Francisco (Franky) Melendez is an apprentice with the Chicago Repertory Ballet and has been with the company since 2022. Originally from El Paso, TX, he is a former company dancer with the El Paso Ballet Theatre and Human Nature Contemporary Ballet. He moved to Chicago in 2019, and since then has received training from the Ruth Page Center For The Arts, Joel Hall Dancers & Center, and from the Chicago Movement Collective as a Claire Bataille Legacy Program student.