Tiler Peck Dances Onto 'A New Stage'

Tiler peck petrushka reimagined — Photo credit: Geo Santillan/CLI Studios.

2020 is the year that artists have to face some heavy truths while reinventing what creativity and art look like moving forward. Theaters have been empty for months, but New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck wanted to find a way to come back to the stage in a way that was safe, yet satisfied her performing soul.

She teamed up with CLI Studios, founded by Teddy Forance, Allison Holker, and Stephen “tWitch” Boss, for their first-ever virtual performance, A New Stage.

More: Tiler Peck Steps Outside Her Comfort Zone in Hulu’s ‘Ballet Now’

“Creativity is what drives me and fills my soul. During the quarantine, I have loved dancing at home, but still longed to be on the stage, performing with my peers, expressing myself in the best way I know how to," Peck said in a statement. "My heart was heavy for all of the artists out there who felt like me and all of the Arts patrons who missed watching dance so badly. I came up with the idea for A New Stage to create new material that is of-the-now and fill the dark theaters and stages with life."

Peck, who had previously curated Ballet Now at The Music Center in 2017, recruited choreographers Christopher Wheeldon, Jennifer Weber and Chloe Arnold to create a spectacular evening of work. Even though the show was taped without an audience, the energy explodes across the screen after months of the dancers being away from the stage.