92NY Harkness Dance Center Presents the World Premiere of Jodi Melnick and Sara Mearns: Superbloom (Dancing Into Choreographic F
Company:
92NY
92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) presents the World Premiere of Jodi Melnick and Sara Mearns: Superbloom (Dancing Into Choreographic Forms) on Friday, March 27, 2026 at 7PM and Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 7PM. The performance is also streaming for 72 hours, beginning at 12PM on Sunday, March 29. Tickets start at $45 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/superbloom-dancing-into-choreographic-forms/.
Choreographer Jodi Melnick and New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns join forces to offer a singularly unique evening of dance that overlaps and disrupts the past and present, continuing and celebrating their decade-long collaboration. At the heart of Superbloom (Dancing Into Choreographic Forms) is a work for five dancers, featuring Melnick, Mearns, Amanda Kmett’Pendry, Cat Kirk, and Tamisha Guy, set to a new score by James Lo, with set design by John Monti.
Melnick, a visionary of the post-modern movement, and Mearns, whose artistry brings new dimension to the works, also explore the history of dance created by women at 92NY as they look into the archives of foundational voices in modern dance, such as Anna Sokolow, and the groundbreaking female choreographers Melnick has intersected with in her dancing life-- Sara Rudner, Trisha Brown, Twyla Tharp, Susan Rethorst, Vicky Shick, Irene Hultman, among other illustrious female artists. The program includes an excerpted solo from Sokolow’s Steps of Silence and Lyric Suite. Melnick experiments with her own work, the phenomena of movement, transmission, and memory, weaving together her experiences with these iconic women and her decade-long dancing relationship with Mearns, creating a captivating new assemblage.
“We were inspired by the Harkness Mainstage Series 2025/26 theme of 'Women Move the World' to look into the history of dance created by women at 92NY, and all that we learned from and been given by the groundbreaking female artists who had shaped our own dancing life,” comments Melnick. "And the more Sara and I work together, the more we trust each other."
Mearns comments, “I am so honored to be part of a historic season at The 92nd Street Y celebrating women in modern dance, and to also celebrate ten years working with Jodi Melnick.”
Part and inspired by Women Move the World, 92NY’s 2025/26 Harkness Mainstage Series, this reflective and evocative performance honors the evolution of dance while continuously redefining a movement language that represents where we are right now.
92NY Harkness Dance Center recognizes the ongoing generosity of The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Major funding is provided by Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation; and The New York Community Trust. Additional support is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Mertz Gilmore Foundation; The Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc.; The Jerome Robbins Foundation; SHS Foundation; Barbara J. Sinclair; and an anonymous donor.
Jodi Melnick is a New York City-based choreographer, performer, and teacher. Her creative process is driven by the profound expression of the dancing body and intuitive performance instincts, with each piece evolving through the phenomenon of dancing itself.
Melnick's work has been presented at renowned venues, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Little Island, Carvahlo Park Gallery, The Joyce Theater, City Center, The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Hudson Hall, The Spoleto Festival, Jacobs Pillow, The Dublin Dance Festival, Quarries, Moats, Beaches, and many more.
Throughout her career, Melnick has had the privilege of working with luminous female choreographers, such as Twyla Tharp (1990-94, 2009), Sara Ruder, and Trisha Brown, assisting, and collaborating/performing in the solo work One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures. She has, and continues to collaborate with influential artists and choreographers, including Vicky Shick, Liz Roche, Susan Rethorst, Maya Lee-Paritz, Donna Uchizono, Beth Gill, David Neumann, Madeline Hollander, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Reiner, Yoshiko Chuma, Jon Kinzel, Charles Atlas, and playwright Sibyl Kempson.
With this rich history of dancing, collaborating, and freelancing, Melnick garnered the importance of inclusion in her own work, pushing post -modern sensibilities and engagement with other dance disciplines and backgrounds. She has created works for NYCBallet principal dancers Sara Means, Taylor Stanley, and Devon Teuscher of American Ballet Theater.
Her honors include the NYS Choreographers Initiative Award (NYSCA/Danceforce), the Doris Duke Impact Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works Grant, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant, two Bessie Awards, Gibney's DIP Residency Grant, and a two-year extended Life Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center.
Sara Mearns has been a principal dancer with New York City Ballet since 2008. Originated roles with choreographers Justin Peck, Kyle Abraham, Alexei Ratmansky, Pam Tanowitz, Bobbi Jene Smith, Christopher Wheeldon, Guillaume Cote, Beth Gill, among others. Guest Performer: Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Cunningham Centennial Celebration, Jodi Melnick Dance, Bill T. Jones/Lee Ming Wei, and Wang Ramirez. At NYCC, Sara curated and starred in Artists at the Center, including new works by Jamar Roberts, Guillaume Cote, and Jonathon Young; and also starred in Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes, Encores! I Married An Angel, and Twyla Now as well as multiple Fall for Dances; and performed Dances of Isadora Duncan at Lincoln Center. At The Joyce in 2022, Sara performed a full evening with five world premier pieces, titled A Piece of Work, awarded the Bessie Award for outstanding performer in 2018, awarded the Dance Magazine Award in 2019, and an Honorary Doctorate University of South Carolina in 2019. In 2023, Sara made her debut as Juliet in Alexei Ratmansky's production of Romeo and Juliet with The National Ballet of Canada with Guillaume Cote.
About The 92nd Street Y, New York: The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a world-class center for the arts and innovation, a convener of ideas, and an incubator for creativity. 92NY offers extensive classes, courses, and events online including live concerts, talks, and master classes; fitness classes for all ages; 250+ art classes; and parenting workshops for new moms and dads. The 92nd Street Y, New York is transforming the way people share ideas and translate them into action all over the world. All of 92NY's programming is built on a foundation of Jewish values, including the capacity of civil dialogue to change minds; the potential of education and the arts to change lives; and a commitment to welcoming and serving people of all ages, races, religions, and ethnicities. For more information, visit www.92NY.org.
