a Rockette. It's a sisterhood. There is an alumni party for the Rockettes every year and there are some women in their 70s and 80s who are in great shape. They're still kicking. That always remains."
So is Heart still kicking? "When people hear that I was a Rockette, then they ask me, 'C'mon, do a kick for us,' " Heart said. "So I warm up and kick away. I never lose it. Sure, I miss performing. But when I'm training someone, I feel like I'm still performing. People see me smiling while I'm working and I'm performing."
In that respect, her heart is still in every single kick.
For more information about Heart and her new business venture, Roxy's Body Specific, located at 9060 Palisade Ave. in North Bergen, Suite No. 4, as well as the Pilates exercise method, contact Heart at (201) 869-1116 or log on to
www.roxysbodyspecific.com.
