Tirol PalmerBeverly TraskIntro to Jazz-DanceJune 17th, 2015

Rennie Harris

(Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer and Director). Dr. Lorenzo (Rennie) Harris was born and raised in an African-American community in North Philadelphia. Since the age of 15, Dr. Harris has been teaching workshops and classes at universities around the country and is a powerful spokesperson for the significance of street origins in any dance style. In 1992 Harris founded Rennie Harris Puremovement, a hip hop dance company dedicated to preserving and disseminating hip hop culture through workshops, classes, hip-hop history lecture demonstrations, long term residencies, mentoring programs and public performances. Harris founded his company based on the belief that hip hop is the most important original expression of a new generation. With its roots in the inner-city African-American and Latino communities, hip hop can be characterized as a contemporary indigenous form, one that expresses universal themes that extend beyond racial, religious, and economic boundaries, and one that (because of its pan-racial and transnational popularity) can help bridge these divisions. Harris work encompasses the diverse and rich African-American traditions of the past, while simultaneously presenting the voice of a new generation through its ever-evolving interpretations of dance. Dr. Harris is committed to providing audiences with a sincere view of the essence and spirit of hip hop rather than the commercially exploited stereotypes portrayed by the media.

Hip hop dance became a part of everyday life for Harris. As a teen-ager, he founded and captained ensembles such as the Step Masters, The Scanner Boys, and for a brief stint of time was a member of the Magnificent Force (NY). The Scanner Boys were an innovative hip hop dance group that pioneered Philadelphia hip hop movement in the early 80s. In 1992 the Scanner Boys performed for the last time at Dancing in the Streets at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Dr. Harris then formed Rennie Harris Puremovement. Currently, Harris tours three evening-length works and a collection of repertory works from the last 15 years of Rennie Harris Puremovement. Rome & Jewels, the first evening-length work choreographed and directed by Rennie Harris, uses Shakespeares text, in addition to original material contributed by the cast, to tell its own story based on West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. To date Rome & Jewels is the longest touring hip hop dance theater work in American history with three Bessie Awards, two Black Theater Alvin Ailey Awards, a Herb Alpert award and a nomination for a Lawrence Olivier Award (UK). Rome & Jewels has performed for sold-out audiences nationally and internationally. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote of the work, Harris has built a wedge that will open the doors of Americas art centers, displaying hip hop as clear cultural expression, compelling to all races and generations and Rome & Jewels is clearly the work of an artist of uncommon visionwe get to witness, right here in our city, the evolution of an important new dance form. More important than the critics responseRome and Jewels has been the outpouring of support from each community to which the company travels. Rome & Jewels is a highly successful teaching tool for the company. Because the work is so diverse, fusing classical text with hip hop vocabulary, and mixing hip hop music with rock, modern and classical sounds, the work has the power to touch many different lives. On each new tour the company offers a series of outreach activities, either lecture demonstrations or discussions, with youth from elementary school through college age. These activities are aimed at opening up dialogue about racism and other areas of discrimination, and teach respect and appreciation for hip hop culture.In addition, Harris has Legends of Hip hop, Students of the Asphalt Jungle (collection of repertory works) and Facing Mekka. In Facing Mekka Harris continues his quest to present hip hop dance on the concert stage and to challenge assumptions about what hip hop dance is. To this end, he has developed a solo that challenges his own choreographic experiences and audiences expectations of hip hop. Harris approaches the vocabulary of this work, entitled Lorenzos Oil, as a butoh-style hip hop dance. The solo is meant to integrate calming, serene space (represented by the butoh style) with hip hop. Lorenzos Oil turns hip hop on its head in order to draw attention away from the spectacle and acrobatic and high powered movements that many audiences, particularly those outside of hip hop movement, expect, and see what it could/should be.Much of Dr. Harris work up to and including Rome & Jewels has explored his personal experiences as an African-American male growing up in North Philadelphia. While this male point of view has always been a source of strength for Harris, in Facing Mekka he wanted to explore hip hop movement and how women interpret and present this movement. Dr. Harris has made it their own. What is most fascinating to Dr. Harris is how they have infused his movement with their own Don Campbell- Legend of Hip Hopsense of dynamics and qualities. This section is a counter-balance from the natural machismo of hip hop dance and a chance for Dr. Harris and his dancers to explore how women translate hip hop movement. Thematically, this section explores the universality of movement and reflects upon the unifying power of dance. Harris returns here to the ideas of puremovement and seeks to challenge those who see hip hop as a purely male form of expression. While Facing Mekka takes traditional hip hop vocabulary and challenges assumptions and ideas about it, Harris other work, Legends Of Hip Hop, seeks to honor and preserve the tradition of hip hop dance. Legends, as it is affectionately called, has long been a dream of Harris. It is a gathering of the legends of hip-hop dance teaching their art, leading the next generation of hip hop dance artists, and documenting and preserving their work. Dr. Rennie Harris, throughout his history, has established a strong reputation for innovative and exciting classes and workshops for children, beginning with his own involvement, at the age of 14, with the Smithsonian Institution via the Philadelphia Folk Life Center.