Top 35 Justin Peck Quotes

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.

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

It’s probably what I’m most interested in as a choreographer: how I can alter and shift and develop the structure of a piece and of the space.

For me, the choreography always comes from the music.

George Balanchine is my role model because his work is so varied. You can see two ballets of his and not even realize that they are by the same choreographer.

My movement is usually about finding the balance between artistry, athleticism, and musicality. It always originates with a classical basis and expands outwards from that platform.

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.

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.

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?’

I’m trying to create ballets that I would enjoy seeing.

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

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.

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’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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Ballet dancers are among the greatest living athletes.

My grandfather James Peck was a civil rights activist.

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.

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

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

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

The idea of having a narrative guiding the viewer through and grasping their attention is a really compelling thing.

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

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 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 love seeing New York City Ballet from the fourth ring, just seeing the architecture of how these bodies move from above.

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

There is a clearing for new creative thought in choreography. I don’t feel intimidated; there is a lot I can do that is new or innovative or different.

I’ve always liked vintage posters of California beaches.

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.

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.

When I saw ‘Hamilton,’ there was so much information so fast, I had to keep up with it. I find that quality in art exhilarating.