Steven Melendez
I came to enjoy a long, international career in classical dance as a fluke of luck. I grew up in the South Bronx in the late-1980’s and 90’s in a single parent home. I have a Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean heritage, but beside my appearance, this is not the culture I identify with having experienced as a child growing up, I spent my formative years in the classical ballet eco-system. When I was 7 years old my family was evicted from our home and for all the reasons one might imagine, and many others that a
Filmed over ten years, LIFT shines a spotlight on the invisible story of homelessness in America through the eyes of a group of young homeless and home-insecure ballet dancers in New York City. After performing all over the world, ballet dancer Steven Melendez returns to the Bronx shelter where he grew up to give back to his community, offering a New York Theatre Ballet workshop to children. His traumatic reaction to the shelter from his childhood sends him on an unexpected journey with three kids to reckon