She Dances. He Directs. How They Created a Balletic Battle of the Sexes.

“Now, Mr. Bergasse, 46, is creating new moves for his Angel, Ms. Mearns, 33, who is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, the company that Balanchine formed, with Lincoln Kirstein, in 1948. In the show, an Angel comes down from heaven, marries a mortal — Count Willy Palaffi (Mark Evans) — and loses her wings.

It’s a part made for Ms. Mearns who, as it happens is not only beautiful, but also funny — smart and daffy in a Carole Lombard kind of way, with a rich, meaty speaking voice. When Mr. Bergasse choreographed the Broadway musical “On the Town,” he created the “Lonely Town” pas de deux on her. (She filled in at the last minute for one performance.) But this is the couple’s biggest project together so far, and Ms. Mearns’s first speaking role.”

Read more here.