Steven Melendez

This article is about the dancer. For the television director and animator, see Steven C. Melendez.

Steven Melendez is an American classical dancer. He is a principal artist with the New York Theatre Ballet and the company's Artistic Director. Formerly, he was a principal artist with the Estonian National Ballet and a soloist with Ballet Concierto in Buenos Aires, Argentina.^[1][2][3][4]

Steven Melendez
Born	1986 (age 38–39) Bronx, New York
Occupation	Ballet dancer
Career
Current group	New York Theatre Ballet
Website	www.stevenmelendez.com

Early life

Born in the Bronx, New York City, Melendez began his ballet training at Ballet School New York at the age of 7, when he was rescued from a New York City homeless shelter and enrolled in New York Theatre Ballet's Project LIFT.^[5] He is also a graduate of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre^[6]

Career

Melendez has performed internationally^[4][7] in works by Antony Tudor, José Limón, Agnes deMille, George Balanchine, Sallie Wilson, Frederick Ashton and Richard Alston. In 2011 Melendez performed in the premiere of Alston's work A Rugged Flourish.^[8] In 2008 Melendez premiered Uinuv Kaunitar by Swedish choreographer Pär Isberg at the Vanemuine Theater.^[9]

Melendez was a 2012 Clive Barnes Award nominee^[10] and was a finalist at the 5th Rudolf Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary.^[11][12] In 2013 Melendez spoke on the "Dancing Through Life, Living Through Dance" symposium as an alumnus of the Professional Children's School^[13] Melendez performed with The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth at the 2012 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in honor of Ted Shawn^[14]