Steven Melendez, New York Theater Ballet: "We Have to Bring the Dance to Where the People Are."

Kick- Off Season 2 of “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey and the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Ballet, Steven Melendez. In this episode of  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey,  join host Joanne Carey as she chats with Special Guest: Steven Melendez. Listen in as we have a candid chat about where Steven's career began, where it is now and where it is going. We also talk about the full-length documentary film Lift based on his life and the Lift Program at NYTB that serves children living inside homeless shelters in NYC through the art of ballet. It was in that very program that Steven discovered ballet and ballet discovered him. This is a talent whose mission is to "Bring the Dance Where the People Are'" and his new program "Between the Acts" is doing that by addressing diversity, equity and inclusion by creating greater access to dance." For NYTB, "the future of our organization and the future of dance lie with new audiences. " Steven Melendez, was born in New York City in 1986 and began his ballet training as part of the LIFT Scholarship Program at Ballet School New York at the age of seven. Later, he studied at the School of American Ballet and attended summer programs at San Francisco Ballet Academy, Houston Ballet Academy, and Kaatsbaan International School. 2001 Melendez joined New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) as an apprentice and in 2006 was promoted to Principal. In 2004 he graduated from the American Ballet Theater Studio Company Associate Program. He was invited to Buenos Aires as a Guest Soloist for the 2006 season traveling and performing internationally. Melendez joined the Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia as a principal dancer in 2007 and in 2008 received a Diploma from the 5th Rudolf Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary, receiving special recognition for his secondround performance of Onegin. He was invited to perform in the gala entitled Celebrating the Classical Male Dancer and later represented Estonia at the 13th International Baltic Ballet Festival inRiga, Latvia. Melendez returned to NYC in March 2010 to NYTB as a Principal Guest Artist and rejoined the company full-time for the following season. Steven is a Van-Lier Fellowship recipient and a 2012 Clive Barnes Foundation Award Nominee. In 2015 Melendez celebrated his 15th season with NYTB and was a frequent guest artist at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica and Ballet Palm Beach. Melendez co-choreographed his first large-scale work, Song Before Spring, for New York Theatre Ballet which was named a Dance Europe critic's choice “Best Premiere” of 2016. Melendez has served as a faculty member of Ballet School New York and the Joffrey Ballet School Summer Program in New York City and has held an annual summer workshop in Nagoya, Japan for over 10 years. Since 2018 Melendez has been a member of the alumni advisory committee on diversity and inclusion for School of American Ballet. From 2019, he has been the Hiland Artistic Director for National Dance Institute New Mexico where he created Vastness, a socially distanced dance film for a global pandemic, which aired on New Mexico PBS. Steven is the subject of a feature-length documentary, LIFT, directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker David Petersen, with Executive Producers Sam Pollard and Jannat Gargi. In May 2022, Melendez was named Artistic Director of New York Theatre Ballet. Melendez succeeds NYTB founder and Artistic Director Diana Byer who held the position for 44 years. Follow on Instagram @nytheatreballet To get involved, check out their website https://nytb.org/⁠ Follow Joanne Carey on Instagram @westfieldschoolofdance And follow  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey wherever you listen to your podcasts. Tune in. Follow. Like us. And Share. Please leave us review about our podcast  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey "Where the Dance World Connects, the Conversations Inspire, and Where We Are Keeping Them Real."

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