Local dancer comes home with the Rockettes

Melinda Farrell could dance before she could walk.

Which wasn't much of a surprise to her professional dancer mom, Martha Farrell, who founded the Centreville Dance Academy.

Or to her former dance teacher Kathy Taylor, who knew Melinda way before the 5-foot-8 beauty moved to New York at age 17 and became a high-kicking Radio City Music Hall Rockette less than a year later.

"Melinda always took top honors when we competed," said Taylor, who purchased the dance academy 10 years ago. "Melinda was always very strong, and everything about her dancing was just right."

This year, which is Farrell's seventh holding a spot near the center of the precision kick line, she and 17 other dancers are bringing the renowned "Radio City Christmas Spectacular" to Washington for the first time, with four shows at the Patriot Center and seven at Verizon Center. The tour features contemporary numbers as well as such Rockette classics as the "Living Nativity" and "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," which have been performed almost continuously since the troupe was formed 77 years ago.

By the time Farrell was a student at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington, her mother was driving her up and down the East Coast seeking the most rigorous classes in ballet, jazz and modern. "I tried to get as much exposure as I could to make myself a well-rounded dancer," Melinda Farrell said.

Aside from having to be adept at a variety of dance genres, with an eye-high kick, Rockettes must be between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 1/2 . "It's an optical illusion that we're the exact same height," Farrell said. "The taller ladies stand in the center and the less tall ladies are lined up on both ends, so it looks like we're all the same height onstage."

Before joining the Rockettes, Farrell had never seen the group perform live. Her Rockettes recollections came from childhood Thanksgiving mornings watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where the leggy wonders make an appearance.

"I always dreamed of making dance my career," Farrell said. "I'm just very lucky to make that happen, especially with the Rockettes."

Traiger is a freelance writer.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular Tuesday and Wednesday at the Patriot Center, George Mason University, 4400 University Dr., Fairfax. Dec. 18-20 at Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW. $52.50-$99. 202-397-7328. http://www.ticketmaster.com.