Justin Peck Quotes

Justin Peck

Profession : Dancer

Birth : September 8, 1987

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

Justin Peck

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.

Justin Peck

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.

Justin Peck

I've always liked vintage posters of California beaches.

Justin Peck

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

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

Justin Peck

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

Justin Peck

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.

Justin Peck

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

I think it's interesting for people to be exposed to ballet in areas they wouldn't necessarily expect to see it.

Justin Peck

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

Ballet is a classically based art form, so it comes with a certain set of rules, at least to start with; then it's about how far you want to push from there.

Justin Peck

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.

Justin Peck

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

Justin Peck

For me, the choreography always comes from the music.

Justin Peck

I think ballet is pretty open about what music is used, actually.

Justin Peck