Indeed, as one part of a three-part program (four counting the screening of three short dance films), in an evening dubbed “Eye,” Mearns’ work began with the performer putting yellow crime tape around the large stage area, with William Adashek’s lighting scheme offering sometimes harsh, sometimes subdued illumination. These effects seemed to inject Mearns with superhuman powers, allowing the viewer to better feast one’s eyes upon this magician of movement. 

Dressed in Entire Studio’s neo-workout wear and soft dance-type slippers, the award-winning Mearns gave new meaning to the words walking, spinning and leaping. She also proved victorious over her well-documented struggles with depression: Bravely piercing the air with thrusting fists; deploying neo-yoga poses and spectacular leaps that could easily have rivaled those found in David Parsons’ 1982 masterpiece, “Caught,” Mearns was a cyclone of talent, Adashek’s design scheme adding oomph to her explosive gravity-defying jumps. 

Owning the space, the dancer would be on her knees one moment, executing picture-perfect arabesques the next, with Grammy-nominated Imogen Heap’s commissioned score providing propulsive, brutalist and otherworldly sounds. But it was her series of pirouettes, i.e. Mearns’ mad spinning, that left this reviewer in awe: Her control, her Ferrari-like acceleration and her gritty determination made for the most impressive display of virtuosity rarely seen at such close range—or, to be frank, at any range. 

Heap’s signature breathing could, at times, also be heard, as the phenom Mearns finally collapsed on the floor, lying flat, the lights briefly blacked out. But wait: There’s more! With the dancer, now upright and sporting a lone boxing glove, offering a short coda of sorts, she brought to mind the philosophy of the late dance scribe Arlene Croce (1934-2024). Describing what she saw as not a dance, per se, but a personal “afterimage” that was then meant to then be tossed into the cultural arena, Croce helped bring more attention to the evanescent art form.

As for Mearns and Jonas, who’d met in New York in 2019 and ultimately made “Zebra” this past summer, this is precisely what they achieved through their collaboration: an afterimage seared onto this ink-stained wretch’s brain, a memory not soon forgotten.