Red Carpet at 5, A Curtain Call At 7, and A Gala At 9? No Sweat for NYC Ballet Principal Dancer Tiler Peck

Ever had to get ready for a celebrity-filled red carpet, a high-octane performance, then a glamorous gala (in that order)? This rare situation, involving a number of challenging dress codes, confronted New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Tiler Peck at last night’s Fall Gala. “I'll go walk the red carpet early, and I'll do normal red carpet hair and makeup, then I'll have to go get ready with my stage makeup on,” she strategizes with me ahead of the event. “I put my bigger eyelashes on, style my hair in a French twist for the piece. I warm up, do the show, then I have to take the makeup back down, so I look like a normal person without crazy stage makeup, then you go to the dinner.” Fortunately, nearly 20 years in the NYCB means she’s well-seasoned in this field—a fashion gala veteran—but even so, “It’s a lot.”

This year, the New York City Ballet tapped Carolina Herrera’s Wes Gordon to design new costumes for an old Balanchine variation, Who Cares? For Peck’s solo, Fascinatin' Rhythm, she donned a knee-length rosy-hued tulle dress that frothed about her as she flitted around. I’m always amazed at how these dancers make Balanchine’s signature sharp choreography look soft and elegant. It’s a “solo that I've danced and am known for—I've done it at the Kennedy Center for the President, and I honored the ballerina, Patty McBride, who it was made for—called Fascinatin' Rhythm, but what's a little different for me tonight is that I'll be doing it in a costume that I've never worn,” she explains. “I think that what you wear makes a difference in how you feel as a ballerina,” she continues. “Each costume brings out something different.”

Throughout her jam-packed, star-studded, ultra-glamorous evening, Peck took us from the red carpet to her dressing room to her warm-up barre routine to waiting in the wings to the gala celebration. Sparing no detail, she’s sharing how she prepares mentally and physically, how this particular gala has evolved her relationship with fashion, and even giving us a glimpse of the canine staple in her dressing room.