1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,720 Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, hey, get us So Latino USA is 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: celebrating thirty years today. In't that amos and we would 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,879 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. Dear listener. Do you want 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: to share with us exactly what Latino USA has meant 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: to you? Do you have a birthday wish for us? 6 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: Leave us a voicemail at six four six five seven 7 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: to one one two two four. That's six four six 8 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 1: five seven to one one two two four, and we 9 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: might feature your message in an upcoming show. Grass yas. 10 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 2: Hi. I'm Fernandes Santo's editorya director at Futudo Media, and 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 2: I'm so happy to be here with you, dear listeners, 12 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 2: celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of Latino USA. Part of my 13 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 2: job is to make sure that we continue to deliver 14 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,120 Speaker 2: these excellent shows that we bring to you every week 15 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 2: for another thirty years or more. Happy anniversary, Latino USA. 16 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and 17 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: Court latin Us, La Latino Usa. I'm Maria INOJSA. We 18 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you, 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: overlooked by the rest of the media, and while the 20 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: country is struggling to deal with these we listen to 21 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: the stories of Black and Latino Studient United Latino Front, 22 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement. 23 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:25,040 Speaker 1: I'm Maria Ino Jossa. 24 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 3: The truth is that I'm scared every day. Being the 25 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,039 Speaker 3: director of a ballet company is really hard. I had 26 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 3: one director of another ballet company, a very important ballet company. 27 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 3: He called me up after he'd heard the news that 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 3: I was given this role, but all he said was 29 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 3: my condolences. It's a lot of responsibility, but it's also 30 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 3: for me at least, I feel the responsibility of being 31 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 3: the artists in our community that are reflecting the community 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 3: back at itself. 33 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: From Futromedia and PRX, It's Latino USA. I'm Marie in 34 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: Posa Today Stephen Melendez, dancer and artistic director of the 35 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: New York Theater Ballet on opening the world of classical 36 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: dance to new audiences. It's ten am at the New 37 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: York Theater Ballet Dance Studio. The morning light filters through 38 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: the stained glass windows that glow at one end of 39 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: the room. On the other end is a huge mirror 40 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: reflecting the twelve dancers in tights and leotards who are 41 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: moving in unison to the pianos music. 42 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 4: Let's try this from the same once more and really, 43 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 4: really really endeavor. You have a tondo and this is 44 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 4: with control. 45 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: Stephen Melendez is teaching the class. 46 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 4: But when you transfer your weight, you to your hips 47 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 4: on your shoulders with you so that you can get 48 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 4: up onto one leg. 49 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: His attention to detail reveals that he's been dancing pretty 50 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: much his whole life. 51 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 4: Okay, all right, thank you. 52 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: Stephen, who identifies as Afro Puerto Rican, started dancing through 53 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,520 Speaker 1: the New York Theater Ballet's free dance program when he 54 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: was just seven years old, and he loved it. By fourteen, 55 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: he was already a professional dancer with the ballet company, 56 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: juggling rigorous training and school. 57 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 3: I mean there were days when it's a whole curtain 58 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 3: because I had a mid term. I mean, imagine that 59 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 3: a company full of professional dancers waiting, and the curtain 60 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 3: can't go up because Steven is doing his midterm in 61 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 3: the dressing room. 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: Stephen went on to dance around the world and lived 63 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: in places like Argentina and Estonia, but then he decided 64 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: to retire from full time dancing and began taking leadership roles. 65 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: Now at thirty six. Stephen is the new artistic director 66 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: of the New York Theater Ballet. It's a big deal. 67 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: He's the second person to get the job in the 68 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: company's forty four years. 69 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 4: And three and two and one, and train two and want. 70 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: As artistic director, Stephen trains dancers, curates the company's programming 71 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: and commissions new work. Today, Stephen is going to talk 72 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: about his journey and dance and how he's moved through 73 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: the traditionally elite space of classical ballet. Here is Stephen 74 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: Melendez in his own words. 75 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 3: When I was little, I would get on the A 76 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 3: six train. I grew up in the South bron and 77 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 3: going down the hole at Hunt's Point was sort of 78 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 3: one kind of reality. And then coming out of the 79 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 3: train on thirty third Street and Park Avenue where the 80 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 3: ballet studio was, was a very, very very different kind 81 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 3: of reality. That train ride sort of became like a 82 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 3: magic tunnel. Over the course of that thirty minutes or 83 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 3: forty minutes, I sort of rebuilt myself so that I 84 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:28,919 Speaker 3: could walk out on Park Avenue with all the people 85 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 3: that belonged to on Park Avenue, and I would hold 86 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 3: my chest different and I'd look at people differently, and 87 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 3: I'd sort of imagine and pretend maybe I'd go into 88 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 3: the ballet studio surrounded by mostly white people, and then 89 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 3: at the end of the day, at the end of 90 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 3: ballet class or whatever rehearsals, I'd get back in the train, 91 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 3: get back in the hole magic tunnel, and go back 92 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 3: up to the Bronx and come out. And suddenly it 93 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 3: was very different. I wouldn't look at people in the eye, 94 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 3: and it just sort of keep to myself and keep 95 00:05:55,240 --> 00:06:02,480 Speaker 3: my head down. I I think movement is really really interesting. 96 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 5: You know. 97 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 3: Of course I grew up dancing, and so I grew 98 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 3: up studying the body and studying the way people move. 99 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 3: But I think that dance is such a communicative language, 100 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 3: probably the most communicative language we have as a society, 101 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 3: and it surpasses geopolitical boundaries. I mean, you can see 102 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 3: somebody move, doesn't matter what language they speak or where 103 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 3: they're from, and you kind of know a little bit 104 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:25,720 Speaker 3: about them. You know, you can more or less guess 105 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 3: their age, you can more or less guess their pride, 106 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 3: And I think that's really magical. I've spent my life 107 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 3: dedicating myself to understanding movement. It is really interesting to 108 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 3: me to watch the way somebody from the South Bronx 109 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 3: moves compared to the way somebody from Parking Avenue moves. 110 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 3: And it has been really interesting in my life to 111 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 3: try to change the way I mix in and out 112 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 3: of different cultures. When I was seven years old, my 113 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 3: family lived for about three years in a New York 114 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 3: City homeless shelter, and we got there in a sort 115 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 3: of roundabout way. My mother, a single mother, mad myself. 116 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 3: My younger sister was to my memory at least a 117 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 3: very successful person. She was a medical researcher at Mount 118 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 3: Sinai Hospital. That doesn't change that she was a single mother, 119 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 3: and that New York is expensive. And one day the 120 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 3: landlord in the home where we lived, a private home 121 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 3: in Rosedale section of the Bronx and I SA area 122 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 3: in the Bronx, he passed away suddenly, I think he 123 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 3: had a heart attack, and we were kicked out of 124 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,480 Speaker 3: the home sort of overnight, and we ended up in 125 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 3: a homeless shelter. We stayed there for three years, and 126 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 3: very very early on I was introduced to a woman 127 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 3: named Diana Buyer, who was a director at that time 128 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,160 Speaker 3: of New York theater ballet, and she came into the shelter, 129 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 3: She literally walked into the shelter and she said, I'm 130 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 3: offering ballet classes to any kid who wants to come. 131 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 3: Follow me. And my mother said, go follow that woman, 132 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:03,119 Speaker 3: and I did. And I had the most incredible, weak 133 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 3: long workshop of ballet classes and lunch, reading books and 134 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 3: all kinds of cool things related to dance and art 135 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 3: in the ballet studio. And at the end of the week, 136 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 3: I didn't think ballet was for me, but my mother 137 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 3: she said I had to do it because she didn't 138 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 3: have childcare and it was free. And so I was 139 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 3: taking classes for a year, you know, once a week 140 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 3: or twice a week. And at the end of the year, 141 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 3: like every new young dancer, I was cast in The 142 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 3: Nutcracker and I was casting the role of Little Mouse 143 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 3: number two and I had a huge, huge mouse mask 144 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 3: gone and a big fat suit for the mouse costume. 145 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 3: And I was on stage for thirty seconds, maybe maybe 146 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 3: a minute max a minute. But at the end of 147 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 3: the performance I got to take a bow. And that 148 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 3: was the most remarkable, incredible experience, going out on stage 149 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,719 Speaker 3: and taking a bow in front of four hundred twive 150 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 3: hundred people, and I at the time was very confident 151 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 3: that everybody was clapping for me. Of course, now I 152 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 3: know that they weren't clapping for me, they were clapping 153 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 3: for the professional dancers behind me. But it was so 154 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:14,200 Speaker 3: exciting the idea that I could do something and people 155 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 3: would appreciate it. At that moment, I was hooked. That 156 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 3: was the beginning of the end. I studied dance really 157 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 3: seriously through the Lift program, which was the outreach program 158 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 3: that Dana started with New York Theater Ballet. I was 159 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 3: offered a spot in the Ballet Academy, and I joined 160 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 3: the ballet company when I was fourteen. When I was 161 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 3: a teenager, i'd wake up I don't know what time 162 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 3: it was first period in public school, seven point fifty. 163 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,080 Speaker 3: I was coming from the Bronx, so i'd wake up 164 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 3: with like five, get on the train at six thirty. 165 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 3: I'd go to first period, which was usually something ridiculous 166 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 3: like chemistry, calculus, or something really impossible to do at 167 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 3: seven fifty in the morning, and then I'd leave school 168 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 3: and I'd go to ballet class downtown for ten o'clock 169 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 3: company class, and then on some days I would stay 170 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 3: in the ballet studio and rehearse, and other days I'd 171 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 3: go back to school or you know, a twelve thirty 172 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 3: period where I'd do ridiculous things like literature or something 173 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 3: really obscure and annoying that nobody wants to do there, 174 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 3: at least that I didn't want to do. I much 175 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 3: preferred staying in the ballet studio. And then I'd go 176 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 3: back to ballet after school for rehearsal, and then i'd 177 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 3: have another class in the evening, and I probably wouldn't 178 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 3: leave the ballet studio until another seven thirty or eight 179 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 3: o'clock at night, and then I had the trek home 180 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 3: and the magic tunnel back to the Bronx, and I'd 181 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 3: get home at nine o'clock so that I could start 182 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 3: homework and do homework until ten thirty or eleven after eating, 183 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 3: and do it all over again. And I did that 184 00:10:54,679 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 3: for a really long time. Thirty years ago or a 185 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 3: little bit more than thirty years ago, when Diana first 186 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,040 Speaker 3: started the LIFT program, she was really on the cutting 187 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,199 Speaker 3: edge of this kind of outreach work. But now thirty 188 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 3: years later, my generation is graduating into positions of leadership, 189 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 3: and it's now our responsibility to take up the flame 190 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 3: and to do the work that the generation before me did. 191 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 3: And the unique difference is that I have the opportunity 192 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 3: to do the work from the perspective of someone who's 193 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 3: lived it. The messenger matters equally as the message matters, 194 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 3: and it means something different when I walk into a 195 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 3: shelter saying I lived here, Come with me, then when 196 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 3: Diana walked into the shelter and simply said, come with me. 197 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 3: The thing that I'm realizing that maybe needs to change 198 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 3: a little bit is the attention that we spend exclusively 199 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 3: on children, but the adults that they go home to, 200 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 3: they need to have their minds changed as well, so 201 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,719 Speaker 3: that they can participate in the new experiences that the 202 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 3: kids are having. I love my uncle very much, but 203 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 3: I remember when I was accepted to School of American Ballet, 204 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 3: probably the greatest largest classical ballet school in the world, 205 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 3: certainly in America, and his reaction to me was to 206 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,560 Speaker 3: sit me down on the stoop and to explain that 207 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 3: he wanted to be sure that I didn't turn into 208 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 3: one of them, and he was referring to the gay 209 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 3: boys that were ballet dancers. And I remember that day 210 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 3: so well that is the seared memory that I have 211 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 3: of going home proud because I'd accomplished getting into school 212 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,559 Speaker 3: of American Ballet, and that was the reaction from my family. 213 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 3: My mission now is to spend time targeting, in this case, 214 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:50,959 Speaker 3: new to dance audiences who are adult people, so that 215 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 3: we affect generational change and make a generational impact from 216 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 3: all angles whole. I don't know one hundred professional dancers, 217 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 3: and ninety of them are going to tell you some 218 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 3: version of I started a dance because my uncle, because 219 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 3: my grandmother, because my mother, because my whoever showed me 220 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 3: a dance on TV or brought me to the concert 221 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,679 Speaker 3: or was a dancer themselves. And the result of that 222 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 3: anecdote is that dance maintains a sort of ancestral relationship 223 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 3: with itself. It becomes a little ecosystem. If you're already 224 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 3: in it generationally, then you're more likely to stay in 225 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 3: it generationally. And if you're already out of it, it's 226 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 3: very difficult to get in. And so if I can 227 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 3: be successful at changing the makeup of the audience, the 228 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 3: adult audience, then I think, secretly but not so secret, 229 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,079 Speaker 3: because I'm on the radio telling you right now, secretly 230 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 3: I can change, ultimately the makeup of the people on 231 00:13:50,640 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 3: the stage. I am really really driven on a for accessibility. 232 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 3: Got a taxonomy of inaccessibility, and it includes economic and geographic, 233 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 3: which are pretty straightforward. Things are too expensive and things 234 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 3: are too far away. Then it includes things like cultural 235 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,719 Speaker 3: and intellectual. Sometimes something is inaccessible because it's not resonating 236 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,120 Speaker 3: with the community that it's supposed to be speaking at. 237 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,200 Speaker 3: And something like classical ballet with a long history of 238 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 3: kings and queens and princesses and swans and whatever else, 239 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 3: doesn't resonate with people who grow up in twenty twenty 240 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:38,400 Speaker 3: two in Harlem. That's just a reality. And there's no 241 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 3: reason why we can't make new dances of and about 242 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 3: the people today. And there's no reason why we can't 243 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 3: contextualize the older master works that have been around for 244 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 3: hundreds of years to explain to people why they're still 245 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 3: relevant today. A lot of times, the dance industry, the 246 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 3: performing arts, the fine arts, all the things that people 247 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 3: consider elite up with that d quotes, the opera, the ballet, 248 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 3: the symphony, all that stuff. They create systems where it's 249 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 3: impossible for someone who doesn't know to figure it out. 250 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 3: Simple things like the marketing and the branding of new ballets. 251 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 3: When you advertise a new ballet by listing the choreographer's 252 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 3: name and the name of the piece, well, if you 253 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 3: don't know who the chographer is and you don't know 254 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 3: the name of the piece, and that doesn't mean anything 255 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 3: to you. The reviews the critics that talk only about 256 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 3: the high level of technique that the dancers are employing 257 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 3: to portray the characters. But if you don't know anything 258 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 3: about dance, it doesn't matter to you if the dancer's 259 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 3: leg is at ninety degrees or eighty nine degrees, or 260 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 3: if they're turned out, or if they're turned in, or 261 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 3: if they have the perfect quase line or the AFOs 262 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 3: a line. These are just French words, so it don't 263 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 3: mean anything. But the thing that everybody does understand, I 264 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 3: think is the humanity and the storytelling. I'm really really 265 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 3: interested in all of the ways that we can tell 266 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,600 Speaker 3: stories because I think that's what connects us. I think 267 00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 3: when I was younger, I was interested in that because 268 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 3: it was a little bit of escapism for me. I'd 269 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 3: go on stage with a new character and I could 270 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 3: be that guy for a minute. I could be Prince 271 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 3: Charming for three acts one night performing Othello. You'd go 272 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 3: out there as Othello, and you could be really, really angry, 273 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 3: you know, in a way that I would never be 274 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 3: in real life. But on stage it was okay. In 275 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 3: the classical ballet canon. You go out there and you 276 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 3: can be a bird. You could be bluebird because I 277 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 3: know who all those characters are. But knowing who I am, 278 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 3: that's kind of scary. I think I'm knowing toward figuring 279 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 3: that out. I never knew my father, except that he 280 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 3: made it so that I didn't speak Spanish as a kid. 281 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 3: And I heard a piece of music during the pandemic time, 282 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 3: and it made me sort of nostalgic for this memories 283 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 3: of having a father, but I never had a father. 284 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 3: There were like daydreams that I was imagining, like you know, 285 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 3: being on the bicycle and my father pushing it along 286 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 3: or playing catch in the front yard or whatever, but 287 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 3: I never actually had those experiences. And the music sort 288 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 3: of compelled me to make this dance, and I thought, oh, 289 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,880 Speaker 3: I should make a dance about fatherhood. That'd be so cool. 290 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 3: And then it occurred to me that if I did that, 291 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 3: it would be a very myopic view of that relationship 292 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 3: between a son and the father, because not everyone has 293 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:21,400 Speaker 3: my experience with a father, and who am I to 294 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 3: make a dance that says, this is what sons and 295 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,520 Speaker 3: fathers are like? And so I decided instead that I 296 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:32,800 Speaker 3: would commission a series of ballets, all choreographed by different 297 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,399 Speaker 3: male artists, each one from a slightly different perspective, and 298 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 3: each one a letter from that male artist to their father, 299 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 3: and between the five or six or seven or eight pieces, 300 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 3: over the course of many years, my hope is to 301 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 3: prompt a dialogue in the public and the audience about 302 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 3: the relationships plural that sons and fathers can have or 303 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 3: should have or shouldn't have or have had. And I 304 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,919 Speaker 3: think it's uniquely relevant to tell these stories now because 305 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 3: we're at an inflection point generationally, and I think if 306 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 3: we don't have a ballet like what I'm proposing now, 307 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,199 Speaker 3: we'll end up talking to ghosts. And I think that 308 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 3: dance is so nuanced that maybe actually we as artists 309 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 3: can from the stage shed light on these other experiences 310 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 3: that the world needs to hear about, and I need 311 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:31,360 Speaker 3: to hear about it now. The truth is that I'm 312 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 3: scared every day. Being the director of a ballet company 313 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 3: is really hard. I had one director of another ballet company, 314 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 3: a very important ballet company, and he called me up 315 00:18:42,040 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 3: after he'd heard the news that I was given this role. 316 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 3: But all he said was my condolences. It's a lot 317 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 3: of responsibility, but it's also for me at least, I 318 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 3: feel the responsibility of being the artist in our community 319 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 3: that are reflecting the community back at itself. 320 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: That was Stephen Melendez, Artistic director of the New York 321 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 1: Theater Ballet. This episode was produced by Julia Rocha and 322 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: edited by Daisy Contreres. It was mixed by j J. 323 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 3: Carubin. 324 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:46,959 Speaker 1: The Latino USA team includes Andrea Lopez Crusado, Marta Martinez, 325 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: Mike Sargent, Victoria Estrada Rinaldo, Leanos Junior, Patricia Sulbrand, and 326 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:57,080 Speaker 1: Elizabeth London Torres. Our editorial director is Fernandes Santos. Our 327 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: director of engineering is Steffaney Lebau. Our senior and is 328 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:05,120 Speaker 1: Julia Caruso. Our associate engineer is Gabriella Byez. Our marketing 329 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed by 330 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: Signet Rubinos. I'm your host and executive producer marieo Hosa 331 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: join us on our next episode. In the meantime, look 332 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 1: for us on your social media at Latino USA and 333 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: remember lotoyas Bye. 334 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 5: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Ford Foundation, 335 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:32,120 Speaker 5: working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide, 336 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:36,639 Speaker 5: the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the 337 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:43,120 Speaker 5: Heising Simons Foundation, unlocking knowledge, opportunity, and possibilities. More at 338 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 5: hsfoundation dot org. 339 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 4: It's impossible, It's fun. Thank you.