Sara Mearns | Artists at the Center

About

Sara Mearns, principal dancer at New York City Ballet (NYCB), “has a power and command that few share” (The New York Times), and has established herself as an adventurous artist, unafraid to delve into vastly different genres. Mearns is the curator for and performs in City Center’s fourth Artists at the Center program, which provides dance artists a platform for creative exploration and experimentation. 

The program begins with Don’t Go Home, a world premiere dance-theater piece co-created by renowned choreographer Guillaume Côté and Canadian actor/writer Jonathon Young. In it, Mearns explores the myriad challenges faced by an artist preparing for a demanding role, and the often-blurred boundary between performer and self. Mearns plays ‘Sara,’ a dancer auditioning for the role of a character named ‘Claire’ in a series of scenes and dances that also feature NYCB principal Gilbert Bolden III. 

Then, Mearns dances in Dance Is A Mother, a world premiere by former Alvin Ailey Resident Choreographer Jamar Roberts. Roberts makes a return to the City Center stage to dance alongside her, Jeroboam Bozeman, Ghrai DeVore-Stokes, and Anna Greenberg in a love letter to dance and those who dedicate their lives to its craft. This celebration of the dualities of beauty and struggle, success and failure, features music by Caroline Shaw performed live by Bergamot Quartet and Raquel Acevedo Klein.

Programming subject to change
Photo by Sarah Silver / Trunk Archive

Both works have been commissioned by New York City Center for Sara Mearns | Artists at the Center.  Support for new dance works at New York City Center is provided by the Arlene Shuler Artistic Innovation Fund and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. 

Don't Go Home was developed as part of the Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence program.