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On March 12, Johnnie Cruise Mercer performs at The Church. ELLEN KIRBY
Come witness the development and choreography of a newly devised dance-theater work, “The Decade from Hell ...,” which will be presented as the finale of the residency of Johnnie Cruise Mercer and the IAMI Collective. The performance will take place as an open rehearsal at The Church on Sunday, March 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the community is invited to observe parts of the process. Mercer and the IAMI Collective have been scheduled as part of The Church’s “Performing Arts Group Practices” residency period of January to March.
The presentation will include witnessing the blueprinted material from the work itself, stemming from memories tied to the early 2000s, and a facilitated conversation on nostalgia and history.
“The Decade from Hell …” was commissioned by Gibney Dance and curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa as part of the organization’s Gibney Presents series for the 2022-2023 season. This commission included financial, residency, administrative and production support. This work is directly supported by the MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, and Mellon Foundation.
Johnnie Cruise Mercer, a 2022 Dance Magazine Harkness Promise Award-recipient and a 2021 Princess Grace Award-recipient, is a queer-black-think-maker, a choreographer, an educator and producer based in Brooklyn. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Mercer holds a BFA in dance and choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the funding producer, and director of TheREDprojectNYC (TRPNYC), a multidisciplinary ensemble of artists dedicated to movement philosophy.
Tickets for the performance are $10 at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.
Staff Writer on Feb 28, 2023