April 20, 2016
“New York City Ballet Casts a Singular Luster in ‘Jewels’”
by Alastair Macaulay
“‘Jewels’ reaches its climax in the ballerina role of ‘Diamonds,’ danced with characteristically juicy glamour and individuality by Sara Mearns. The role begins with an astonishingly long supported adagio for a man and woman. (In each “Jewels” ballet, the imagery of a central male-female duet suggests the man is a hunter who has found a fantastic creature, a chimera who eludes him even while he grasps her.) Here Ms. Mearns was at her most mysterious, authoritative and compelling.
I’ve seen her dance the Scherzo with more off-balance freedom, and the polonaise finale with even more flair. Yet each of them contained strokes that seemed absolutely new: a high forward leg extension in which she turned her head and arm back and down; a dazzling series of sideways turns. Her dancing is invariably momentous. Amid the “Diamonds” corps, a number of rising dancers — Emilie Gerrity, Emily Kikta, Claire Kretzschmar, Kristin Segin, Lydia Wellington and Ms. Miller — danced with pronounced sparkle.”