Tiler Peck is the superstar ballerina of our age. The Bakersfield, California, native began dancing at the age of two, in her mother’s dance studio. At 12, she entered the School of American Ballet, and four years later she joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) as an apprentice; she has been a principal dancer with the company since 2009. Her first choreographed work for NYCB, Concerto for Two Pianos, premiered in early 2024.
Peck has achieved an unusually wide following for a ballet dancer. Recently, she starred as Eva Cullman in Amy Sherman-Palladino’s Amazon Prime series Étoile, and her latest children’s book, XO Ballerina Big Sis, which was written to encourage young dancers, will be published in October by Penguin Random House. In late June, she married fellow NYCB principal Roman Mejia, with whom she will share the stage at Festival Napa Valley’s ‘Evening of Dance’ on July 19.
Peck spoke to assistant editor Kenny Martin about her favorite wines, her upcoming performance, the demands of her NYCB training schedule, her choreographing process and more.
You’re from California. Did you grow up with wine, or was it something you came to later?
Growing up, I was always dancing. But at night, my parents would love a white wine. It was always white wine, never red. I don’t know why that was, but they liked Chardonnay. I remember that, very early on, I realized Chardonnay wasn’t for me. Then I realized that I really liked Sauvignon Blanc. I’m not a big red wine drinker, but that’s more for silly reasons like wanting to keep my teeth as white as possible.
It’s a fair reason! Do you remember what it was about Chardonnay that you didn’t like?
I just felt that the Sauvignon Blanc seemed much lighter, whereas the Chardonnay was deeper. I found the Sauvignon Blanc more refreshing.
Do you gravitate toward Sauvignon Blanc from a particular place? Team California, New Zealand, France?
I tend to really like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. I also like it from California, but if I see one from New Zealand, I always order it. And I do love rosé. I like the Wölffer Estate rosés—I’ve gone there many times, and they’re my favorite.
You recently got married. Did you pick the wines?
It’s funny: We had our tasting and were meant to taste the wines. However, we were in season and dancing something really hard, so we made our wedding planner taste everything! We just weren’t drinking because we had a very hard show the next day. We said we’d have to come back and do that part another time.
Not even tasting and spitting?
Not at all!
How do you and Roman balance your training schedule with pleasures like wine?
It’s a matter of making choices. I think we just choose not to drink when we’re in season because we’re trying to be at our best. We try not to put anything, really, in our system besides what we need to get through the shows every day. A glass of wine is something we’ll enjoy after a celebration, after the season. It’s a way of saying, ‘We made it through. Now we can enjoy a nice moment.’ But when we’re in training during the season, we’re just trying to be our best athletic selves.
I’ve also been in the company for 20 years, so that’s been my life for 20 years. It’s not like I’ve had any other schedule. It doesn’t leave much room for other things. Some dancers are very different—they finish the show and then they go home and have one glass, two glasses, three glasses at night.
What does training look like for you?
We start class at 10:30 a.m. We have class for an hour, and they can rehearse us from 12 to 6, and then we have the show at 7:30.
That’s a lot of dancing!
Yeah, that’s what I mean. You’re not going home and drinking at night when you have to be back at 10:30 every morning. It’s quite demanding. Monday is our only day off.
Wine and the performing arts seem to go together—certainly many musicians are into wine. Do you see that with the dance community?
There’s definitely that connection out front among the patrons. I think everybody loves to go on the promenade during intermission and enjoy a nice glass of wine. But it’s a lot different when you’re sitting in the audience getting to enjoy something and when you’re the one having to be en pointe on the stage. I would probably be drinking wine too if I were sitting in the audience!
What are you performing at Festival Napa Valley?
Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances, one of my favorite ballets. Very few dancers get to dance it. It was made for Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the Robbins Trust keeps it very tight.
It’s such a beautiful ballet. It’s two dancers with a pianist playing Chopin on stage, so you really get to relate to the musician. You wear a beautiful chiffon skirt, and it’s really just about you and your partner on stage. It’s very intimate. Sometimes you forget that the audience is even there. It’s so much more about being with your partner. And a lot of it is almost supposed to look like you’re making it up as you go. Robbins always loved to say it should look like you’re taking it easy, like you’re not pushing. That’s why I think it looks like you’re coming up with it on the spot. You’re surprising yourself. It’s like you dance it for the first time every single time.
And you’re dancing it with Roman?
I am. It’ll be the first time we dance together after being married.
What’s it like dancing with your life partner?
It’s the best. I feel so lucky. The fact that I get to do the thing I love most with the person I love most ... it kind of feels like I’m cheating. I’m getting to do something that not everybody gets to do. I get to share that moment with the most special person to me, and I don’t take it lightly. It’s really special that our careers have overlapped. It’s also what brought us together; we were dance partners far before we were ever friends, far before anything more than friends. I love dancing with Roman. He’s my favorite person to dance with—and that’s putting aside the fact that he is now my husband. When you add that on, it’s really wonderful.
Have you been to Napa before?
Never! I’m so excited. I’ve always wanted to go. I’ve heard how beautiful it is, the vineyards, everything. I’m hoping that I get to witness a little bit of that when I’m there. I love dancing in California anytime I can, because it makes it easier for my family to come and see me. I feel very much still rooted in my California upbringing. Anytime I get to dance there, it’s a real treat.
Wine people sometimes like to compare wines to dancers. What’s your reaction to that?
I’ve actually never heard that, but I could see it. I could see how the comparison would help describe a wine that’s elegant or crisp—like how we are crisp with our feet. I don’t think it’s that far-fetched. Wine attracts adjectives that overlap with those applied to dance, like silky, smooth, crisp, elegant—all those kinds of adjectives that I would think dancers also embody.
How do you choose the music for your ballets? Your choice of Poulenc for Concerto for Two Pianos was an inspired one.
I admit it’s very random. I started thinking, ‘What do I love to dance to the most, by myself? What makes me want to get up and dance?’ I love piano concertos, so I started listening to piano concertos on Spotify. The Poulenc was one of the first ones that came up. It grabbed me right from the beginning. It’s so exciting. I thought, ‘How has this never been choreographed? It’s perfect for dance.’ The three movements, the time, the range—there’s so much, and it’s so colorful.
If I like the music, then the choreography comes really easily out of me, because I just get in a room and create steps that I think reflect what I’m hearing. Music is my biggest inspiration when I’m choreographing, and also when I’m dancing. It’s always told me how I feel in a ballet. I don’t have to think, ‘Oh, OK, tonight I’m smiling, tonight I’m this or that.’ It’s all within the music, and that leads the way.
Enjoy Unfiltered? The best of Unfiltered’s round-up of drinks in pop culture can now be delivered straight to your inbox every other week! Sign up now to receive the Unfiltered e-mail newsletter, featuring the latest scoop on how wine intersects with film, TV, music, sports, politics and more.
