Sara Ann Mearns (born 19 January 1986) is an American
ballet dancer
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...
. She is a principal dancer at
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...
.
Early life
Mearns was born in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
. Her mother is a nurse.
At age three, she began dancing with Ann Brodie at the Calvert-Brodie School of Dance, also in Columbia. Mearns trained with
Patricia McBride
Patricia McBride (born August 23, 1942 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet. McBride joined the New York City Ballet in 1959. She became a principal in 1961, becoming the company's ...
at the School of North Carolina Dance Theatre, at age 13, and at
South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities
The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities (SCGSAH) is a prestigious boarding school for the arts located in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1999 by Virginia Uldrick, the high school program provides pre-p ...
the following year. In 2001, Mearns relocated to New York to train at the
School of American Ballet
The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...
.
[
]
Career
In 2003, Mearns became an apprentice with New York City Ballet. She was nominated for a Princess Grace Award
The Princess Grace Foundation – USA is a charity organization named after Princess Grace of Monaco, which supports emerging performers in theater, dance, and film in the form of awards, grants, scholarships, and fellowships. The Foundation hol ...
and received the Mae L. Wien Awards that year. She became a member of the corps de ballet the following year.[ In 2006, at age 19 and while she was still in the corps, she was chosen to dance Odette/Odile in '']Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
''. Later that year, she was promoted to the rank of soloist, and to principal dancer two years later. She was nominated for a Prix Benois de la Danse The Benois de la Danse is a ballet competition held annually in Moscow. Founded by the International Dance Association in 1991, it takes place each year on or around April 29 and it's judged by a jury. The members of this jury change every year and ...
in 2012. She was nominated for a Bessie Awards
The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...
in 2014 and was awarded one in 2018.Balanchine
George Balanchine (;
Various sources:
*
*
*
* born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...
works such as '' La Valse'', '' Symphony in C'', ''Serenade
In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...
'' and '' Walpurgisnacht Ballet '', as well as contemporary pieces such as Alexei Ratmansky
Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left R ...
's ''Concerto DSCH'' and Justin Peck
Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...
's ''Rotunda''.[
In 2013 Mearns starred in ''A Dancer's Dream'', a ]New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
production choreographed by Karole Armitage
Karole Armitage (born March 3, 1954) is an American dancer and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is artistic director of Armitage Gone! Dance, a contemporary dance company that performs several times annually in New York City as ...
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. She has also collaborated with the modern dance choreographer Jodi Melnick
Jodi is a feminine given name which may refer to:
People
* Jodi Albert (born 1983), English actress
* Jodi Anasta (born 1985), Australian actress and model
* Jodi Anderson (born 1957), American heptathlete
* Jodi Appelbaum-Steinbauer (born 1956), ...
, resulting in the piece performed at the Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
in November 2016. In 2017, Mearns performed the role of Victoria Page in Matthew Bourne
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is an English choreographer whose work includes contemporary dance and dance theatre.
Choreographer
In 2007, Bourne contemplated a gay version of ''Romeo and Juliet''. Despite the succ ...
's '' The Red Shoes'' in New York City Center
New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...
.
Selected repertoire
Mearns' repertoire with the New York City Ballet includes:[
]
Personal life
In November 2012, Mearns met Joshua Bergasse when she was auditioning for a featured dancing role on '' Smash''. The dance number was cut, but two started dating a few months later. After five years of dating, they got engaged on Valentine's Day.Sunset Beach, North Carolina
Sunset Beach is a seaside town in Brunswick County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census, up from 1,824 in 2000. It is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area.
History
The seaside town of Sunset Beach got ...
.[ Because Bergasse is a choreographer, they collaborate on each other's projects. They have also worked on projects together since their marriage such as Rodgers and Hart's I Married an Angel and a dance piece starring Mearns at the Fire Island Dance Festival.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns, Sara
New York City Ballet principal dancers
American ballerinas
Mae L. Wien Award recipients
School of American Ballet alumni
Living people
1986 births
People from Columbia, South Carolina
Dancers from South Carolina
21st-century American ballet dancers
Prima ballerinas
21st-century American women