New York City, NY
Curated by Pioneers Go East Collective
"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 change. With Mercer’s meta-physical history at its root, the work spills out as a testimony on both flying through and weathering the storm!
“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?”He 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 Full Creative Team
Creator/Performer/Choreographer- Johnnie Cruise Mercer
Creative Director/Visual Design- Torian Ugworji
Tech Director- Zee Hanna
Music Producer/Underscore Composer- Young Denzel
Horn Player/Composer- Robert McSweeney
Percussionist/Composer- Jean Charlot
Wardrobe Design- Pierre Rashad Wright
The work has been in development for the past two years through the Movement Research (@movementresearch) Artist-in-Residence Program. The program is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Davis/Dauray Family Fund, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. The work was furthered while in residence at Queenborough Community College as a Cuny Dance Initiative (@cdi_dance) 2025/2026 Artists in Residence. The work gained production support through The Church at Sag Harbor as a part of their first annual Churchennial. The Churchennial was provided funding via… The work is further produced and financially supported by TheREDprojectNYC (@redprojectnyc).