Quotes from Justin Peck

American ballet... is ultimately an evolutionary art form, requiring many voices to creatively carry forward.

To me, dance and ballet are not so accessible.

I'm trying to create ballets that I would enjoy seeing.

I always feel that the mark of a good ballet is that when you see it more than once, you get more out of it.

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

Chicago is amazing.

For me, the choreography always comes from the music.

My choreography is very classically based.

My movement is usually about finding the balance between artistry, athleticism, and musicality. It always originates with a classical basis and expands outwards from that platform.

I would love to work with Joanna Newsom on a ballet. I think that would be amazing. She has a gift for orchestrating and composing, and I think she would be really engaging to work with.

It's very difficult to switch back and forth between running rehearsals and then stepping in to dance in rehearsals as a dancer. Just to switch hats in an instant can be a little bit jarring, mostly physically, on the body.

The ballet world, it's a crazy world.

The future of ballet is really in the hands of the creators, so if it's something that interests them to push the envelope with gender roles, then I think it will change. But if that's not of interest to a dance-maker, if their interest is to sort of preserve the way things have been done for the past 200 years, then nothing is going to change.

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.

I've always thought of the process of creating ballets as being this kind of team effort. It's not like being a painter, where you have your paint, and you have canvas, and you just go at it. I'm working with these living, breathing, functioning human beings, and they have their own thoughts and ideas about what works well movement-wise.

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

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

If I get a commission, it's like a flood of creative thought and energy.

It's nice to have the support and infrastructure to do what I want creatively. That's kind of a rare thing to find.

What's always interested me the most about ballet is it's this great opportunity for many different artistic mediums to come together to create a cohesive experience.

Ballet dancers are among the greatest living athletes.

When I saw 'Hamilton,' there was so much information so fast, I had to keep up with it. I find that quality in art exhilarating.

When I put on my consumer hat, and I'm buying tickets to be entertained, I'm not interested in seeing, like, 'Don Quixote.' Unless someone really spectacular is dancing.

I try and create choreography that's in conversation with the music that the audience is hearing.