Justin Peck

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

For me, the choreography always comes from the music.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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?'

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.

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

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

My grandfather James Peck was a civil rights activist.

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

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.

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

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

There is something about Dior that reminds me of New York City Ballet. They both have a classic, glamorous basis but are trying to evolve the arts in new and innovative ways.

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.