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Yet while each of these losses are depressing (especially Meunier's, as she seems to be doing little more today than the occasional guest gig), they're hardly the blow to City Ballet they might be to a smaller company. It seems that whenever a ballerina leaves, Martins can just dip into the seemingly inexhaustible stream of gifted women coming out of the School of American Ballet and find a replacement. So we have Teresa Reichlen, Ashley Bouder, and Tiler Peck, Kathryn Morgan, Erica Pereira, Megan LeCrone, or Kaitlyn Gilliland (and I'm sure I've left out many other worthy proto-ballerinas like Sterling Hyltin). Sometimes these dancers work their way up the ranks, and sometimes Martins seems to fast-track a girl to stardom (as happened with Ansanelli before her career hit some speedbumps). Sometimes it seems that Martins' favored pedagogic style is akin to teaching a child to swim by tossing him in the deep end of the pool. That's how it was for Sara Mearns. One minute, it seemed, she was fresh out of SAB and the next Martins was casting her in principal roles like Odette/Odile in his Swan Lake, or Titania in Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mearns proved to be powerful despite her years, moving with an expansive lushness that echoed her own curves. Neither a willowy neo-Balanchine thoroughbred like Reichlen, or a compact powerhouse of the kind Martins strongly favors, like Bouder, Megan Fairchild or Ana Sofia Scheller, Mearns brings to mind a slightly shorter, trimmer Monique Meunier. Like Meunier, she's a great beauty, but with a cooler, blonder temperament than the fiery Latina. In her first big roles, Mearns, while dancing impeccably, would offset moments of confident expansiveness with long stretches of blank-faced introspection, which looked, at best, as if she were still thinking like a student repeating a center combination, and, at worst, like she was scared to death at being thrust into the spotlight, and blanked out to keep that fear away from the audience. But she'd sometimes let that stress out, and I began to wonder if Martins wasn't pushing her too far, too soon. A more gradual uplift would've still gotten Mearns to her current level as a great soloist without so much pressure. But that's not how Martins nurtures his talent, and the corps de ballet is rife with dancers who didn't make the most of the opportunities Martins threw them into as they first joined the company, and have to live with being off Martins' radar forever.

Last Friday, Mearns made a highly anticipated debut in Diamonds, partnered by Jonathan Stafford, who was also debuting as Mearns' cavalier. For both, it was a brilliant beginning. I'd often wondered just why Martins promoted Stafford to principal so quickly, after many years in the corps, and less than one as a soloist. On his own, Stafford's a decent but not spectacular dancer. After the adagio, I didn't wonder anymore. Tall men (he's just over six feet) who can partner as superbly as Stafford can pretty much write their own tickets, even today. But back to Mearns. Sometimes debuts have a clarity that can get lost in performances by veterans. When dancers first perform major roles like these, they get (well, they're supposed to get) major coaching, and can sometimes give a more careful and precise reading than a veteran who's had years to merge the role into her own idiosyncrasies.
 

Sara Mearns and Jonathan Stafford in Diamonds from Jewels
© Paul Kolnik

Anyway, that's how Mearns and Stafford approached that magnificent adagio. In subtle ways, Mearns emphasized that this ballerina was entirely in command of her cavalier. I loved the way she carefully hinted at giving a sort of over-the-shoulder curtsey/reverence to Stafford, as if she were saying, "Yes, you'll do." And time and again, before a long supported developpe or promenade, Mearns would stride away from Stafford towards the spot she'd chosen for the step, and with a simple glance make him come to her, and take the arm she'd proffered without deigning to check if he'd gotten in place yet. Of course he had; that's a cavalier's job, and Stafford showed it well. He attended on Mearns with an intense focus which reminded me a bit of Jock Soto (for years the world's greatest partner), but with a self-effacing modesty which brought to mind the magnificently unobtrusive way Helgi Tomasson would partner Patricia McBride. Stafford didn't just help Mearns look beautiful by supporting her with care; he also did it by always adjusting his stance to augment hers, stretching one leg into tendu to add a contrapostto complement to her working leg, and subtly redirecting, with a slight inflection of his hands, or his gaze, our eyes away from him and back to Mearns. In effect, he was saying, "Don't look at me, look at her." Would that more men would comport themselves this way.

For her part, Mearns was strong and regal, and her introspective manner brought Suzanne Farrell to mind. Farrell's dancing was, among many other things, about what was going on in her head, as if she were allowing viewers to share in her most intensely private moments. Mearns doesn't have Farrell's gift for taking us with her into her internal monologue (who does?), but Mearns, like Farrell, does make it clear that she's dancing for herself here. For all that she stretches her movements out like taffy in all those dramatic arabesques or creamy developpes, her focus is within. We're privileged to observer her, as Stafford is to partner her. At the end of this magnificent adagio, it seemed absolutely right for Stafford to fall to his knees and kiss her hand. She perfectly timed her downward glance at the kiss with just a hint of surprise, as if his he'd brought her back from her personal realm of clouds and sky.

In the following Scherzo, Mearns danced cleanly, but with a bit too much deliberation. She doesn't yet have, at least here, the knack of quickly shifting her speed. Quicksilver changes of speed and focus are another hallmark of Farrell's you can still see in the choreography. It's not enough to be fast, you also have to be quick. But that's a small quibble at a wonderful debut. I expect we'll be seeing Mearns and Stafford in Diamonds for many years to come.

There were a few other debuts. Emeralds was led by the exquisite, beautiful Rachel Rutherford and Jared Angle. Her delicacy and softness made an illuminating contrast with Ashley Bouder's high-powered attack of a few days before. In the "walking" pas de deux, Abi Stafford (Jonathan's sister), made a clean if somewhat pallid debut partnered by the tall, long-limbed and eternally graceful Jason Fowler. I'm happy to see the strong and conservative Stafford venture a bit outside her comfort zone; I hope she continues for years to come.

Also, in Rubies, Gonzalo Garcia debuted with Megan Fairchild. Garcia danced this part back in his San Francisco Ballet days, which helps account for his happy, relaxed swagger. Fairchild seems to improve with every performance. It was sadly telling that while Fairchild repeatedly focussed her attention on Garcia, he seemed happier to grin and mug at the audience. Savannah Lowery took on the big-girl role, managing to look strong, enthusiastic and very rough around the edges. I keep on hoping for Lowery to finally find her voice and some refinement, but she continues as the raw-boned, gauche muscle-woman she's been for years. She's a bit of a puzzlement.

Fortunately, the evening's best part, the Diamonds pas de deux and finale, were last, so my strongest memories were of Mearns and Stafford's tremendous debut as I once again trundled home after the curtain.