Gennadi Nedvigin and Justin Peck first met in 2016, when Nedvigin was dancing with San Francisco Ballet and Peck was setting one of his ballets on the company.
Fast forward six years and Nedvigin is now artistic director of Atlanta Ballet and Peck, 35, is a renowned choreographer considered a worthy heir to ballet greats George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. He is resident choreographer at City Ballet, only the second person in the company’s storied history to hold that title.
Credit: Ryan Pfluger
Credit: Ryan Pfluger
Their roles may have changed, but their relationship continues. Nedvigin added Peck’s 2012 ballet “In Creases” to Atlanta Ballet’s repertoire this year.
Audiences will see it on the company’s “Balanchine Inspired” mixed bill, which will launches the company’s 2022-23 season Sept. 16-18 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Kiyon Ross’ “Sum Stravinsky” and Balanchine’s iconic “Serenade” round out the program
“I was blown away by how focused Gennadi was at San Francisco Ballet,” said Peck. “It’s really exciting to collaborate with him now this way.” Even during a phone interview, Peck likes to move — he was walking the streets of New York as we talked.
He feels Nedvigin brings the same enthusiasm to his role as artistic director that he brought to his career as a dancer. “Leading a company forward requires a lot of difficult decision-making and it’s been a pleasure to witness him take this on.”
Peck wasn’t able to travel to Atlanta to set “In Creases” on the company. Instead, he communicated with the dancers on Zoom, while his longtime répétiteur Michael Breeden worked with the dancers in person. “I communicate a lot through metaphor and imagery,” Peck says, “and that can still be done to great effect with Zoom and video.” He and Breeden worked together to decide which eight dancers to cast in the ballet, with Peck having the final say.
Peck describes the ballet as an ensemble work for eight soloists. “The cast has to work together,” he says, “but each dancer has a moment to step out of the group and take the center light.”
Credit: Cheryl Mann Productions
Credit: Cheryl Mann Productions
“In Creases” was Peck’s first official stage work for New York City Ballet when he was still dancing with the company. It is clearly (and beautifully) Balanchine-inspired — the clean, unfussy vocabulary, those curving lines of dancers holding hands — but it showcased Peck’s unique approach to music and abstraction and established him as a talented choreographer in his own right.
Since its 2012 premiere, “In Creases” has been performed by companies nationally and internationally, among them the Paris Opera Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet. The work can be both challenging and fulfilling for dancers and companies who take it on but Peck feels the pure abstraction of the work lends itself to a wide variety of company styles and interpretations. That’s a testament to the ballet’s strong architecture, he says.
“I am always curious about the dancers who help define the identity of a company,” he says. He describes Atlanta Ballet as an ensemble of eager young dancers hungry for guidance and ready to take on more responsibility performing and interpreting work. “The company is in a growth phase. It’s an exciting journey to witness.”
Peck too has been on an exciting journey. His career has skyrocketed since first meeting Nedvigin and he is now one of the most celebrated choreographers in the world. In 2018 he won a Tony for his choreography for the Broadway revival of “Carousel.” In 2021, he followed in Robbins’ hallowed footsteps when he created the dances for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” (Robbins choreographed and directed both the original Broadway production and the 1961 film.)
In keeping with the Balanchine aesthetic, the music for “In Creases” is key and plays a central — and physical — role. At the Cobb Energy Centre, two pianists will be seated at two grand pianos at the back of the stage. “One of the fun byproducts is that the pianos make up the scenic design,” Peck says. “They flank one another, yin and yang style. It’s a striking image.”
Western-Li Summerton, the company’s new accompanist and music administration coordinator, and Dr. Hyunjung Rachel Chung, chair of the music department at Spelman College, will play the work’s score, Philip Glass’ “Four Movements for Two Pianos.”
Peck was hesitant at first to use Glass’ music — it has become ubiquitous in dance, theater and opera circles — but the propulsive nature of this lesser-known work appealed to him. He likes to listen to a score for months, sometimes years, discovering every nuance, every possibility, and sketching out movement phrases before building them into a ballet. It is his fixation, his process.
He sees the movement of “In Creases” generating outward from the music but there are moments too when the dancers move toward the pianos on stage and create a tableau around them. “The pianists generally enjoy that aspect,” he says. “It makes them feel a part of the work.”
Peck says he has a complicated relationship with the ballets he’s created but has always been happy with “In Creases.” “It feels like a really pure representation of how I see the ballet vernacular, ballet technique, and how I structure a dance in time and space. It’s one of my favorite titles as well.”
DANCE PREVIEW
Atlanta Ballet: “Balanchine Inspired”
8 p.m. Sept. 16; 2 and 8 p.m. Sept. 17; 2 p.m. Sept. 18. $25-$142. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. 404-892-3303, atlantaballet.com.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
MEET OUR PARTNER
ArtsATL (www.artsatl.org), is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.
If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
