Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" It's expensive to get studio space and dancers. My whole first three years, I was sneaking around in the studios and getting kicked out of them. It was kind of depressing. "

Related Quotes:

" My philosophy on choreography is that the making of a ballet is a team effort, and we're in this together. It's not me hammering on them. It's more about how we can elevate this piece collectively to something great. "

Justin Peck

Together

Team

" I like graceful and elegant partnering that gives an illusion of ease instead of emphasizing difficulty. I don't want to make something 'contemporary' or 'trendy,' because ballet doesn't progress on one track: it can branch out in many directions, and as Balanchine showed, there's always room for pure classicism and more subtle alterations of it. "

" It's time for there to be roles in the ballet where two men can fall in love, and a woman can lead a company of 20 dancers that include both men and women. "

" The reason I started dancing in the first place was my dad took me to see 'Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk' when I was 9. "

" When I put on my consumer hat, and I'm buying tickets to be entertained, I'm not interested in seeing, like, 'Don Quixote.' Unless someone really spectacular is dancing. "

Justin Peck

Hat

Dancing

" I'm always interested in linking dance to mundane behavior that everyone can relate to. "

" For me, the choreography always comes from the music. "

Justin Peck

Music

Choreography

" I've always thought of the process of creating ballets as being this kind of team effort. It's not like being a painter, where you have your paint, and you have canvas, and you just go at it. I'm working with these living, breathing, functioning human beings, and they have their own thoughts and ideas about what works well movement-wise. "

" I'm not a very good dancer. My feet don't point far enough; my extension is embarrassing. Dance, for me, has been hard because it's a strive for perfection. "

Justin Peck

Good

Dance

" If I get a commission, it's like a flood of creative thought and energy. "

Justin Peck

Flood

Thought

" When I'm making a new ballet, I usually read through the score a little bit, and then I have to go back and translate or transcribe all the counts for dancers because the way that you hear it is completely different from the way the musicians read and play it. "

" My grandfather James Peck was a civil rights activist. "

" Balanchine was just able to strike the balance between literal narrative and abstract dance. "

" American ballet... is ultimately an evolutionary art form, requiring many voices to creatively carry forward. "

" I'm trying to create ballets that I would enjoy seeing. "

" There's something refreshing about going to work with a different group of dancers. There are different ways of moving, different ways in which the institution functions. There's a contrast from place to place, so the variety and the experience of working in a different place feeds me. "

Justin Peck

Experience

Moving

" I always feel that the mark of a good ballet is that when you see it more than once, you get more out of it. "

" To me, dance and ballet are not so accessible. "

Justin Peck

Ballet

Accessible

" I'm really interested in working with groups. It's a very simple thing for me, and if I'm given the option to work with two people or 10 or 20 people, I'm going to take 10 or 20. I just think there's so much more I can do with that. "

Justin Peck

I Can

Work

" The future of ballet is really in the hands of the creators, so if it's something that interests them to push the envelope with gender roles, then I think it will change. But if that's not of interest to a dance-maker, if their interest is to sort of preserve the way things have been done for the past 200 years, then nothing is going to change. "

" I would love to work with Joanna Newsom on a ballet. I think that would be amazing. She has a gift for orchestrating and composing, and I think she would be really engaging to work with. "

" Chicago is amazing. "

Justin Peck

Chicago

Amazing

" Pressure feels sort of normal to me. "

Justin Peck

Normal

Sort

" I've always felt that Balanchine is my ultimate teacher. I learn the most from observing his work and also dancing in it. "

" I've always liked vintage posters of California beaches. "

" Ballet dancers are among the greatest living athletes. "

" I grew up going on vacations with my family to New York every summer, and it's something that I always looked forward to. They'd take me to theater and shows and interesting restaurants, so I was genuinely really excited to move there. "

Justin Peck

New York

Family

" There's an innate feeling when I choreograph in juxtaposition to how I feel as a dancer. When I choreograph, I never really look into the mirror. But as dancers, we always check ourselves in the mirror. I do feel that when I choreograph, I am making a dance on my own body. Much of it is my own response to the music. "

" I think ballet has a bad reputation of being stuffy and depleted. "

" When I'm in sneakers, it changes my body carriage. I feel more in my own skin. "