Born in Portland with no left hand, this dancer learned to adapt; now she’s a Radio City Rockette

People have always noticed Sydney Mesher. Born in Portland without a left hand, she grew up enduring stares and cruel comments from adults and children.

She’s now in the spotlight for a different reason.

At 22, Mesher is the first dancer with a physical disability to earn a coveted spot with the Radio City Rockettes, a New York City precision dance troupe formed in 1925.

The Rockettes will be featured on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, televised Thursday on NBC. If you tune in, you can’t miss Mesher. In heels, she stands more than 6 feet, making her the squad’s tallest dancer and putting her in the middle of the famed kick line.

“Women from across the world audition with us,” said Karen Keeler, the group’s creative director. “Only a small percentage make the final cut.”

Great talent always remains a mystery. Even those who possess it can’t explain where it came from. But in Mesher’s case, it’s possible to see it was nurtured by parents who received startling news during a routine doctor’s exam. The couple, who have an older daughter, were told their unborn child would have no left hand.

“I had a hysterical wife next to me,” Page Mesher said. “Then I felt a power in me. I believe it was God.”

There in the doctor’s office, Mesher removed his wedding ring from a finger on his left hand and moved it to a finger on his right. He told his wife, Lynn, their child would grow up seeing his wedding ring on his right hand.

“Honey,” he recalls telling his wife, “this is going to be fine.”

***

After Sydney was born, her parents worked with specialists at Portland Shriners Hospitals for Children. They were advised to treat their daughter no differently from her older sister.

That meant Sydney had to figure out how to do things on her own. She struggled, failed and tried again and again until she could do it: Opening a jar, doing chores, using playground equipment. Her parents noticed, always proud, but letting her know they believed she could do whatever she attempted.

Others also noticed. She’d be teased in the park, or at school.

“She’s tough,” said Page Mesher. “She’s dealt with more than I ever have, things she hasn’t always shared with us.”

Her parents consistently reminded their daughter that everyone is different, in a sense everyone has challenges. Some are obvious, missing a limb or being unable to walk or see. With others, the challenge is on the inside, not obvious to the world, but still real.

“God fulfilled our daughter in a special way,” Lynn Mesher said. “He gave her the gift of dance.”

Sydney Mesher said her parents told her she was moving to the sound of music before she could walk.

“That’s how I found joy,” she said. “I started young and never stopped.”

Her parents enrolled her a beginning dance classes at the Multnomah Athletic Club and Sydney was hooked. As she grew, she studied ballet, hip-hop, modern, African, tap and traditional dance. Missing her hand affected her balance, posture and timing. She never used it as an excuse. She just kept working.

“That’s how I was born,” she said. “I couldn’t worry about it.”

When she was 10, Mesher tried out and won a scholarship to attend a national summer dance program in New York City. After graduating from Portland’s Lincoln High School, Mesher applied for a competitive commercial dance program at Pace University in New York City. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and was signed by a national talent agency that finds her jobs

A commercial dancer, she appears in dance productions and commercials. In past years, she’s tried out for the Rockettes, surviving several intense rounds, but never winning a contract.

“I kept coming back because I want this,” she said. “So much history comes with the job. Everyone in the dance community knows what it means to be a Rockette.”

She auditioned again this past summer. She was in a Portland parking lot when she got the call on her cellphone from a Rockettes official telling her she had the job. She called her mother, who happened to be in the same parking lot, but on a different level.

“We ran to find each other,” said Mesher. “My mom and I were both crying.”

***

Keller, the creative director, said Mesher does everything other dancers do except in the Santa Claus number, when dancers hold a bell in each hand.

“It’s an intensive show,” Keller said. “These dancers are athletes. They must have stamina, stability and be in tip-top shape. The choreography is highly structured. Every single detail is important. That’s what the Rockettes are known for.”

Keller said Mesher is “very musical and executes beautifully.

“She has an authenticity about her,” Keller said. “She’s confident, smart and talented. She has a great future.”

Mesher won’t know if her Rockette contract, which ends early January, will be renewed next season. Whatever the case, she will continue her dancing assignments, commercials and auditioning for musicals and dance performances.

Her parents have been to New York City to watch multiple Rockette performances.

“Our daughter has never been afraid of the bright lights,” said Page Mesher. “Some kids can only do it in practice. She’s a gamer. She’s used to people looking at her.”

Mesher said he and his wife, while grateful and proud, are not surprised their daughter has been successful.

“We feel she was born to be a dancer,” he said.

--Tom Hallman Jr.

thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224

@thallmanjr

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