Justin Peck

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.

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

Balanchine was just able to strike the balance between literal narrative and abstract dance.

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

There is a clearing for new creative thought in choreography. I don't feel intimidated; there is a lot I can do that is new or innovative or different.

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

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

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.

I've always felt that Balanchine is my ultimate teacher. I learn the most from observing his work and also dancing in it.

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.

There is something very cyclical about the way fashion designers work. They work and work and work, the collection is finally shown, and after those 15 minutes, they must start over from the beginning. This is not unlike the way I work creating new dances.

I never intended to dance in my own work, but we did what had to be done.