Melinda Roell has lived in Statesboro since 1994 and has since grown her love for the arts through costume-making and connecting with people who share the same passion.
Roell's inspiration came from her parents, who are great believers in the arts. Growing up, she and her brother had to be involved in a sport or something related to the arts. She learned to play instruments, was in the band and choir, and was involved in the theatre.
It wasn't until her daughter started taking dance lessons that she got into making costumes.
"If your kids are in the dance world and they find out you know how to sew, you get sucked into volunteering," Roell said.
After helping sew and alter costumes for the Averitt Center and for her daughter's dance school, Roell became interested in learning how to construct a tutu.
"I like creating beautiful things," Roell said. "The other thing I really enjoy actually is when you put something on for a young woman who has only had a catalog costume, when they have something that's made to fit them and somebody is asking them what they want; it just means so much more."
A retired ballerina opened tutu.com, where she designs and sells tutus, and every summer, she teaches a seminar called "Tutu School." Roell has attended the seminar four times.
There is an International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, every 4 years, and tutu.com is hired to work backstage and be around with sewing machines.
Roell was walking down the hallway when she saw a trail of little pieces of thread, trim, and glitter. Through a shared love of creating beautiful costumes for dancers, Roell was able to find her people.
The most recent project that Melinda has worked on is Romeo and Juliet with the Twin Cities Ballet in Minnesota. Her daughter works with Twin Cities Ballet, and when Roell was visiting her daughter and grandson, she was bouncing ideas with the director.
"Doing everything long distance on bodies that you don't know is difficult," Roell said. "It's fun though!"
Melinda Roell continues to express her love of costume-making and sells her creations to dancers by word of mouth.
