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00:00Well, our next guest, she sets the bar high in ballet. She's out with a new book. She's coming
00:04out with a new documentary. Not to mention, she still has a full-time gig as the principal dancer
00:09for the New York City Ballet. Tyler Peck. We caught up with her earlier for a wide-ranging
00:13discussion about her career and her upcoming documentary called Tyler Peck, Suspending Time.
00:19Take a listen. They started following me about six years ago when I had a really serious neck
00:26injury. And I actually didn't know if I was going to be able to ever dance again. I was told I
00:32wouldn't. And so they kind of followed me back to getting on stage again. And then all that kind of
00:39has come after that, making my first ballet for the New York City Ballet. Yeah, so I'm very excited
00:47about this. You've been doing this a long time. Did you know that you wanted to be a ballerina when
00:52you were young? I knew I wanted to be a dancer. I loved to dance. I didn't necessarily think I'd
00:59be a ballerina. It was my least favorite style when I very first started. My mom was the ballet
01:05teacher, so maybe that had something to do with it. I don't know. But she was very smart and said,
01:10even if you don't want to be a ballerina, the ballet is where the technique comes. So I'm so glad
01:16that she made me stick with it always because I would never be in the New York City Ballet had it not
01:21been for her. And you've been lauded over the years, not only for just how well you are with
01:28the technique, but also just the musicality overall. And I'm just curious as to whether
01:32that's something that's learned or something that's innate. I think it's a bit innate. I think
01:40that from the beginning, my mom said when I was three years old and could remember a three-minute
01:45solo that I was just so always on the beat. And how could a three-year-old remember that much
01:51choreography? And it's because the music, I think, kind of told me what the steps were.
01:56And so I think you can get better at it, but I have to say that it is just something that feels
02:01very natural and not something I have to think about. It's, yeah.
02:05As you've sort of gone through your career, talk a little bit about how the business of dance has
02:11changed, hopefully for the better. But I am curious just about the economics of it, being able to support
02:17yourself as a dancer, particularly if you're not sort of at the top like you are, for those other
02:21dancers. I mean, what is that situation like for them right now?
02:24It's really challenging. I mean, even though I am at the top, if you look at, say, you know, a top
02:30athlete that's on a basketball team, you know, they're making way more money than we do as dancers.
02:36So, you know, it's definitely for the love of the art form. But I do think that there is something to be
02:43taken very seriously there in terms of looking at what our highest paid dancers are.
02:51Is there something more that you think the industry can do to sort of make it a little
02:55bit more economically viable? Right now, you're talking about a business model that to a certain
02:59extent, ticket sales, but to a large extent, it's basically donors and benefactors.
03:04Yeah. And I think that they definitely support the dancers and are, you know, that's why they're
03:09there. It's like the New York City Ballet. And I think that their hope is that they are doing the
03:15best for the dancers. So I think that that's why it's important for them to really take a look at
03:19their full budget. Well, the last contract that New York City Ballet dancers had, three-year
03:24contract, expired at the end of August. So effectively going forward, you guys are dancing without a
03:29contract. Where do those negotiations stand right now? Yeah, we always kind of go in good faith
03:34through. But right now we're kind of trying to say, we're just asking for what's reasonable. You
03:39know, New York City is expensive and we're not asking for something that's outrageous. So
03:44just taking a care, taking care of their dancers. And you've been able to find other sources of
03:49income. You're obviously done a lot of choreography, both on stage, but also in feature films as well.
03:56You know, when I was preparing for this, I was surprised at some of your film credits. It was like
03:59John Wick 3. It was a Donnie Darko and a couple others. And I was like, so kind of explain that. I
04:04mean, how do you end up being on point on a stage to, you know, trying to train assassins in a movie
04:10to, I guess, move the right way? Yeah, well, Chad, the director of John Wick, he actually called me
04:18and said, can I meet with you? And as he was asking me, you know, will you choreograph John Wick 3?
04:23I said to him, I just want to be really honest with you. Like, I'm first and foremost a ballerina,
04:27and I've never choreographed any movie before. And he said, I know, I want to give you your first
04:33opportunity. And I thought, well, that's pretty big opportunity for John Wick 3 to be my first,
04:38like, you know, choreographic movie gig. And I just had a blast. I got to bring six of my
04:45ballerinas, like, onto the stage. And yeah, it was, you know, making the assassins go through the
04:51ballerinas. And, you know, Chad really respected it because he takes, you know, the martial art part
04:57of it so seriously. And he said, it's like choreography, what they do. Do you think that could be sort of
05:02maybe your next career when you're finally done dancing on stage?
05:05Yeah, I really enjoyed being behind the camera as well. So yeah, the little things that I've done,
05:11I think that that would be a really fun next chapter.
05:14You've worked with a lot of great people. And even the current project you have at the New York
05:20City Center here in New York City, you're working with some great choreographers and directors.
05:24Alonzo King, I saw, was on the bill there. I mean, who's been your favorite over the years
05:30to work with?
05:31You know, those, Bill Foresight and Alonzo King are both on my program at City Center. And they
05:39were both choreographers that I reached out to during COVID because we had never had the
05:44opportunity to work together before. And I said, look, it's not ideal, but our schedules are free
05:50now. So how would you feel about making something? And so these pieces feel really personal to me
05:55because it kind of was like my brainchild. And then I got to work with these two amazing choreographers
06:01and come up with works that I think are pretty incredible.
06:05When you look at sort of the next generation of dancers coming up right now, do you feel hopeful
06:11that there, A, there are enough crop out there to sort of carry this on and carry it on in a way
06:17where it is even more economically viable, economically lucrative? Do you see that right now?
06:22I think that that's part of why I wrote this book, Exo Ballerina, Big Sis, because, you
06:28know, we come from an art form where we don't really use our voices. And I think now we live
06:33in a time where we're encouraged to. And so I kind of wrote it as like part memoir, but
06:40part like just guidebook to help the next generation to kind of find their voice, you know, use each
06:47other as healthy competition, to lift each other up, to become your personal best. It's just all
06:52those kinds of things that I feel like we get into this career or just shoved into ballet at such a
06:58young age. And you're just as supposed to expected to know all of these things. And so I felt like if I
07:05could do anything in helping them, like that would mean a lot to me.
07:09What about just the audience overall? I know there have been attempts over the years to broaden the
07:13audience for ballet. And we've seen some interesting experiments. I mean, some was going away from
07:17some of the classical movements as things that maybe are a little bit more modern. And I know
07:21that's been met with a little bit of a mixed reaction, if you will. But is that the best way
07:27to sort of get new people, people who maybe had no exposure to ballet, into it?
07:32I think it has to be like a beautiful kind of combination because I think, yes, you know,
07:38the new sort of more modern time is like exciting to get a newer audience. And but you still have to
07:44train them and teach them about the beautiful classical like history of ballet. So I think
07:49that's where you can get really creative with programming, which is what I try to do at City
07:54Center. And I think people left the theater thinking like we didn't even know that's what ballet
07:58could be last night. So I think it's just kind of figuring out that accessibility and how to make
08:04it a little bit more relatable. But I don't think we should shy away from the classical form. And
08:09that's what I try to do whenever I choreograph at the New York City Ballet. I have another ballet
08:13coming up in the spring and I'm not shying away from it. Like we work our entire lives for that sort
08:19of aesthetic. Like let's show it off. Well, you've had a wonderful career and I am curious. I do have to
08:24ask. I don't want to make this ageist or anything, but how much longer are you going to do this?
08:27You know, I think the body I think will tell me when it's right. I still love it. And I think
08:34as long as I love it and my body is cooperating, then I'll know when it's time. When you looked at
08:39that documentary, I assume you've seen it, right? The finished product. And when you look at that and
08:44the journey that you went through to heal and to sort of make yourself stage ready again,
08:49what did you learn from that? First of all, it's so hard to watch yourself like do anything,
08:54you know. But it was so much harder than it actually even comes across,
09:01I think. You know, like people can understand it by watching. But what I was going through is it was
09:07it was the most traumatic time in my life. And so the fact that I get to be back on that stage,
09:13like I don't ever take it for granted. I'm so grateful to be able to do the thing I love again.
09:18And for, you know, a second there, well, more like nine months, I didn't know if that was
09:23ever going to be able to be a thing again.
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