a practiced dancer, peter hansen came to new york at the age of 17 to join the illustrious new york city ballet company. for five years, hansen worked with the world-class company, traveling and dancing throughout denmark, france, taiwan, korea, australia and north america. it was during this time, between performing and throwing lavish dinner parties for friends, that hansen first met chef marc murphy.

after an injury took him away from the stage in 1999, hansen left the strenuous world of ballet behind for  “life as a rock star.” forming a band, he managed to play the new york city rock circuit, even landing a gig at the beloved and recently shuttered east village landmark, cbgb. though short-lived, the experience, like ballet, required an extreme level of discipline, long hours, the willingness to take direction from a number of sources and the ability to shake it off, step onstage and perform. the strain of these early experiences would serve hansen well when he took his first restaurant industry job as a host at todd english’s olives in union square in 2002.

at olives, hansen realized that working in the restaurant business might not just be a means of supporting a separate passion, but a passion itself. he worked his way into management before contacting his old friend marc murphy as murphy prepared to open his first restaurant, landmarc [tribeca] in 2004.

hansen started at landmarc [tribeca] as manager, helping to usher the neighborhood bistro into what would become resounding success. when ditch plains opened in 2006, hansen, already an integral member of the growing anvil ny team, became general manager — a role that would further expand his responsibilities within the management team. at landmarc [at the time warner center], hansen stepped into the role of director of operations, working to develop an effective team and provide them with the tools necessary to meet anvil ny’s service standards. “regardless of how serious i am about my work with anvil, we still have so much fun,” he says. “we enjoy serving our guests and building an atmosphere that people want to return to.”