YOU’LL DIG THIS SHOW A BUSHEL AND A PECK
The California native and phenom Tiler Peck is the toast of New York City, a prima ballerina for New York City Ballet, and now a producer and director and choreographer and teacher.
Time Spell choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers, and Tiler Peck
(Luis Luque, Luque Photography)
Her new piece Turn it Out with Tiler Peck and Friends, which took London by storm a few months ago after a sold-out run at Lincoln Center, is on a SoCal tour, including performances in Costa Mesa (Segerstrom Nov. 4 & 5) — see schedule below. Peck and “her friends” offer a New York dynamism and pizzazz to the Southland.
Tiler Peck & Michelle Dorrance in Time Spell (Christopher Duggan)
“A love letter to my craft,” says Peck. It is indeed in this dazzling, high-octane evening that will blow you away, lift your spirits, and restore your energy depleted by omnipresent bad news. This is what the arts do so well. A classical ballerina par excellence, she has created a program that injects jazz, ballet, tap and hip hop beats into her own art form in an evening that starts slowly then builds to the William Forsythe climax. It’s four pieces of varied styles and techniques performed by a cast of all-star dancers.
Tiler Peck in The Barre Project
by world-renowned choreographer William Forsythe (CLI Studios)
PROGRAM (All SoCal Premieres):
- Thousandth Orange choreographed by Tiler Peck, set to music by Caroline Shaw
- Alonzo King’s Swift Arrow with music by Jason Moran
- Time Spell choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers, and Tiler Peck, with music by Aaron Marcellus and Penelope Wendtlandt
- William Forsythe’s The Barre Project, Blake Works II with music by James Blake
Tiler Peck in The Barre Project by William Forsythe (Luis Luque, Luque Photography)
The 34-year-old from Bakersfield, whose grandmother drove her to and from Downey multiple times a week so the precocious child could get better dance training, is now a star. She can turn the smallest doodle into a memorable moment, and what she does with everything else is a gift to behold. Check out Stage and Cinema‘s review of Tiler Peck’s 2017 curation of BalletNOW was an elegant and enticing mash-up of well-known excerpts that would satisfy both first-timers and connoisseurs expecting excellence from ballet’s best performers.
Swift Arrow, a duet by Alonzo King for Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia (Christopher Duggan)
Among the dancers you’ll see on stage are tap superstar and founder of Dorrance Dance, Michelle Dorrance; So You Think You Can Dance Season 14 winner Lex Ishimoto; and Jillian Meyers, whose work includes La La Land, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and Babylon. Peck also brings in her fellow New York City Ballet dancers India Bradley, Chun Wai Chan, Jovani Furlan, Christopher Grant, Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, and Quinn Starner, as well as American Ballet Theatre’s Brooklyn Mack and Dorrance Dance company member Byron Tittle.
Thousandth Orange choreographed by Tiler Peck (Luis Luque, Luque Photography)
The name of the show, Turn It Out with Tiler Peck, is an outgrowth of her pandemic project gone viral. Encouraged by her sister Myka Peck — who was the principal of Garces Memorial High School in Bakersfield at the time — to do an online dance class for students, Tiler decided to try Instagram Live out at the same time. Now #TurnItOutWithTiler, her IG Live dance classes, quickly grew even more, attracting stars such as Jennifer Garner, Kelly Ripa, and Sarah Jessica Parker, and eventually a guest list that included dance celebrities like Debbie Allen and Leslie Odom Jr. For more info, visit Tiler Peck.
Swift Arrow, a duet by Alonzo King for Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia (Luis Luque, Luque Photography)
UCSB Arts & Lectures at the Granada Theatre – 1214 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Wednesday, October 25th at 8:00pm
for tickets, call (805) 893-3535 or visit UCSB
The Soraya – 18111 Nordhoff Street Northridge, CA 91330
Saturday, October 28th at 8:00pm
Sunday, October 29th at 3:00pm
for tickets, call (818) 677-3000 or visit The Soraya
San Diego Civic Theatre – 1100 3rd Ave San Diego, CA 92101 (Presented by La Jolla Music Society)
Wednesday, November 1st at 7:30pm
for tickets, call (858) 459-3728 or visit The Conrad
Segerstrom Center for the Arts – 600 Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Saturday, November 4th at 7:30pm
Sunday, November 5th at 2:00pm
for tickets, call (714) 556-2787 or visit SCFTA
