In anticipation of Sara Mearns’ Artists at the Center debut on April 3, 2025 at New York City Center, Steven Cantor has created a film for the All Arts “Past, Present, Future” series titled “Stage Animal” after the New York City Ballet Principal Dancer.
The protagonist off (she curated the Artists at the Center program) and on (where she will dance with Gilbert Bolden III, Jeroboam Bozeman, Ghrai DeVore-Stokes, and Anna Greenberg) the stage, Mearns has put together a double-bill featuring two world premieres: Don’t Go Home by Guillaume Côté and Dance Is A Mother by Jamar Roberts.
It is the creative process for the former that provides the focus for Cantor’s 25-minute deep-dive into the collaboration between Mearns, Bolden, Côté, and actor-writer Jonathon Young.
Filmed at a studio in East Hampton, New York, where the team worked as part of the Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence program, “Stage Animal” is at once intense and emotional, clearly embodying Mearns’ sentiment of being “trapped in [her] own life” after returning to dance at NYCB post-coronavirus pandemic. Dissonant musical chords and anxiety-ridden voice over set the tone.
Mearns, who has been open on social media about her mental health, reveals even more in this documentary about how she felt lost both at home and in the theatre… quite a disorienting space for a dancer to be in.
Along with hearing the unique perspectives of each artist involved in Don’t Go Home (which Young has dubbed a “dance-theater hybrid piece”) as well as dancing and intimate moments captured during rehearsals, “Stage Animal” opens a digital window into footage of a pre-teen and teen Mearns on stage experiencing the joy that she is so dedicated to recuperating as a professional.
“Stage Animal” can be viewed on All Arts TV.
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Excerpt from “Stage Animal”
Featured Photo of Sara Mearns and Gilbert Bolden III during the filming of “Stage Animal”, courtesy of All Arts.
