How Rockettes Prep for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Exclusive)

This November marks Danielle Betscher’s 13th year dancing the Radio City Rockettes‘ iconic, annual performance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She may be far from rookie status now, but the pre-show jitters still have yet to fade.

“Every year it feels still so exciting and so new,” she tells PEOPLE ahead of this year’s show. “There’s something really just mesmerizing about being on the streets in front of Macy’s.”

Dancing along the streets of New York City — with all of their metropolitan charm and, of course, often unpredictable outdoor conditions — is an undeniable highlight for Betscher, 30, and several of her fellow Rockettes.

Svetha Nallapaneni, 24, debuted in the Thanksgiving parade last year under rainy skies. It was an “unforgettable day,” she tells PEOPLE, but not because the gloomy weather tainted her experience.

“I got to see water droplets coming off of our shoes as we kicked,” the Ohio native recalls. “It was genuinely so magical, like weirdly magical. Just the rain pouring, us literally holding each other up and just being there to support each other was one of my favorite memories.”

The Rockettes are viewed as one of the world’s most exclusive dance troupes for good reason. The women are required to adapt to various environments and master routines with the highest caliber of precision. Nallapaneni says she relies on the “energy of the people around” her when she needs to alter her moves to fit the streets versus the stage at Radio City.

“We have each other, and even though it’s in a completely different scenario, we’re together, which is really beautiful,” Nallapaneni explains. “A different setting can be a little bit of an adjustment, but we definitely do our best to figure it out and put on the best show we can.”

On parade day, the group gathers inside the actual namesake department store to warm up for the big dance. Fifth-year Rockette Courtney Crain, 30, tells PEOPLE that while it’s not a standard Radio City performance, they still do all the same pre-show rituals to get “those jitters out” inside Macy’s.

“No matter where we’re performing, we’re focused on our dancing, our choreography, where we’re going, our lines, all of that,” Crain notes. “We pretty much make it happen anywhere.”