The Good News 2022-Current
The Good News is a set of choreographies, a ritualistic event honoring maker Johnnie Cruise Mercer’s upbringing in the Black Baptist church. Inspired by Bible scriptures orally passed down to Mercer from his childhood, the works are each intentionally crafted to guide communities through the grief of today while leading them towards the sensations/tools/the state of letting go. In service to each space that hosts it, The Good News is an event that shifts its form from location to location in order to serve each community's needs. The event can take form as a block party, a site responsive happening, an evening of concert dance, or even a school assembly.
The Good News has five modular pieces/works.
Allow Surrender Embrace
A SEL Curriculum supported Rep Work for Young Artists
(15 minutes)
Allow Surrender Embrace is a repertory work structured as an opportunity for developing artists to take on, plunge into, and accept the rigor of weight. Etched out over a creative residency period, the work asks young artists to meta-physically question how they carry their bodies while rigorously challenging their amplitude to release. A complicated compositional tapestry of gesture, and moving tableaus, Allow Surrender Embrace titters on the line of choreographic work, and educational community practice.
The work, which results in the creation of both a dance piece, and a book of reflections written by the young artist, requires at least 30-36 hours of rehearsal/residency in partnership with a black educational institution. This work was first mounted during NYU’s Summer High School Dance Program in the Summer of 2024.
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13
The Unforced Rhythms of Grace.
A Site Specific Contemporary Dance Work (45-50 Minutes)
Premieres Jan 2026 @ Out Like That Festival curated by Pioneers Go East Collective
“The Grace Suite” is a site specific dance work tethered together by a selection of black contemporary gospel songs from Mercer’s childhood.The work follows an ensemble of black movement artists as they skillfully surrender to poly-rhythm, collaboratively embrace grace, and jubilantly tackle themes of break-through! With a vibrant music score that includes music by Callie Day, Deniece Williams, and Kurt Franklin, the dance acts as a sermon on persistence (a reminder that this storm too shall pass).
The Grace Suite can be presented in two formats:
The Moon Version (Black Box Theater)
The Sun Version (Outdoor Happening or Event)
This work will premiere as a part of the 92NY Harkness Dance Center’s 2026/2027 Season.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.””
Matthew 11:28-30 
An Ode to Rescue!
A Community Orientated Dance Work (10 minutes)
An Ode to Rescue! is a short ensemble work carrying messages of safety, recuperation, and hope. A lyrical work tethered by a simple, yet meticulous, movement score, the short dance work provides community members a chance to dance through our world’s current tribulations.
This work requires a one-two week residency with community members from local black baptist churches. This work also includes the creation of a community book of rescue stories.
The work can also be done without community performers with two or more performers. This work will premiere at as apart of the 92NY Harkness Dance Center’s 2026/2027 Season.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Mark 4:37-40
Mercies of a Butterfly.
A One Act Dance-Theater Work (30-40 minutes)
Preview Performance@ The Church at Sag Harbor’s Churchennial - Nov 22nd, 2025
"Mercies of a Butterfly" is a one act dance theater work, performed and created by Johnnie Cruise Mercer. A movement allegory about resilience, the work follows a recently born spirit as it contends with the weight of changing. With Mercer’s meta-physical history at its root, the work spills out as a testimony on both flying through and weathering the storm!
Mercies of a Butterfly involves close collaborations alongside a creative team of long-time collaborators and peers including music producer Young Denzel, film/video artist Torian Ugworji, Horn Player Robert McSweeney, Drummer Jean Charlot, and fashion designer Pierre Rashid. The solo can be performed in untraditional performance spaces, and tours with its own untraditional lighting equipment.
Mercies of a Butterfly will premiere in Jan 2026!
The Sounds of Heaven
A Community Facilitated Activity (5 minutes)
The Sounds of Heaven is a participatory work inviting all members of the community to reflect through song, and imagine what it may feel like to call on "The Universe”. Using gospel hymns as a launching point, the work utilizes vocalization and gesture to facilitate a mass movement choir.
The vocal scores explored were first constructed as a part of Revival 2023.
“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps”
Revelations 14:2
The Good News also offers multiple community engagement opportunities including:
a pre-show grievance altar (where community members are asked to write and burn unwanted grief/negative energy
opportunities for live local artists to be in collaboration (hired per location, conversation/community workshops for of color,
inclusion of partnerships with local minority based educational institutions, entrepreneurs, and restaurants
a video testimonial tied to a moment of triumph following the concert.
The full series will premiere as a part of the 92NY Harkness Dance Center’s 2026/2027 Season.