STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Aaron Canfield and Cristina Page rehearse for the Una Dance Theatre / Virginia Ballet Academy production of "Anastasia."

Pity poor Sandra Meythaler.

Not only is the director of Roanoke Ballet Theatre still waiting for visas for the professional dancers from Ecuador who will star in RBT's upcoming production of "Peter and the Wolf," but some of her other dancers are only 3 years old.

Fortunately, Meythaler has uncovered a valuable tool for motivating tiny dancers:

"Kids do a lot of things for candy and balloons," she said.

It's May -- and May is ballerina month in the Roanoke Valley. On the heels of last month's original ballet, "Ties," by Southwest Virginia Ballet artistic director Pedro Szalay, come three productions in which the little ones get to shine.

First up is "Peter Pan" at Jefferson Center's Shaftman Performance Hall tonight.

The production by the Dance Centre of Southwest Virginia is choreographed by school owner Sandra Smeltzer and others. The production will include about 100 dancers ages 4 through adult, Smeltzer said. In addition to student dancers, it will employ dancers from the Southwest Virginia Ballet.

For scenery, the school has borrowed items from area theaters, including a crocodile from Barter Theatre in Abingdon. "It's really going to be quite nice," Smeltzer said.

Mongolian-born dancers Unurbat Gunaajav and Nara Dondong, meanwhile, present "Anastasia" at Hollins University on Saturday and Sunday.

The production, featuring dancers from the Virginia Ballet Academy and Una Dance Theatre, tells the story of the daughter of Russia's last royal family, which was murdered during the Russian revolution. There is a legend that the young Anastasia somehow made it out of Russia alive.

Una Dance Theatre's Cristina Page is Anastasia. Guest dancer ShaLeigh Comerford is the mad monk, Rasputin (you'll have to imagine the famous beard). Aaron Canfield, borrowed from the Southwest Virginia Ballet, is the grand duke, Dmitri. More than 50 dancers will participate, Gunaajav said.

Finally, on May 30 and 31, RBT presents "Peter and the Wolf," the classic story and orchestral work by Sergei Prokofiev about a little boy and a big, bad wolf.

The youngest dancers will portray daisies and ducklings, among other things. The second half of the performance will feature dancers dancing to live music by Le Hotclub de Big Lick.

About those Ecuadoran dancers, who are from the Ballet Ecuatoriano de Camara, where Meythaler was once a dancer, too: If they never arrive, the show will go on. The ballet has hired American guest artists who are ready to step in if need be, said the ballet's former director and artistic consultant, Jenefer Davies.

"The important thing," Meythaler said, "is always be prepared."