jodi melnick

Jodi Melnick - NYC based choreographer, performer, and teacher.

Melnick designs intricate movement to explore the exquisite nature of, and the dynamic relationships between human beings. She uses the profound expression of the dancing body and lucid performing instincts to drive the creative process. The work is transformed through the phenomenon of dancing.

 Her work has been presented both nationally and internationally. Her work has been presented at BAM's Fisher theater as part of the Next Wave Festival, City Center’s Fall for Dance, The Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts (NYLA), The Kitchen, La Mama, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, Martha’s Vineyard, Vail International Dance Festival  commissioned by Damian Woetzel and Yo Yo Ma, Barnard College, Sarah Lawrence College, George Washington University, DanceBox in Kansai, Japan, opening the Dublin Dance Festival, Belfast, Ireland, St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, and Tallinn, Estonia.

Melnick’s critically acclaimed New Bodies 2016/18, made on NYC Ballet principal dancers Sara Mearns, Jared Angle, Gretchen Smith, and Taylor Stanley, originated at Jacobs Pillow and went on to be performed at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, and the Spoleto Festival in S.C.

Melnick has had the esteemed privilege collaborating with Trisha Brown, and performing the solo One of Sixty-five Thousand Gestures. Melnick’s rich history of working with a vast array of significant artists include: dancing in the Twyla Tharp dance company (1990-1994, 2009), performing with Mikhail Baryshnikov (2005-2008), and continued creative experiences with Sara Rudner, David Neuman, Yoshiko Chuma, John Jasperse, Vicky Shick, Beth Gill, Elena Demyanenko, Rashaun Mitchell, Jon Kinzel, Paul Kaiser, Liz Roche, Charles Atlas, David Michalek, Yvonne Rainer, and playwright Sibyl Kempson.

 Melnick is honored with a Doris Duke Impact Award (2014), a Guggenheim Fellow (2012), a Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant (2010-2011), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant (2011), two Bessie Awards for sustained achievement in dance (2001 and 2008), a Gibney DIP Residency Grantee, and a two year extended Life grantee awarded from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center (LMCC), and an NYU Center Ballet Arts residency fellow.

Melnick teaches, technique, improvisation, and composition workshops throughout the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.  Currently, she is an adjunct professor of dance at Barnard College at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College (undergraduate and graduate).