What Collaborations Has Melanie Hamrick Done With Artists?

I ran into one of her small projects at a gallery event once, and it made me see how Melanie Hamrick operates: she takes ballet training and the vocabulary of big-company rehearsal rooms and then invites other artists to remix that vocabulary. In performance contexts she’s worked alongside leading choreographers—people like Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon—by performing and refining their works, which is a form of creative collaboration in itself because dancers’ interpretations feed back into the piece.

When she moved into making choreography and participating in cultural projects, her circle widened. She’s collaborated with musicians and creative directors on pieces that feel just as much about sound and image as they are about steps. She’s also teamed up with photographers and stylists for editorial projects, and with set or costume designers for staged works. I appreciate that blend: it keeps the classical technique relevant and lets contemporary artists borrow some of that discipline for different formats. If you want to dig deeper, looking at program notes for pieces she choreographed or guest-staged will usually list the specific artists involved, which is always a fun rabbit hole to go down.

I’ve followed Melanie Hamrick’s career for years, and one thing that always stands out is how fluidly she moves between worlds—classical ballet, contemporary choreography, and the visual/music scenes. Early on she was mainly known for performing repertoire at the company level, which meant working closely with major choreographers whose pieces she danced and helped shape in rehearsal. Names that come up a lot in that context are Alexei Ratmansky and Christopher Wheeldon—people who create work at the scale of big companies, and she learned and adapted their movement languages onstage.

As she transitioned into choreography and creative projects, her collaborations broadened. She’s done creative work that connects dance with music and fashion, often involving photographers, costume designers, and musicians in cross-disciplinary shoots and presentations. Her personal relationship with a prominent rock musician has also led to public creative exchanges, interviews, and projects that blur the pop/modern-art line, so she’s not just collaborating inside a studio but also in broader cultural spaces. If you’re curious about specifics, look for her choreographic credits and guest stagings—those listings usually show the designers, composers, and directors she teamed up with, which gives you a clearer map of her artistic network.

I’m a bit of a dance nerd, so I notice the small collaborations: Melanie Hamrick came up through big-company work, so she’s collaborated repeatedly with major choreographers and the production teams who bring those ballets to life. Later she branched into choreography and interdisciplinary projects, working with musicians, photographers, and designers to present dance in magazines, galleries, and special performances. Her personal and creative connection with a famous rock musician has also led to public collaborative moments that mix pop and ballet. In short: choreographers, composers/musicians, visual artists, and fashion/photography teams are the main people she’s teamed up with, depending on the project and setting.

I like to think of Melanie Hamrick as someone who grew up inside a big ballet ecosystem and then started reaching out to other kinds of artists. During her performing years she worked on-stage with a range of established choreographers at American Ballet Theatre, which naturally involves close collaboration with set and costume designers, conductors, and répétiteurs who help get new works on their feet.

After stepping back from full-time dancing she began creating her own pieces and projects, which brought in photographers for publicity and editorial spreads, musicians for live or recorded scores, and visual artists for staging and multimedia elements. She’s also had creative intersections with a well-known rock musician in her life, which has made some of her projects feel more pop-culture-facing than purely dance-world. In short, her collaborations span choreographers, designers, composers, photographers, and musicians—basically anyone who helps bring performance ideas to life.