This month, as Titania in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” she floated along with the music with such abandon that it seemed a wonder she didn’t fall over. Principal Dancers Ashley Bouder and Sara Mearns discuss the highlights and challenges of performing both the white and black swan in Peter Martins’ Swan Lake, … This season, the Act 2 pas de quatre, a speedy and demanding divertissement for three women and one man, was cut to help streamline the ballet. Ms. Mearns may look like a swan queen when she’s dancing — there is the fluid ease with which her arms unfurl from her supple back — but swathed in black street clothes, she could be a model for the designer Rick Owens: leather pants, layers of scarves, silver chains everywhere. She was nominated for a Princess Grace Award and received the Mae L. Wien Awards that year. “But I did not want to go back home.”. In 2003, Mearns became an apprentice with New York City Ballet. Guillaume Côté has been the National Ballet of Canada’s reigning prince for two decades. “I did go for it. She’s no longer prone to dewiness; she’s fully present onstage. It’s not me trying to be somebody else. At times, the sets and costumes by Per Kirkeby make you want to crawl under your seat. “I couldn’t even believe what I had just done.”, Now a principal dancer, Ms. Mearns, who recently turned 24, will reprise her part in the ballet, which returns to the company’s repertory in February. On Sunday when, as Odile, Ms. Lovette whipped off as many fouetté turns as she could manage before falling out, she made a dazzling change in real time: She switched to piqué turns. But if you really stick with it and sacrifice everything else for it, you can.”. Sara Mearns, 24, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. SARA MEARNS is one of today’s most internationally celebrated dancers in classical ballet. That production, by Kevin McKenzie, has its problems, too. Mr. Walker, with Teresa Reichlen — she was at her most vulnerable in the final lakeside scene — was distant. There’s something interesting at play: The surprise of watching a dancer overcome her fears and insecurities about what “Swan Lake” means in the classical repertory to hold a stage and to embody a character all the while dancing — in that City Ballet way — as herself. “People sometimes make fun of me for rehearsing a lot, but I feel like when I go out there, I know what it’s going to feel like — that I’m prepared for anything,” she said. Joseph Gordon and Tiler Peck in “Swan Lake.”, Peter Martins, who choreographed it in 1996 and introduced it to City Ballet in 1999. More convincing was Mr. Ball’s partner, Lauren Lovette, also making her debut this season. There’s a new and subtle fluidity in her dancing that brings her into clear focus. The experience of watching “Swan Lake” at City Ballet is different than at American Ballet Theater, where it’s part of the tradition. If you follow New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns on Instagram, you'll have noticed that for the past several months, her feed has included wedding prep pics in addition to her usual performance posts and cross-training clips. Sara Mearns Soars in New York City Ballet's Bumpy Swan Lake By Carla Escoda, 23 September 2015 For what seems like an eternity but is in reality only about 40 minutes, the first act of Peter Martins ’ Swan Lake limps and sputters along to the gorgeous Tchaikovsky score – like a Bugatti running on the wrong kind of fuel. But I’ve started to wonder: While it certainly sells tickets, drawing hordes of girls dressed to the nines, does having a full-length “Swan Lake” at City Ballet serve another purpose? Sara Mearns, who was recently sidelined with a back injury for six months, is determined to return to New York City Ballet’s reprisal of “Swan Lake.” He said, ‘Everybody falls.’ ” She shook her head in dismay: “I think everybody’s going to say, ‘Oh, that was a little too much.’ But I don’t care about falling. What does a swan look like? Sara Mearns in “Swan Lake” in 2011. It’s about how you move. Jared Angle and I have done the George Balanchine, one-act Swan Lake all year, which is the white act, so we don’t really have to rehearse that yet. It is determination in real time. “I put pictures up on the wall in my new apartment of me dancing when I was so in shape and so in my groove,” she said. Mr. Furlan — noble, fluid and musically sensitive — is a find. In November, to her chagrin, she did fall twice, as Dewdrop in the opening-night performance of “The Nutcracker.”, “I had so much energy,” she said, laughing. Now if we could only have a “subway Swan Lake” with Sara Mearns and David Hallberg… one can dream, right? “And it’s not like I calculate my performances. But over the years, I’ve witnessed varied and striking performances — including this season — by dancers of differing body types, looks and technical depth. At City Ballet, there are no rules. It was musical. In 2006, when she was just 19, she was plucked from the corps de ballet to dance Odette/Odile. It’s all about going for it as yourself. At the age of 13, Ms. Mearns trained with Patricia McBride at Dance Place, the School of North Carolina Dance Theatre, in Charlotte. Sara Mearns is a force. 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