One of the most recognizable choreographies of West Side Story-or frankly, from any musical, is it that scene with the jets snapping their fingers.

For more than six decades, audiences have watched Jerome Robbins’ iconic streak become an iconic part of Broadway and film history. Excluding an ephemeral takeover in 2020 of West Side Story directed by Ivo van Hove and choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, each Broadway production of the show featured the directing of Robbins. now.

“It’s a very nice tightrope walk,” Peck says of the pressure to live up to the expectations that Robbins created with composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and playwright Arthur Laurents. “I’m standing on the shoulders of giants taking this on and trying to do well with them. “

Understandably, Peck, who is the resident choreographer of the New York City Ballet and has created over 35 ballets during his career, was hesitant at first. “It took me a long time to convince myself to join the team for this project,” he says.

Peck had heard rumors of a West Side Story remake for years, but they were only confirmed when screenwriter Tony Kushner invited him for coffee in 2017. During the reunion, Kushner not only corroborated speculation about a new adaptation, but he also asked if Peck would be interested in collaborating on the film. After Peck read the script and made sure he still sticks to the original, he met Spielberg and producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and signed on.

“There was a lot of reverence and respect towards the original play and [I wanted to] presenting my own shot and my own choreographic voice at the same time, ”says Peck. “It’s very difficult to say no to this opportunity. It was the adventure of a lifetime ”—an adventure he had unknowingly prepared for since he was a child.

“At one point,” Peck recalled recently on Instagram, “my parents showed me the original. WSS movie. “It was a work of art that would change the trajectory of Peck’s life.” It hit me like a punch, “Peck wrote. ‘guided to New York, where I moved at age 15 to study dance and theater. ”

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From there, the first professional lead role played by Peck was Bernardo, the leader of the shark gang. “When I was a student at the School of American Ballet, I watched Jerry’s ballets all the time, and they felt very personal to me. After joining the company when I was eighteen or nineteen, the first leading role I danced was Bernardo in ‘West Side Story, so I know the original choreography by heart, ”he noted in the film’s press materials.

Peck went on to study Robbins’ work further, including the West Side Story continued, as a member of the New York City Ballet. “It was really embedded in and in my subconscious,” he said. Robbins’ style is credited with mixing ballet and musical theater, making Peck, who won a Tony for his work on the 2018 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Carousel, an ideal choice to meet the challenge of adapting West Side Story for the next generation.

“The show is such a source of inspiration for me as a dancer, choreographer and storyteller. It was certainly not a project that was taken lightly, ”he said. CGV.

This care was evident to the Robbins estate, who helped endorse Peck as the film’s choreographer. One rep even watched two of Peck’s numbers – “Cool” and “America” – in rehearsal and approved his choices, allowing him to move forward.

When asked to describe his own style, Peck couldn’t put it into words. “I always think of how choreographer Mark Morris describes the experience of seeing a dance. There is no description, prompting or explanation that should be necessary for a dance, ”he says. “Dance is dance and that’s why it’s a dance. I feel like that’s the only way I can really explain the movement of it. I’ve tapped into so many places to shape what movement is that I don’t even know where to start to answer that.

Photo by Niko Tavernise

His dancers, however, have some thoughts on his steps. “Some moves are inspired by Jerome Robbins but in a way that still gives him Justin’s flair,” says Jacob Guzman, who plays Junior, a shark. “He uses Jerome Robbins’ influence in this world and does it his way.”

Justin’s choreography was innate for these real grainy and fast [movements]», Explains actress Paloma Garcia-Lee, who played the West Side Story work professionally. “You could feel the honor of Jerome Robbins because he’s from the New York City Ballet.”

Given the well-known aesthetic of the original film, there was a lot of discussion within the creative team about when to lean on these iconic moments and when to innovate.

“There are Easter eggs throughout the movie that I think aficionados will really enjoy seeing,” Peck teases.

“For ‘The Rumble’ we use some of Robbins’ moves, like when they open their arms to attack, that’s pure Robbins,” Spielberg writes in his production notes. “But then it gets into Jusin Peck’s own interpretation after that.” But what Peck says he’s most proud of in this movie is that there is no double. It’s really all the actors who dance with all their hearts. “Today it’s a rare thing to have that in a movie.”

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