Sara Mearns
American ballet dancer

Sara Mearns

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American ballet dancer
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Female
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Biography

Introduction

Sara Ann Mearns is an American ballerina who dances as a principal dancer for the New York City Ballet. She was born in Columbia, South Carolina, where she began dance training at the age of three. As a teenager Mearns continued her studies with Patricia McBride and Stanislav Issaev, before entering the School of American Ballet in 2001. She joined the New York City Ballet as an apprentice in 2003, and became a member of the corps de ballet in 2004. She made her debut in a leading role just 18 months later in the dual roles of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake at the age of 19. Mearns was promoted to soloist in 2006 and to principal in 2008. In 2013 Mearns starred in A Dancer's Dream, a New York Philharmonic production choreographed by Karole Armitage and conducted by Alan Gilbert, which was broadcast nationally. In 2015 she made her Broadway debut in the “Lonely Town" pas de deux from the Tony-nominated musical On the Town, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse.

Repertoire

Ballets by George Balanchine

  • Allegro Brillante
  • Apollo: Polyhymnia
  • Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet
  • Chaconne
  • Concerto Barocco
  • Cortège Hongrois
  • Episodes
  • Firebird
  • The Four Temperaments: Sanguinic
  • Ivesiana: “In the Inn”
  • Jewels: Emeralds, Diamonds
  • Kammermusik no. 2
  • Liebeslieder Walzer
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream: Titania
  • Mozartiana
  • The Nutcracker: Sugarplum Fairy, Dewdrop
  • Orpheus
  • The Prodigal Son: Siren
  • Raymonda Variations
  • Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze"
  • Serenade
  • Slaughter on Tenth Avenue: Striptease Girl
  • La Sonnambula
  • Stars and Stripes
  • Stravinsky Violin Concerto
  • Swan Lake
  • Symphony in C: Second Movement soloist
  • Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto no. 2
  • Tschaikovsky Suite no. 3
  • La Valse
  • Vienna Waltzes: Vienna Woods, Der Rosenkavalier
  • Walpurgisnacht Ballet
  • Western Symphony: Rondo
  • Who Cares?

Ballets by Jerome Robbins

  • Antique Epigraphs
  • Brahms/Handel (choreographed with Twyla Tharp)
  • Dances at a Gathering
  • The Four Seasons: Spring
  • Glass Pieces
  • The Goldberg Variations
  • In G Major
  • In the Night
  • Ives, Songs
  • I'm Old Fashioned
  • Piano Pieces

Ballets by other choreographers

  • Pas de deux from Flower Festival in Genzano (choreography: August Bournonville)
  • The Sleeping Beauty (choreography: Peter Martins, after Marius Petipa, George Balanchine): Lilac Fairy
  • Swan Lake (choreography: Peter Martins, after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, George Balanchine): Odette/Odile
  • Barber Violin Concerto (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Beethoven Romance (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Chichester Psalms (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Fearful Symmetries (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Morgen (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Naïve and Sentimental Music (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Ocean's Kingdom (choreography: Peter Martins): Honorata (world premiere)
  • Octet (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • The Red Violin (choreography: Peter Martins; world premiere)
  • Thou Swell (choreography: Peter Martins)
  • Concerto DSCH (choreography: Alexei Ratmansky)
  • Namouna, A Grand Divertissement (choreography: Alexei Ratmansky; world premiere)
  • Pictures at an Exhibition (choreography: Alexei Ratmansky; world premiere)
  • Russian Seasons (choreography: Alexei Ratmansky)
  • After the Rain (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • An American in Paris (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • Les Carillons (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon; world premiere)
  • DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • Mercurial Manouevres (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • The Nightingale and The Rose (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon; world premiere)
  • Polyphonia (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • Rococo Variations (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon; world premiere)
  • This Bitter Earth (choreography: Christopher Wheeldon)
  • Why am I not where you are (choreography: Benjamin Millepied; world premiere)
  • The Most Incredible Thing (choreography: Justin Peck)
  • Rōdē,ō: Four Dance Episodes (choreography: Justin Peck, world premiere)
  • The Dreamers (choreography: Justin Peck; world premiere)
  • A Simple Symphony (choreography: Melissa Barak; world premiere)
  • For the Love of Duke (choreography: Susan Stroman; world premiere)
  • The Seven Deadly Sins (choreography: Lynne Taylor Corbett; world premiere)
  • Jeux (choreography: Kim Brandstrup; world premiere)
  • The Blue of Distance (choreography: Robert Binet; world premiere)