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 while living in a New York City homeless shelter. Later, he studied at the School of American Ballet and attended summer programs with the San Francisco Ballet Academy, Houston Ballet Academy, and Kaatsbaan International School.

In 2001 Melendez joined New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) as an apprentice and in 2006 was promoted to Principal. While there he performed leading roles in choreographies by Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Butler, Agnes DeMille, Donald Mahler, Antony Tudor, and others. In 2004, while dancing with New York Theatre Ballet, he graduated from the American Ballet Theater Studio Company Associate Program. The program culminated in a performance of Oblivion by Jessica Lang and Continuo by Antony Tudor.

For the 2006 season Melendez was invited to Buenos Aires as a Guest Soloist to perform with Ballet Concierto, directed by Iñaki Urlezaga. His repertory there included Carmen (Alonso), Don Quixote (Baryshnikov), Symphonic Variations (Ashton) and Borodin (Ariaz). While performing with Ballet Concierto, Melendez traveled extensively performing in international ballet galas and festivals in Argentina, New Zealand, Thailand, Venezuela, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain, and Italy.

In 2007 Melendez joined the Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia as a principal dancer. With the Vanemuine Theater he performed principal roles in Onegin (Medvedjev), The Nutcracker (Isberg), Giselle (Feco) and Peter Pan (Titova), the leading male role in Par Isberg’s Uinuv Kaunitar (Sleeping Beauty) as well as the title role in Ruslan Stepanov’s Kevade were both choreographed on him.

In 2008 Melendez received a Diploma from the 5th Rudolf Nureyev International Ballet Competition in Budapest, Hungary. He also received special recognition from head jurist Maya Plisetskya for his second-round performance of Onegin. Afterwards, 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 in Riga, Latvia.

Melendez returned to New York City in March 2010 for New York Theatre Ballet’s Signature 10 series as a Principal Guest Artist performing José Limon’s Mazurkas and rejoined the company full-time the following season. In 2011 Melendez worked with British choreographer Sir Richard Alston to create his new work A Rugged Flourish and performed Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane for NYTB’s Signatures 12. Melendez is a Van- Lier Fellowship recipient and was a 2012 Clive Barnes Foundation Award Nominee.

In 2015 Melendez celebrated his 15th season with New York Theatre Ballet performing world premieres in works by Pam Tanowitz and Nicolo Fonte, and U.S. premieres of Alston’s Such Longing and Light Flooding into Darkened Rooms. He was a frequent guest artist at the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, a Resident Guest Artist at Ballet Palm Beach in Florida, and has performed in galas and festivals in Mexico and Japan.

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. In 2018 Melendez received a Declaration of Recognition from the Mayor of Trujillo, Peru with gratitude from the municipality of Trujillo, and a Diploma of Honor from the Governor of La Libertad, Peru f

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Yasi Ansari is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics based in Los Angeles, CA. She is the owner of Yasi Ansari Nutrition, LLC a consulting practice specializing in nutrition for athletic performance and nutrition therapy for eating disorders/disordered eating. She helps competitive athletes and performing artists improve their relationship with food while providing guidance that supports meeting the nutritional demands for their sport. In addition, she works with adolescents diagnosed with eating disorders at the Medical Stabilization Program at UCLA Health Santa Monica Medical Center.

She is a National Media Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Chair-Elect of the Academy's Sports and Human Performance Nutrition dietetic practice group. She collaborates with the Athletes and the Arts initiative to help create educational content for performing arts athletes and co-hosts the Athletes and the Arts podcast. Yasi graduated from UCLA and earned a master's degree from California State University, Northridge.

Thank you for listening to The TuTu thin Podcast

Please contact us through
www.dawntheodore.com
www.tututhin.com
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Thank you to Matt Miller @ Smacky Media Group

It was so great to have Jenny and Brett on as guests from The Ballet Help Desk. They are two moms who spent years trying to figure out how to support their dancing kids. From the competition circuit to ballet training to their professional careers, we stumbled along trying to support our kids in the best way we knew how.

After several years on this path, we’re ready to share what we’ve learned with you!

If you have questions or want to contact the Ballet Help Desk.......

URL: www.ballethelpdesk.com

Instagram: @ballethelpdesk

Facebook: BalletHelpDesk

Thank you for listening to The TuTu thin Podcast

Please contact us through
www.dawntheodore.com
www.tututhin.com
IG @tutu_thin
Facebook @tututhin
Twitter @tututhin

Thank you to Matt Miller @ Smacky Media Group