“CITY LIFE” MICHAEL DEESE | Music of Greg Hill
Apr 7, 2025
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY
Apr 7, 2025
Review by Celia Ipiotis
A masterful ballerina, praised for her breathtaking performances, NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns is a culture traveler. She stepped far beyond the ballet stage to the intimate dance spaces downtown and returned, suited up with new experiences.
City Center invited Mearns to develop and curate a project that was unveiled to an enthusiastic audience. “Don’t Go Home” is co-choreographed by choreographer Guillaume Cote and actor-writer Jonathon Young. It reveals Mearns exercising her acting skills by assuming the role of a dancer, Claire, starring in a film about herself. Yes, a bit meta, but relatively clear upon viewing.
Filled with self doubt, Mearns criticizes herself–that’s something dancers actually do rather frequently because, after all, their goal is perfection –sputtering angst-filled words and pawing at herself. Positioned on a spare set by Ryan Howell that doubles as a stage and apartment, Mearns hears her director’s disembodied voice (Frank Wood), shakes it off, and flings herself into a ballet sequence in tandem with her partner, Gilbert Bolden III (recently promoted to position of NYC Ballet Principal dancer).
Through a rush of talk and motion, the two cut through a litany of concerns including a possible “missing part?” Mearns wrangles him into multiple scenarios of the choreography– it was “first-this-then-that” but what was it really? Funnily, that’s not unlike the way dancers go back over dances they’ve just learned or are in the process of learning. The choreography underscores Mearn’s renowned expansiveness and musicality. Extended arms and legs leave lingering images and a sense of effortless motion.
Mearns called on the talents of a fellow dancer, Jamar Roberts whose “Dance Is A Mother” is set to music by the notable and wildly popular Caroline Shaw. A dance ensemble dressed in flowy blue pants and tops by Marc Happel surge to the music performed by the Bergamot Quartet positioned on stage. Originally a member of the Alvin Ailey Company, Jamar Roberts stopped dancing in 2021 when he dove into his choreographic career. So when Roberts stepped on stage, they responded with fervent applause.
Toe shoes are replaced with socks that add a slippery, looseness to the moves. Based in the flow and pedestrian style of modern dance, Roberts coordinates dancers in groups that split into duets, recombine to form incredible lifts –vertical bodies are hauled straight up and then flipped facing down.
And rather than make Mearns the star of the piece, she becomes one with the company. All highly trained dancers, the distinctly individualized company includes Roberts, Mearns, Jeroboan Bozeman, Ghrai DeVores Stokes, and Anna Greenberg. Slippery moves filter up from the feet to the hands that float up reaching back while legs swing up to the side or in back attitude. Roberts splits away for a solo, shoulders shrugging, knees cushiony pushing out of power sprung legs. In the duet with Mearns, the two cut a stylish form. Easily swinging her up, she lightly swings over his grounded base.
A particularly effective duet builds between Roberts and Bozeman, powerful arms punch against arching backs pulling tautly back to the center. Mearns performs an internalized solo, facing more inward than outward while Anna Greenberg slips and slides through her solo with physical aplomb. The music energizes the choreography and when vocalist Raquel Acevedo Klein strides on stage in a predominantly black outfit her sterling voice galvanizes the dancers into freshly rounded patterns.
It will be interesting to see where Mearns travels next.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis
