{"id":6517,"date":"2019-08-16T15:40:30","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T19:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/?p=6517"},"modified":"2019-08-17T09:40:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-17T13:40:04","slug":"a-ballerina-adventures-in-postmodern-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/2019\/08\/a-ballerina-adventures-in-postmodern-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ballerina Adventures in Postmodern Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sarah Mearns in Martha Graham’s Ekstasis. <\/em>Photo: Grace Kathryn Landefeld<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It wouldn\u2019t be entirely fair to\ncall Sara Mearns a force of nature, given her discipline, her skills as a\nprincipal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and her interest in exploring\nnew possibilities. However having seen her perform August 14-18 in Jacob\u2019s Pillow\u2019s\nDoris Duke Theater, I\u2019m strenuously tempted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program titled \u201cSara\nMearns: Beyond Ballet\u201d features her in five works. Interestingly, only one of\nthem was choreographed entirely by a man: an excerpt from Daphnis and Chloe<\/em>, a work-in-progress by Christopher Williams. Even\nmore interesting: all of the program\u2019s three duets pair Mearns with women: her\nNYCB colleague and friend Ashley Bouder; postmodern dancer-choreographer Jodi\nMelnick (another good friend); and Honji Wang, co-director and co-choreographer\nwith S\u00e9bastien Ramirez of Company Wang Ramirez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s especially fascinating to watch Mearns perform at fairly close range in a black-box theater such as the Duke.  She doesn\u2019t play to the audience and seems always to have some sort of story running in her head. This quality is not distracting or mystifying. It only means that her focus and the dynamics of her movements change subtly as she dances, and draw you in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sara Mearns in Martha Graham’s Ekstasis. <\/em>Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As I said when I wrote in 2017 about Virginie M\u00e9c\u00e8ne\u2019s reimagination of Martha Graham\u2019s 1933 Ekstasis<\/em>, there\u2019s no way of knowing how much it resembles the original work, scrupulously researched by M\u00e9c\u00e8ne (once a dancer in Graham\u2019s company, now program director of its school). The solo is now performed to the haunting \u201cInterludi meditatiu VII\u201d from Ramon Humet\u2019s Homenaje a Martha Graham<\/em> (for piano, soprano, shakuhachi, and four percussion instruments). The words in another section from that suite capture something of M\u00e9c\u00e8ne\u2019s intent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Everything changes, the only truth.\/ Time invokes change,\/not to change deliberately.\/ Only what changes remains.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mearns appears in a pool of light, wearing a long tube of a garment\nsimilar to what Graham wore, her hair upswept and braided. As she begins to\nmove, she briefly strokes her hand down one hip, and, indeed, the choreography\nseems to bend her body into angles, her hips thrusting one way, her shoulders leaning\nanother. Yet her every move is thoughtful, exploratory, as if ecstasy lay just\nbeyond her reach.  After spinning through\nthe space, she returns to her place, reinforcing the image of a figure lost in\ntime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sara Mearns in Christopher Williams’s excerpt from Daphnis and Chlo\u00e9. <\/em>Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The other solo she performs is the one by Christopher Williams, and it\u2019s set to an excerpt from Maurice Ravel\u2019s 1912 Daphnis and Chlo\u00e9 <\/em>(originally written for Mikhail Fokine\u2019s ballet for Serge Diaghilev\u2019s Ballets Russes). It\u2019s the music that accompanies Chlo\u00e9 when she is ordered to dance by the chief of the pirates who have captured her. Costumed in flowing draperies by Reid Barthelme and Harriet Jung that swirl around Mearns when she spins across the stage, she sometimes reaches out with cupped hands, as if imploring her captors to release her. But she also glances about as she dances (perhaps hoping to escape?). It\u2019s amazing how much Mearns manages to convey without breaking the flow of the choreography. Mike Faba\u2019s lighting (based on Serena Wong\u2019s design) changes the backdrop from orange to red to pink, diminishes it to a blue spotlight, and turns her into an imploring silhouette.  I\u2019m looking forward to Williams\u2019s finished work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Liz Gerring’s Duet. <\/em>Ashley Bouder (L) and Sara Mearns. Photo: Grace Kathryn Landefeld<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Liz Gerring\u2019s elegantly structured Duet <\/em>offers an underlying theme: two women work side by side, rarely if ever touching, and pursuing separate choreographic strands that occasionally merge into unison or echo each other. The accompanying score by composer and sound artist Michael J. Schumacher gives Mearns and Bouder more of an aural terrain than a rhythmic ground, and Carbone 38 dresses them in attractive practice attire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two are first seen facing away from us on a diagonal, each extending one leg in a high arabesque. The music begins, but they move in unison for only a few seconds. Coolly and beautifully they investigate their own patterns. Bouder may, for example, jump up a few times, legs bent, while Mearns prefers to bend extremely far back. Yet soon they\u2019re side by side again, each raising her leg to the front and slowly revolving into other precarious balances. Only once do they make physical contact: Mearns steadies herself by placing one hand on Bouder\u2019s bent-over back. Separate yet aware of each other, they remain calm amid the music\u2019s jitters and disruptions. They\u2019re sitting on the floor and looking at one another as the lights dim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As a dancer, Jodi Melnick once worked with\nartists as diverse as Twyla Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and she has\nchoreographed for and with many other groups. It may have been in 2015, during\na series of surprising choreographer-dancer linkages at Danspace Project in New\nYork\u2019s St. Mark\u2019s Church that she met Mearns. \n(Mearns had been paired with postmodernist Rashaun Mitchell and Melnick\nwith New York City Ballet\u2019s Sterling Hyltin; all four collaborated). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sara Mearns (L) and Jodi Melnick in Melnick’s Opulence into part 2. <\/em>Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Melnick\u2019s Opulence into part 2<\/em>, Mearns and the\nchoreographer appear in handsome royal blue outfits by Kaye Voyce with J.E.M.\nplus sneakers. Tei Blow\u2019s sound design (drums by Kid Millions, guitar by Zach\nLehrhoff) mixes music with words that tell us that a rehearsal is going on. The\nfirst thing we hear, however, is the furious rattle of paper\u2014or maybe it\u2019s\nplastic (we can\u2019t know since we\u2019re sitting in the dark). As Faba brings the\nlights up, we can see that Melnick is attempting to spread and then pile in one\ncorner a large, billowing sheet of blue plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Opulence into part 2<\/em>,\nas in Gerring\u2019s Duet<\/em>, the two women often\npursue separate paths and sometimes seem to be measuring the distances of their\nhabitat with their gestures. They also, once, press together, one\u2019s front\nagainst the other\u2019s back. They often pause. Mearns sits and watches Melnick\ndance. Once, Melnick grabs Mearns\u2019s arm and lifts it (after all, she\u2019s the\nchoreographer). They dance strenuously together, so subtly different that their\nunison isn\u2019t exact.  If you watch Melnick\ncarefully, you may see small impulses travel through her body; Mearns is\nslightly less indirect. They\u2019re fascinating together, and, as the piece\ndevelops, they seem to be enjoying themselves more and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a little joke too. Or maybe it\u2019s a prediction. The title Opulence into part 2<\/em> all but gives it away. As Mearns and Melnick are leaving the stage, six staff members and interns of the Pillow walk on and start dancing in unison a strenuous, pretty complex phrase. These are their names: Akinyemi Blackshear, Sienna Jesurun, Lydia Murray, Annie Peterson, Madalyn Rupprecht, Izzi Wayner. They\u2019re onstage for only a few seconds, so you hardly get to know them. But, hey, maybe we\u2019ll see part 2<\/em> another summer. Or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sara Mearns (L) and Honji Wang in Wang and S\u00e9bastien Ramirez’s No. 1. <\/em>Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re introduced to Company Wang Ramirez\u2019s No. 1<\/em> in a striking film by Laurent Dauf\u00e8s and S\u00e9bastien Ramirez of\nMearns and Honji Wang dancing on the Pillow\u2019s Inside\/Out stage. Then the live\npiece, which was commissioned by Jacob\u2019s Pillow and premiered there in 2017, starts\nrather mysteriously. The house lights are still on, but Wang is visible\nonstage. Is she trying to creep away?? \nShe jitters, pauses, and the whole theater becomes black. We hear some\nnoise backstage. Accidental?  Who\nknows.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the lights come back on after a slight pause, Wang is alone\nonstage, wearing a loose blouse, a long, pale skirt and sneakers that\noccasionally squeak against the floor. We hear a bit of music and a voice\nsaying, \u201cI wanted to be a ballet dancer.\u201d She\u2019s edgy, looking around, when a\nballet barre slides magically across the stage under its own steam\n(apparently).  She loves this barre very\nvery much and is caressing it when Mearns walks in, puts a hand on it, and\nstarts doing the little tendus<\/em> with\nwhich a ballet class may begin. She\u2019s wearing pointe shoes and sports a tutu. Wang\nbalances on the barre on her belly to get a better view and makes it clear that\nshe is not<\/em> a ballet dancer by lifting\none leg and then the other with her feet flexed, not pointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sara Mearns (L) and Honji Wang in No. 1. <\/em>Photo: Christopher Duggan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The barre slides offstage, and the women get down to business. Sometimes Wang duplicates what Mearns is doing. Sometimes she does her own version of it. She also provides support and manages not to get too much in Mearns\u2019s way during her tricky investigations. In a show of her strength and helpfulness, she gets Mearns draped over her back and lugs her along. Mearns is unperturbed. If Wang is rolling over the floor, she steps serenely back and forth across her. There\u2019s a certain sweetness to the women\u2019s relationship, even though we\u2019re led to believe that nothing is easy for Wang and that nothing Mearns does goes unexamined by her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program showcases much more than Mearns\u2019s phenomenal skill as a\ndancer. It reveals her as an inquisitive and generous collaborator\u2014a performer\nwho wants to adventure along paths new to her when she takes time off from her\ndemanding day job as an NYCB star. You go girl! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wouldn\u2019t be entirely fair to call Sara Mearns a force of nature, given her discipline, her skills as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, and her interest in exploring new possibilities. However having seen her perform August 14-18 in Jacob\u2019s Pillow\u2019s Doris Duke Theater, I\u2019m strenuously tempted. The program titled \u201cSara […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,275,109],"tags":[431,2721,2722,1656,108,390,282,1437,1074,141,1134,2563],"class_list":{"0":"post-6517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ballet","8":"category-classic-modern-dance","9":"category-contemporary-dance","10":"tag-christopher-williams","11":"tag-company-wang-ramirez","12":"tag-honji-wang","13":"tag-jacobs-pillow-dance-festival","14":"tag-jodi-melnick","15":"tag-liz-gerring","16":"tag-martha-graham","17":"tag-mike-faba","18":"tag-reid-bartelme","19":"tag-sara-mearns","20":"tag-tei-blow","21":"tag-virginie-mecene","22":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6517"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6528,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6517\/revisions\/6528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}