The documentary follows Peck’s creative process starting from his original idea and ending with the product. The process starts with Peck dancing in an empty studio, an old CD player blasting his music, an upbeat orchestral piece from 1935, and his phone propped up to record his every movement. It then transitions to him writing in a notebook where you can see sketches of stick figures doing different movements, almost like a flip book, but all drawn out on one page. There’s also dots drawn on a stage with arrows pointing in different directions to indicate spacing and movement of bodies. It is clear that Peck’s process begins will different forms of brainstorming before solidifying any ideas.
The most striking part of his creative process is the amount of collaboration Peck incorporates. The documentary shows many scenes of Peck directly working with the dancers in the piece. If he sees a movement on the dancer that he likes better he will change the steps. He also takes the dancers’ opinions into consideration during the rehearsals, whether it’s about changing movements or the spacing. The documentary also shows him closely working with the lighting director and costume designers to make sure his final product is cohesive but also matches his vision for the dance. The final product, Paz de la Jolla, is a charismatic and beachy dance, reflective of Peck’s home town of San Diego, California.
Since the documentary, Peck has been promoted as a choreographer and as a dancer with NYCB. In February 2013 Peck was promoted to Soloist within the company and in 2014, at the age of 26, he was named Resident Choreographer, the second ever in the company’s history. His more recent pieces push the boundaries of classical and contemporary ballet. In The Times are Racing, the dancers perform the piece in sneakers, clad in hoodies and t-shirts with the words "unite," "react," "protest", and "fight" written on them. While Peck doesn't identify this as a protest piece, it is clearly meant to display his feelings and attitudes towards current society. It is also a piece about exploring the role of gender and gender-neutrality through the lens of ballet, with a female lead stepping in to do parts originally meant for a male lead. Peck is currently working on a piece that will debut this season with the company’s first ever male-male interpretation of a ballet’s central pas de deux. As the resident choreographer for NYCB he has received a lot of praise, including this glowing review from The New York Times chief dance critic Alastair Macaulay: “[Peck is] the third [most] important choreographer to have emerged in classical ballet this century.” I, for one, am looking forward to the many pieces Peck will choreograph in the future and to see how far he will push the boundaries of modern ballet.
Sources: https://www.nycballet.com/Dancers/Dancers-Bios/Justin-Peck.aspx
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-names-justin-peck-as-choreographer.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/arts/dance/justin-peck-new-york-city-ballet-lacing-up-their-sneakers-to-unite.html
Ballet 422 (2014), Netflix
What a different take on ballet! This video is not what I envision as I think of modern ballet. It is interesting how Peck’s passion for one domain allowed him to become an expert in the same arena but with a different position. He reminds me of Skip Engblom from Dogtown and Z-Boys, for he was not remarkable in his initial prospect but became fundamental in the success of others in the field. Both of their careers have been propelled by their ability to connect with individuals in their respective realms and to creatively communicate their ideas as well as the uniqueness of those they work with to the public.
ReplyDeleteThis is something so different! I absolutely love the fact that he really revitalized a lot within the domain of ballet and did so with no apprehensions, rather with confidence. The willingness to stick with his own style of ballet and further devotion to it truly contributes not only to the overall creative process, but to his overwhelming success in his career. When I compare him to Gardner's creatives, I see a little bit of everyone in him and maybe that's what's truly noteworthy. If one is able to encapsulate a part of each of some of the most influential creatives throughout history, they've clearly paved their own creative path successfully.
ReplyDeleteThis video has definitely made me rethink how ballet can be performed. I liked what you said about Peck himself being an average dancer but a brilliant choreographer. Those were two skills I had always assumed were connected; I never realized you could be better at one over the other. Also, I found the part about the gender roles in ballet to be extremely interesting. My sister was a dancer, so when I would go to recitals, it was fairly obvious that some roles were male or female specific. It was something I had never really thought much about, but the idea of a gender-neutral dance piece is fascinating. I can't wait to see how Peck's ideas influence the rest of the dance world!
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