Lift

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 with a past he had escaped from through ballet. As young dance students, Victor, Yolanssie and Sharia face the same chasm of home insecurity that long separated Steven from his audience and makes the arts inaccessible to so many kids who share his background. The children he mentors offer him insight into turning a hidden trauma into dance, and together they make an aristocratic art form into an expression all their own.

Touring with the Film

Steven Melendez (Protagonist) Named as the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Ballet in April of 2022, Steven Melendez was born in New York City in 1986 and started his ballet training with the LIFT Program at Ballet School New York at the age of 7. He has danced as a Soloist dancer with Ballet Concierto in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a Principal dancer with The Vanemuine Theater Ballet Company in Tartu, Estonia, and for over 15 years with New York Theatre Ballet. He is a national and international guest artist and teacher and has worked across Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Steven 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. Steven is currently a member of the alumni advisory committee on diversity and inclusion for School of American Ballet and serves as the Hiland Artistic Director for National Dance Institute New Mexico.

Mary Recine (Producer) is an award-winning producer of documentary films, television series, and cultural programs. Her work has been recognized with three Peabody Awards, multiple Emmy Award nominations, and has premiered at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, the New York Film Festival and MoMA. She is best known for producing the Netflix Original documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, directed by Joan’s nephew Griffin Dunne, and for her work as archival producer of the Academy Award nominated What Happened, Miss Simone? directed by Liz Garbus. As a producer for live events, she has created video projections for the Broadway stage, cultural institutions, and for performers ranging from Elton John to Chris Rock.

David Peterson (Director, Producer) has films exhibited at numerous museums and festivals and are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His documentary Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9 was nominated for an Academy Award and his PBS documentary If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now was an Independent Spirit Award nominee. His feature documentary Let the Church Say Amen premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and on the PBS series “Independent Lens.” Other films include Journey of the Bonesetter’s Daughter on PBS and 2 Months to Be Quiet, which premiered at MoMA. David also directed the acclaimed eight-part documentary series Strictly Ballet and the feature-length film The Witmans, a documentary about juvenile justice. His artist fellowships include MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, Blue Mountain Center, and the Ragdale Foundation.