Joining the Rockettes at Age 17

At the beginning of Dirty Dancing, when Penny Johnson is in the gazebo and is teaching some dance moves to hotel guests, the loudspeaker announces:

There's a merengue class in the gazebo in the next few minutes. The greatest teacher -- used to be a Rockette.

Later in the movie, when Penny is on an outside yard and demonstrating wigs to hotel guests, she and Baby Houseman say the following dialogue:

Baby Houseman
So you were really a Rockette? I think you're a wonderful dancer.

Penny Johnson
Yeah? Well, my mother kicked me out when I was 16. I've been dancing ever since. It's the only thing I ever wanted to do anyway.

Baby Houseman
I envy you.

So, it seems that Penny stopped attending high school when she was 16 and joined the Rockettes when she was 17 years old.

In a previous article, I argued that Penny was about 24 years old in 1963. Therefore, it seems that she danced in the Rockettes from about 1955 to 1962.

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In the following video Corliss Whitney tells about her own Rockette career, which she began at age 17.

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The following video shows a 17-year-old girl auditioning to join the Rockettes in 2013.

However, the minimum age to actually join the Rockettes is now 18 years old.

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The following video shows a mass audition.

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The following images (click to enlarge) show the Rockettes in the year 1962.

The Rockettes in 1962

The Rockettes in 1962

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Penny's remark that she was kicked out her home when she was 16 years old surely was added to the script by Patrick and Lisa Swayze. Lisa left her own home at age 16 and went to live in the Swayze home. I will address this matter in a later article about the changes I think were made in the script.