“Lately, the idea is that to be exciting and new, choreography has to be super-contemporary. And I just don’t think that’s the case,” she explains. “There’s a way to still use the classical form, but make it interesting…. I think that those works are what push us to get better, and those are the ones I love dancing.”
A dancer first and foremost, the California-born Peck (who has been in ballet slippers since the age of seven) counts Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 among her very favorite pieces—all of which are set to piano concertos. Determined to source one of her own, she resorted to simply googling “piano concertos” and listening to the results until she discovered Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.”
“It’s three movements, and I loved the differences—some moments were really exciting, others are very tender, others have a folky sound to them,” she says. “I could showcase a lot of different styles.” It helped that Andrew Litton, City Ballet’s music director, gave it enthusiastic support. “He was like, ‘The orchestra is gonna go crazy, they are going to love playing this,’” Peck adds. As its title suggests, the piece requires two pianos, between which Poulenc creates a playful, chattering dialogue.
As for the process of creating movement, for Peck it all came down to the music. She would listen to lines over and over again and place them with a dancer she felt could embody the notes on the page. After that, little movements became grand gestures, performed by a cast including Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, Chun Wai Chan, India Bradley, and Emma Von Enck.
“From the beginning, I knew those were the dancers I wanted to work with—the music sounded so much like them,” Peck says. She also wanted a bigger corps because “the music calls for that.” There is no specific storyline or central love story pas de deux in Concerto for Two Pianos; instead, Peck tailor-made sequences that showcase the unique talents and sensibilities of her chosen ballerinas.
At this rehearsal, Peck is wearing pointe shoes—an unorthodox choice for a choreographer, but quite a practical one. (“When they tell me it can’t be done, I’m like, ‘I think it can. Watch.’”) She wields her power gently but effectively, working out jumps that don’t land on time or arms that block the visage of her dancers.