The Roanoker September/October 2022 - 17

siblings moved to Quito, Ecuador's capital. It
was there where her older brother discovered
the Compañía Nacional de Danza, a professional
dance group that also offered lessons to
children.
" He came all excited and said ... 'Mom, we
should sign her up,' " Meythaler remembers.
" My mom was in opposition, completely ...
She said, 'I am a widow, I can't afford to pay
[for] dance lessons.' "
But Meythaler's brother was determined to
help her follow her passion. He bought her a
bright red leotard when all the other students
wore black - and brought her to auditions.
Those auditions happened to land her a scholarship,
she says, and before long she was cast in
a child's role in an upcoming ballet.
It was a chance occurrence, though, that
ultimately made way for Meythaler to pursue
dance as a career. When an adult performer
was injured, she says, the choreographer asked
Meythaler to step in, and she'd soon been
invited to become one of the youngest members
of the professional company.
" It was a dream come true, " Meythaler
remembers. " I travelled to different places
around the planet - Japan, Brazil, Paris,
Germany, Italy ... It was so exciting, the life
I was living - touring, performing, dress-up,
makeup. I [thought], 'I am never going to
change.' "
But life without dance just wouldn't stick.
" The pain in my soul ... I couldn't [have]
" I feel like it was
something inside
of me from the time
that I was born. "
-SANDRA MEYTHALER
Ultimately, it was marriage that brought
Meythaler to the United States. The man who
would later become her ex-husband travelled
frequently at the time, and Meythaler found
herself at an important crossroads, deciding to
leave dance behind for a new life with her family
in Southwest Virginia.
imagined it, " she admits. " I missed my country
badly ... At some point I didn't feel I belonged
anywhere. "
Meythaler found belonging in performing
again - creating presentations for schools and
colleges that highlighted the Latin influences
in her dance background - and soon others
took notice. Meythaler was invited to join
Roanoke Ballet Theatre as a dancer and then
an instructor ... and she said yes.
" It was inside of me, that hunger to teach, "
she remembers.
Through the years that followed - years in
which Meythaler would be promoted to executive
director and see the company through
rocky financial straits - it was a stubborn sense
of purpose that kept her going.
" I'm very persistent in everything I do, " she
admits.
And, in the end, that persistence allowed
her to build a life pursuing a singular passion.
" I left dance, but the dance never left me, "
she says. " And my goal as director of this beautiful
organization is to show the world how
much life can change with art. " I
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TheRoanoker.com
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 17
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The Roanoker September/October 2022

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