Tiler Peck’s New Ballet Expands the Idea of What Female and Male Dancers Can Be

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.The idea of sisterhood and brotherhood flows through “Symphonie Espagnole,” Peck’s new work for New York City Ballet. We dissect two sections.VideoMay 27, 2026, 5:02 a.m. ETTiler Peck has a way of dancing inside music, of rushing forward in gleeful bursts or hanging back until the last second like a surfer feeling out the crest of a wave. It’s satisfying when she nails it, but more beautiful when she doesn’t have time to think about being daring and just is.In her relatively new role as choreographer, Peck has a similar approach: to make steps look the way she hears the music. Does a step want to be sharp or smooth, strong or feathery? Does a sound sound like a particular dancer? When choreographing, she closes her eyes. She listens, often with a finger pressed to her lips. She sways a little, and out the steps flow.With the premiere of “Symphonie Espagnole” this month at New York City Ballet, Peck passed her physical, visceral response of music onto 40 dancers. With this rare, large-scale ballet, set to music by Édouard Lalo, she used musical intuition to turn each movement of the ballet into a singular, glittering world.Throughout “Espagnole,” the flavor and flair of Peck’s steps unleash mood as much as physicality. The second movement features all women; the third all men. These male and female tribes aren’t exactly related, yet each pays subtle homage to George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” with its rows of women swirling around the stage.Certain ballets, like “Serenade,” a work that Peck first danced as a student at 15, illuminate the bond among dancers — the art of moving together, and in the case of “Serenade,” of building a lush sisterhood. In Peck’s second movement, Kloe Walker is a free spirit, a self-possessed leader of eight modern sylphs who surround her with loyal affection. Weaving their way under an overpass of raised arms, the dancers do more than frame Walker, they support her. Walker, in a promenade turn with her leg in attitude, is more than a flowery centerpiece. She’s the queen bee.VideoThank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT