147: Art as Social Justice — Steven Melendez

<p dir="ltr">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra speaks with Steven Melendez, Artistic Director at the <a href= "https://nytb.org/">New York Theatre Ballet</a>. Steven’s journey with dance began through his current company’s LIFT Program, which teaches dance to homeless or home insecure youth. Steven has since danced as a Soloist and Principal dancer at a collection of ballet companies across three continents. Steven’s story is also explored in the award-winning film LIFT, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022.</p> <p dir="ltr">Steven’s life was changed because New York Theatre Ballet made the arts more accessible to New York City youth. Now, Steven is on a mission to take that mission even further. On the podcast, Steven retells his incredible transformation story, discusses the importance of diversity in the arts, and explains how making dance more accessible to all people benefits the dancer, the company, and society at large.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Moving Quotes:</p> <p dir="ltr">"As an industry, we can get back to the root of what dance is. It's an art. Connecting human people with other human people. If we can get more people on stage that represent more diversity within society, I think our art will be stronger. And the industry will be stronger."</p> <p dir="ltr">"What I call 'relevant art' is why I think being a dance company is not opposite from being a social justice organization. I think you can do both by having [sensitive] conversations in public."</p> <p dir="ltr">"Through dance, we're all equal. The person who doesn't fall over is the person that practiced. It's not the person whose parents have a lot of money. It's not the person with a fancy house. It's not the person that's white or Spanish or whatever. It's the person that practiced. And I really liked that. It really spoke to me."</p> <p dir="ltr">"Diversity needs to be a priority. The parts of an organization tasked with considering how to create more diversity in the industry can't be a department down th