To complement ballets like “Dances at a Gathering” that have bigger casts, you’ve programmed one of Robbins’ solos, “A Suite of Dances”: a fourteen-minute piece with just one dancer and a cellist on stage. When did you first see “Suite” and who was dancing it?

I first saw “Suite” at City Ballet where dancers like Damian Woetzel and Nikolaj Hübbe performed it. It was always the most iconic star male dancers who were performing the role and I thought it was really special. Damian was my first partner in the company; he picked me out of the corps to dance with him. I remember seeing him so much in “Suite of Dances,” and then through the years it was just all the best male principal dancers who danced the role. And of course, it was made for Misha [Mikhail Barshynikov] who—he’s the greatest of all time! He’s the GOAT.  

So I knew I wanted to program it for the Robbins Festival, and I knew I wanted different people to dance it. I did not expect to dance it myself! It was actually the Robbins Trust who came back to me and said, “Do you think you’d want to do “Suite” here at the Robbins Festival?” I had asked about it years prior: “How would you feel about a female learning it?” They were like, “No, we’re not at that point, we’d like to keep it the way it was done.” So for them to come to me and say, “We’ve thought about it, and if there was one female we’d want to dance it, it would be you”… that felt extremely, extremely special. It’s an honor. I want to do the work justice. I’m doing the same exact choreography, I’m wearing the same costume. I just had a smaller one made for me because none of [the existing male costumes] fit. It’s the same dance, the same steps.  

What an honor indeed! What was the context in which you initially approached the Robbins Trust about “Suite” all those years ago?

I’d just asked about learning it. I didn’t really know what it would be, what I’d do. And they were like just like, “No.” But maybe that put an idea in their head. I don’t know what brought them to want to do it now, but I’m very excited about it.

How have you been learning the solo?

I’ve learned it with Jean-Pierre Frohlich, who teaches it at the company [New York City Ballet, where Frohlich performed as a dancer and worked with Robbins, before becoming one of Robbins’ repertory directors in 1990]. It was performed last season and I asked if I could just stand in the back and get familiar with it as he was teaching the gentlemen who were doing it that season. So I got familiar with it, and after the season and after our wedding and honeymoon [in June Peck married Roman Meija, a fellow principal dancer at City Ballet], we had three or four rehearsals where I just worked on it with JP by myself. Tomorrow I’m working with Misha on it. I’m very excited!

What’s it been like learning the role? 

I think even though it’s not been danced by a female before, that what the [Robbins] Trust maybe saw in me is that I had the . . . maybe charisma, and the feeling that needs to be in the piece. Because I’ve gotten to dance so much of Robbins’ work and it’s been such a big part of my growing up in the company in his roles, I feel like I do understand the solo. It was done for Misha later in his career and I think that there’s something nice about me being someone who’s been in a lot of [Robbins’] works before and understands his choreography. It’s definitely going to be different! I can’t jump as high, I have feminine mannerisms. Even just the way I walk is different. It’s going to have a different feel, but I think the most important thing is for it to be very internal. Sort of a dance for yourself. I’m really excited to explore it.

Any challenges or surprises along the way?

The men all say it’s one of the hardest things they’ve ever done! I have yet to fully run it. I can tell already that it’s really challenging. You’re on stage for fourteen minutes by yourself. That’s a long time to carry a piece. So that’s the most challenging thing. The steps in themselves—they’re male steps that typically women don’t do. But I did grow up doing jazz, so I’m pretty comfortable being on demi-pointe. It’s been a long time, so I’ve just had to go back to my roots a little bit.