“It is astonishing how much can be accomplished when you have twelve hours a day to work. It is not just the studio time, it is the brain space to read and think. It is like a rocket ship into deep investigations, really clear focus, and the nervous system is in a different place. There is just not as much juggling at all. The more removed it is, the better. You can never recreate that.”
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Netta Yerushalmy
2016 Creative Development Residency Artist
While Ms. Melnick is a lover of Balanchine, she never had the urge to pursue ballet herself or to choreograph for ballet dancers. Now she’s considering creating a work on point. ‘When I see Sara dance, I’m like, that’s how I would do it: just reckless abandon, incredible technique, ridiculous beauty, but unworldly beauty,’ she said. ‘Soulful, tragic.’
Mearns was well aware of the trend of ballerinas’ stepping out of their comfort zones. ‘This wasn’t for an external reason,’ she said. ‘It was about me. Can I be a deeper artist in some way? It was an opportunity to see what else my body could do.’
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Sara Mearns & Jodi Melnick
Excerpted from The New York Times