New York City Ballet All Peck Review
October 3, 2024 | David H. Koch Theater – New York, NY, USA
In the last decade, choreographer Justin Peck has firmly established himself as a major voice in the world of dance, demonstrating a unique vision and a rare talent when it comes to dancemaking.
Unbound in his imagination and unstoppable in his enthusiasm to expand his artistic horizons, he has created works not only for the major ballet companies around the world, but also for Broadway and cinema.
This season, New York City Ballet marks the 10th anniversary of Peck’s appointment as the company’s resident choreographer. To commemorate the occasion, NYCB presented the All Peck quadruple bill during its fall season at Lincoln Center.
New York City Ballet All Peck Review
The program offered an exciting foray into Peck’s artistic portfolio, featuring a diverse selection of works – In Creases, Solo, Partita, and Everywhere We Go – all four pieces distinctively varied in style, music, and character.
In 2012, Peck was still a member of NYCB’s corps de ballet when he created In Creases. This was his choreographic debut for the company. (Since then, he has made 24 works for New York City Ballet.)
This effervescent ballet, which is only 15 minutes long, feels very intimate and unassuming. Set to a selected music from Philip Glass’s Four Movements for Two Pianos, it utilizes a small cast of dancers: four men and four women, all dressed in white practice-like costumes. The stage décor is absent, except for the two grand pianos. (Glass’s music was played during the performance by Elaine Chelton and Alan Moverman.)
In this piece, the choreographer creates an evocative atmosphere onstage. The dance feels bright and invigorating, brimming with youthful energy and delight. In response to Glass’s crystalline music, the movements flow effortlessly like a mountain spring – cool, clean, and crisp in their quality.
Even in this early work, Peck vividly demonstrates his keen eye for inventive geometric patterns and structural designs.
The dancers made a good effort to let this work shine. Taylor Stanley was the only principal dancer in the cast; and his performance was a real stand-out. His dancing was exceptional in its plasticity, technique, and musicality.
The rest of the cast, apart from soloist Gilbert Bolden III, were the members of the corps de ballet. Watching their performance, I felt that the young dancers needed more rehearsal time to feel truly at home with Peck’s intricate steps and formations.
Even though it was Peck’s first major commission, In Creases has acquired a huge popularity among other ballet companies; Paris Opera Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Boston Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and The Washington Ballet, have all included this dance in their repertory.
The next work on the program – the meditative Solo which is set to the heartrending sonorities of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings – was beautifully performed by Sara Mearns. (This evanescent number was created for NYCB’s 2021 Digital Spring Gala and first premiered online, originated by Anthony Huxley.)
The movement vocabulary of Solo is quite simple; here, there are no power tricks such as big jumps and swift pirouettes. Yet the ballet contains a deep emotional story for a dancer to convey to the audience.
One of the most dramatically astute ballerinas in the company, Mearns brought an exceptional sense of poignancy to this piece.
Her dancing unearthed a wide range of emotions from torment and discontent to elation and repose, her movements finely articulated and expressive.
Created in 2022, Partita is one of Peck’s greatest successes.
Created for a cast of eight dancers (four men and four women), the piece is choreographed to Caroline Shaw’s sonorous composition titled Partita for 8 Voices, sung and recorded by a vocal group “Roomful of Teeth.” This composition – a diverse tapestry of vocal sounds that at times is reminiscent to a hymn-like chanting – provides a unique musical underpinning for the dance and serves as its driving force and inspiration.
Here, the stage décor is striking, featuring an array of colorful ribbons arranged in circles which are suspended from the ceiling against a black
backdrop, all bathed in a warm golden light.
The dancers, dressed in athletic attire and sneakers, move about the stage with dynamism, wit, and purpose, forming and dissolving intricate shapes and formations in response to the ever-changing vocal accompaniment of the score.
Watching this piece, it often felt like each dancer represented a vocalist, reflecting the sound of voice in the ballet’s movements. It all looked utterly exhilarating and fresh.
The entire cast was wonderful at every turn. A special note goes to Miriam Miller and Indiana Woodward.
The program culminated with Peck’s epic Everywhere We Go, created for the company in 2014.
Unlike other dances on the program, this ballet is grand in scale, utilizing 25 dancers and featuring the commissioned score by Sufjian Stevens, Peck’s frequent collaborator.
Over the years, I have seen this piece on many occasions; and it never fails to ignite a feeling of joy and excitement.
Everywhere We Go brings to the fore Peck’s trademark style of choreography: there is a flood of striking images which reflect the ever-changing rhythmical dynamics and moods of the score.
The cast, dressed in chic costumes (designed by the former NYCB principal dancer Janie Taylor), scatters across the space in a series of constantly shifting patterns.
Amidst this perpetual motion, there is a sense of unbound happiness and youthful ardor; but at times, there are moments of sadness and impending tragedy, when some of the dancers suddenly fall to the floor only to be gently helped on their feet by their fellow cast members.
At more than 40 minutes long, the action-packed Everywhere We Go zoomed by in a flash. There were several notable performances, particularly by Tiler Peck, Unity Phelan, and Preston Chamblee.
Featured Photo of New York City Ballet‘s Unity Phelan and Adrian Danchig-Waring in Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go. Photo by Erin Baiano.
