DANCE

A black woman could soon appear as one of the high-kicking Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall in New York. In what would be a first in the troupe’s 62-year history, a black woman--one of 23 women selected at an audition to be on-call for vacancies in the New York production of the world-famous chorus line--could likely be invited to join, the New York Times reported Saturday. The woman, who wasn’t named, has already agreed to appear with the Rockettes Jan. 31 in a special dance line at half time during the Super Bowl, the newspaper said. Adding a black woman to the line was long opposed by the Rockettes’ late founder, Russell Markert. For decades, before he died in 1962, Markert would not allow a white dancer to have a sun tan, the Times said, because he said “it would make her look like a colored girl.”