Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friends at Sadler’s Wells is a programme of four works that arrives with plaudits from both sides of the Atlantic. Tiler Peck is the well-known principal dancer of New York City Ballet who, as a youngster, thrived on the competitive jazz circuit. Now engaging with choreography as well as performance, her eclectic interests in dance and music are evident and appealing in this self-curated programme.
The show opens with William Forsythe’s marvellous The Barre Project. This is a showcase for Tiler Peck’s ability to achieve excellence of articulation and purity of line at breakneck speed. The distant line of the barre across the set behind her evokes both the ballet studio and a gymnast’s bar, reinforcing the gymnastic athleticism of the choreography.
The choreography of The Barre Project transforms the practice of barre movement into dynamic dance. For those who have watched dancers working at the barre, there is often a sense of isolation as they strive through movement for individual excellence. An aspiration that Tyler Peck achieves in this performance.
Three male dancers co-star in The Barre Project: Lex Ishimoto, Brooklyn Mack and the New York City Ballet principal Roman Meja. There is enormous pleasure in their dancing, especially when on stage as a trio. All four dancers in The Barre Project are highlighted throughout by the clever top lighting of Brandon Stirling Baker, which helps to create an illusion of motion blur, when individual moments seem to blend seamlessly.
Thousandth Orange, choreographed by Tiler Peck, is a ‘pretty piece’, as she herself describes it.
Swift Arrow is a pas de deux danced by Tiler Peck and Roman Meja. There is a contrast in their balletic bodies, hers supple and long, his describing strength. Distance rather than connection is emphasised in the choreography of this piece, choreographed by Alonzo King. The music, played live on stage, is by the jazz composer Jason Moran.
The exciting finale, Time Spell, occupies the last half hour of the show. At times, there is so much going on that it can be difficult to know what to focus on. The music in particular is first-class and riveting, with vocals by Brinae Ali and Aaron Marcellus Sanders. There are eleven dancers, including Tiler Peck and four renowned tap dancers. Spectacular balletic lifts with extensions bring a sense of excitement, while articulation and tap precision amaze. Choreographed by tap dance innovator Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers and Tiler Peck, Time Spell brings the different disciplines of tap and ballet into the same space. At first, this combination suggests chaos and competition, but we come to realise both forms have been united by a rhythm that has become pervasive and the shared love of dance.
The Barre Project is a work not to be missed, and Time Spell sends the audience out with energy. As one departing audience member said, “I’ll be repeating that rhythm to myself all night.”
Review by Marian Kennedy
Award-winning New York City Ballet principal dancer, choreographer, actress, author, curator and designer, Tiler Peck returns with her dazzling love letter to dance, Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends.
After its sold-out world premiere in New York, hit season at Sadler’s Wells in 2023 and celebrated US tour, Olivier Award-nominee and two-time UK National Dance Awards winner Peck is back with some of today’s most exciting dance artists for a virtuosic and innovative programme.
The programme begins with The Barre Project, Blake Works II, a piece originally created for film with music by James Blake that marked the first creative partnership between Peck and choreographer William Forsythe. Peck’s own Thousandth Orange, set to live music by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw is next, followed by West Coast legend Alonzo King with his electric pas de deux, Swift Arrow. The show closes with the irresistible New York City Center commission Time Spell, a collaboration between Peck and tap dance icon Michelle Dorrance, with Emmy-nominated Jillian Meyers and a powerhouse cast.
Featuring performances by:
Chun Wai Chan, Michelle Dorrance, Jovani Furlan, Christopher Grant, Lex Ishimoto, Lauren Lovette, Brooklyn Mack, Aaron Marcellus, Roman Mejia, Jillian Meyers, Tiler Peck, Quinn Starner, Byron Tittle, and Penelope Wendtlandt.
TURN IT OUT
With Tiler Peck & Friends
Sadler’s Wells
12 to 14 March 2026
