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" What's always interested me the most about ballet is it's this great opportunity for many different artistic mediums to come together to create a cohesive experience. "

Justin Peck

Together

Great

Experience

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" I try and create choreography that's in conversation with the music that the audience is hearing. "

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

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

Justin Peck

Ballet

Accessible

" My intention is to make sure that the new work being created for the ballet world is relevant. "

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

Justin Peck

Music

Choreography

" 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. "

" I never intended to dance in my own work, but we did what had to be done. "

" It's nice to have the support and infrastructure to do what I want creatively. That's kind of a rare thing to find. "

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

" 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. "

" 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

" Balanchine is the number one influence for me. His work was really musically driven. He and Jerome Robbins were the ones who really showed me that dance could be about the inner relation between movement and music. When I was a student first seeing their work, I was like, 'Oh, this is a thing?' "

Justin Peck

Dance

Influence

" There is something very cyclical about the way fashion designers work. They work and work and work, the collection is finally shown, and after those 15 minutes, they must start over from the beginning. This is not unlike the way I work creating new dances. "

" 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. "

" It's very difficult to switch back and forth between running rehearsals and then stepping in to dance in rehearsals as a dancer. Just to switch hats in an instant can be a little bit jarring, mostly physically, on the body. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" It's amazing what a resource modern technology is now for making ballets, and I film my rehearsals almost every day. "

" 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. "

" My choreography is very classically based. "

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

" 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 really enjoyed watching a ballerina named Denise Dabrowski who used to dance at California Ballet. She was a beautiful ballerina and role model for a lot of young dancers. "

" I feel like there is a different, new energy when I collaborate with a living artist, whether it be a composer, designer, lighting designer. I love that process. "

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

" 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

" There needs to be more encouragement and support for women - at an impressionable age - to explore that choreographic side of their brains. "

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