Meet Radio City's 1st Rockette with a visible disability originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.comThis story by Courtney Escoyne, a Brooklyn-based dance writer, originally appeared on espnw.com.Backstage at Radio City Music Hall, Sydney Mesher convenes with her fellow Rockettes.Sitting in a brick-colored
This story by Courtney Escoyne, a Brooklyn-based dance writer, originally appeared on espnw.com.Sitting in a brick-colored upholstered chair, she gets her hair and makeup performance-ready. The end of the mascara tube rests in the crook of her left elbow as she twists its wand free with her right hand, then applies. She gathers her shoulder-length blond hair into a sleek French twist, doing the twisting and pinning with her right hand while her left arm straightens and temporarily secures.
Her toes sail to eye level in perfect sync with those of her colleagues. Mesher makes the exacting geometry and speed look easy. If you zoom out to take a macro look at the stage, she disappears into the line, as intended. Then the doctor delivered the news: There was conclusive evidence that their child would be born without a left hand. Lynn burst into tears. When she composed herself enough to speak, the first thought she expressed was that her child wouldn't be able to wear a wedding ring.
Story continuesHer parents gave Mesher room to try, fail and try again. And sure enough, she found her way of doing things. When Page coached her in Little League softball, for example,"she figured out her way of catching, throwing and batting with one hand," he says."It didn't matter what I suggested. Sydney figured it out."
"She was dancing before she walked," Lynn says."It just was her way of being, every day. It wasn't a conscious decision to say, 'Oh, we're going to enroll her in dance.' It was something she was showing us. This is who she is, so what doors can we open for her?" It quickly became apparent that Mesher matched her passion with natural talent. A defining moment came at a New York City Dance Alliance competition when she was plucked from the 7 to 10-year-olds' room and named a regional outstanding dancer.
It was also around that time that Mesher got serious about wanting to pursue dance professionally. She wanted to jump-start her career right after high school.Both Lynn and Page are small-business owners and wanted Mesher to pick up a diverse set of skills."These young dancers don't understand," Page adds."They're one knee injury away from being done. God forbid. I need to find some wood to knock on.
"I'd get there at least two hours early to line up. I wanted to make sure I was in the first group," Mesher says of her Rockettes audition process."I have the mentality that if I'm going to get cut, I want to get cut first. Then I have the rest of my day." They'll then learn a new combination or add material to one they already know. A few more cuts are made, and then it's down to the remaining women -- usually around 20 -- who are told they'll get a call in the next couple of weeks.
Much to Mesher's surprise, she made it through to the final round of callbacks her first time out. She didn't book the gig, but"getting all the way through was a huge honor. I never went in expecting to get that far." While this was far from Mesher's first significant injury -- during her senior year of high school, she cracked her L4 vertebrae and had two herniated disks -- it was, she says, by far the most challenging."You're on crutches, and being on crutches in New York City when it's snowing and freezing out, it was challenging even just to go outside. I tried to avoid moving unless I had to.
"I did the audition two weeks out of my boot," Mesher says."Looking back at it now, that was absolutely insane." Audition No. 3 didn't yield a spot, so after graduating with her bachelor's degree, she headed back for her third round at the Rockettes Summer Intensive.Keeler is in the habit of sleeping on the final decision, waiting until she knows in her gut that she's making the right call about whom to hire.
As if that weren't enough, some determining factors are out of the dancers' control. For example, the Rockettes won't consider anyone shorter than 5-foot-6 or taller than 5-10½, and the gradation of heights in the line is carefully controlled to create the optical illusion that the women are of identical size.
It's not, however, an impediment to Mesher's ability to do the steps."I'm not the type of person who would audition if I didn't think I was capable," she says."The last thing I wanted to do was have people make alterations for me." Lucky Fin also helped make it possible for a young fan born with one hand to meet Seattle Seahawks linebacker Shaquem Griffin last year.
Mesher's interpretation of the choreography is the same as that of her fellow Rockettes. The only tweaks are to the props and wardrobe.
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Dancer born with one hand makes Radio City Rockettes historyA dancer born with one hand is the first person with a visible disability ever hired by New York&39;s famed Radio City Rockettes. “I don&39;t want to be known as the dancer who has one hand, and not because that&39;s a bad thing," Sydney Mesher, who joined the Rockettes this season, told Newsday
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