International Prima Ballerina Shares her Incredible Talents

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Tiler Peck, international prima ballerina and principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, who explains how she's working to bring ballet to a wider audience. Tiler also talks about her new fashion line too.

5/25/18 #2129

Excerpt:

"Are you kidding me? [laughter] Who you just saw is who you're seeing now. Tiler Peck is Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet, Actress, Fashion Designer, Choreographer and you're amazing. Well thank you. [laughter] You just told me, before we got on the air, that you were two and you knew that dancing would be your life... you were dancing at two? Yeah, my mother owned a dance studio, so I was kind of babysat down there and... Who's that? [laughter] That's me. That's you? Yeah and I... At the studio? At the studio, yeah those are you know, the day we would have dance picture... picture day. [laughter] And she, I think, just could tell from a very young age that I could just... I had movement and I could hear... You had...? ...the music well, musicality and... You could tell then? I don't know if I could tell. She could...? She could tell, yeah. I just love dancing and I, you know, and always tried to sneak into the older kids' rooms even though I was like much younger, but I was kind of always above my time. Yeah, so you know, for those... I grew up, my mom is... used to have... Swan Lake was all the time. Mm hmm. And George Balanchine, big deal, but I see principal dancer, and I think I know what it means, but I don't... I'm not sure. Mm hmm. You are the principal dancer? Mm hmm. At New York City Ballet? Mm hmm. Define what that means. I think, yes it does mean like seeing Swan Lake. I just made my debut in Swan Lake in October, and it was one of my most special things in my career, but I do think right now, dance is having a moment, and we're trying to kind of... my main focus is to make it more accessible to a younger generation. Define that. Meaning it's great that ballet is such a old art form, and we have a very older audience who comes and they're subscribers. They appreciate the ballet? Yes, but I think it's our job to kind of educate the younger generation and get them into the ballet, so you know I'm always trying to do things. I just curated these shows in California this past Summer, and I called it BalletNow, and it was... you know, what do I think ballet means today? So I had a hip-hop dancer, I had Michelle Dorrance, this amazing tap dancer, I had Bill Irwin come, and I just wanted to show the mix of what I think it means to be a ballerina, and I don't think that..."