Her family and friends - including her mom, Nancy Wenzl, who used to be a dance teacher - have bought a big block of seats for one of Harvey's hometown performances.
For those who want to spot her, she'll be the second in from the right. Since she's on the shorter side for a Rockette, she goes at the edge of the line, part of an optical illusion that gives the effect that the dancers are all the same height.
Harvey is more than tickled to be part of the show that left such an impression on her. She still remembers what it felt like to be a child watching the Rockettes' famous toy soldier routine.
"I loved at the end when the cannon came out and knocks the line of soldiers down," she says. "I'm so excited that I get to be in the line and learn how to do that."
Getting used to dancing in the Rockettes standard 2 1/2 -inch heels and building up her stamina was hard work, she admits. Like the other dancers, she's learned to jump in an ice bath at the end of each performance and practice to prevent inflammation.
The show includes eight costume changes - some done in as little as 78 seconds, which is not a lot of time to slip on full outfits plus matching hats, earrings and even gloves.
"My favorite is the 'shine' costume," Harvey says. "It's a rhinestone- and diamond-studded dress. It looks like we're just wearing diamonds. We enter on a staircase, all 24 Rockettes, and we just sparkle."
Parts of the group's holiday show date back almost to the beginning. The toy soldier number that made such an impression on Harvey, for instance, has been performed every year since 1933.
With the exception of the dancers' famous high kick line, the soldier number is possibly the best example of the Rockettes' precision dance style. In fact, the Rockettes are largely responsible for keeping precision dance alive, a style that was hugely popular in the Busby Berkeley movies of the 1930s and '40s, but fell by the wayside in favor of more modern moves that show off a dancer's individualism.
In the toy soldier number, the Rockettes, each outfitted in identical white pants, red coats and plumed hats, move stiffly, as if they were made of wood, snapping their heads and straight legs with razor-sharp synchronicity.
When the Rockettes who visited Towson's dance class recently tried to show the students how to move like a soldier, few students could pull it off.
