Year of the Rabbit

Music

Sufjan Stevens
(Enjoy Your Rabbit, 2002), orchestration by Michael P. Atkinson

Choreography

Justin Peck

Staging

Craig Hall and Janie Taylor

Costume Design

Justin Peck

Lighting Design

Brandon Stirling Baker

Duration

30 minutes

Premiere

October 5, 2012
New York City Ballet

PNB Premiere

March 18, 2016

Principal support for the 2016 Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere of Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit was provided by Marcella McCaffray and Bob Benson, with additional support from Gilla Kaplan, H. David Kaplan, and Jodi Wong.

Justin Peck’s acclaimed Year of the Rabbit is a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and is set to Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit, an electronica album and song cycle based on the Chinese zodiac. The ballet features a new orchestration of the score by Michael Atkinson that was created specifically for the ballet. Year of the Rabbit is an elaboration of Peck’s Tales of a Chinese Zodiac, which was created in 2010 for the New York Choreographic Institute.

Notes courtesy of New York City Ballet.

Artist Biographies

Justin Peck

Justin Peck is a Tony Award winning choreographer, director, filmmaker, and dancer based in New York City. He is currently the acting Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet. Peck has created and developed over 50 dance and theater works for stages around the world, including Lincoln Center, Broadway, Palais Garnier, Sydney Opera House, & Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has created extensively for film, most notably choreographing Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021). In 2024, Peck directed and choreographed the original Broadway musical Illinoise. Honors include the Tony Award for Best Choreography for Carousel (2018) and Illinoise (2024), the National Arts Award (2018), the Golden Plate Honor from the Academy of Achievement (2019), the Bessie Award for Rodeo (2015), and the World Choreography Award for the film West Side Story (2021).