Philadelphia hip hop dance legend Rennie Harris is known for bringing street and social dance forms to theater and concert stages throughout the nation (and beyond). Next Friday (March 8), thanks to a partnership through the Delaware Art Museum’s Performance Series, that stage will be The Grand.
Harris’ powerful and gripping performances, often conveying strong messages about political, social and spiritual topics and issues—without a word—leave audiences deep IN thought but without the normal weight of those sort of heavy topics, having transported their mind to a higher plane through the metamorphic nature of music and dance. With rhythms and movement so groovIN’, you may have a very hard time remaining seated, or at the very least still.
Now before you go on thinking this is just another dance routine, you should know that when we say Rennie is a legend, he has a years of substantial cred to go along with that title.
His early career in dance, which started at the age of 12, was spent in various Philly crews, opening up for some of music’s hottest acts like Run DMC, Brandy, Super Nature (Salt-N-Peppa in their salad days), Aaliyah, Sugar Hill Gang, Madonna, Gloria Gaynor… the list goes on.
Since 1992, Rennie has been the mastermind choreographer behind his dance company Puremovement which was created with the specific purpose to further preserve and disseminate hip hop culture, particularly as it relates to dance, through artistic works, lecture demonstrations and discussions.
As the leader of Puremovement, Rennie has garnered praise from international press being hailed as “the Basquiat of the US Contemporary dance scene” by the London Times and “the most respected…the most brilliant hip hop choreographer in America” by The New Yorker, along with a slew of awards to boot.
When Rennie’s not leading his own company performers, he’s often engaged with other institutions, teaching the history of hip hop and various street dance techniques that arose from the culture. He started teaching at the age of 15 with the Smithsonian Institution and has held positions with a number of distinguished universities and programs including Villanova, Temple, Drexel, Ohio State, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and many more.
In 1998, Rennie started the Illadelph Legends of Hip-Hop Festival which is now the longest-running intensive focused on hip hop and street dance. Twenty plus years later and it’s still renowned as one of the model festivals in existence,
But perhaps most INteresting of all is how Rennie is constantly pushing boundaries, breaking molds and really challenging the way people define hip hop through his works.
His latest project, Lifted! uses the power of gospel vocals and the naturally compelling nature of house music and dance to bring to life a modern, loose take on Oliver Twist. A young, troubled man turns to his church for support and guidance and is uplifted through the community, much like viewers of this inspiring piece through the power of his movement…
Lifted! draws on the uplifting parallels of both gospel and house, providing what can only be described as a true spiritual experience for the audience.
For the musical score, Rennie partnered with Steven Sapp and Mildred-Ruiz Sapp, the husband-wife duo behind New York-based multi-disciplinary ensemble company Universes. Fusions of poetry, jazz, hip hop, theater, politics, blues and even Spanish boleros are their forte, so being called to create a score for a fusion such as this seems right up their alley.
And the collaborative, INnovative nature of this production makes it a perfect kick-off for the Delaware Art Museum’s Performance Series. Designed to highlight bold and adventurous art from a variety of disciplines, this high-energy dance narrative is going to set a perfect tone for the upcoming jazz, chamber and Afro-Caribbean concerts to come in the series.
All we know, is the clips we’ve been browsing on the ‘Tube are INfectious, and with The New York Times referring to it as a “tapestry of elegantly fluid popping and locking… phenomenal.” we’re pretty certain it won’t disappoint.
We had a chance to catch up with Rennie himself and ask a few questions, here’s what he had to say:
What INspired the creation of Lifted!?
I’ve been a house head most of my life- and so it seemed like the natural thing to do regarding a project- and I thought if the idea after coming from a club over ten years ago- however it was the sudden death of my mother that inspired me to take the idea off the shelf and bring it to fruition.
And the partnership with Universes’ Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp is one that seems so natural for you, being that the core of what they do is all about merging art forms and compelling messaging. What brought about this particular union?
We’ve been friends for over 15 years and we always wanted to work together and so I decided to bring them in initially as MD’s but due to their busy schedule we settled consultants, etc.
As a personal house-head, I can attest to the “spiritual” experience one can achieve when entirely lost in the rhythm and flow of a great get-down, and at-a-glance, it seems you masterfully capture that essence on stage and pass it right along to the viewers… Can you tell us a little bit about what it takes to balance the organic, spontaneous inspired movement with technical aspects of house and hip hop dance?
I honestly didn’t look at it that way I just created the work based on a narrative and let things land where they fit. Also I haven’t really addressed the improvisational aspect of either style yet… I plan on adding that element down the road.
We see that the Delaware Art Museum hosted auditions for the March 8th performance which will feature local singer Ladyy DeFined, Reverend Jonathan Whitney of Wilmington and dancer Ryan Bonner of Philly… Do you typically bring this sort of local touch on your national tours? If so, can you give us a little insight into the process? Is integrating the local community important to you?
This work was designed to include the local community as part of its out reach programming- generally we‘d add school performances and workshops as our community collaborative work when we come to town.
Nothing really, all I can say is Hip-hop adapts to it’s environment. When I was given the chance to perform in the theater that’s what did adapt.
Because it’s relative to our lives and because, worse case scenario they’ll be inspired.
(We think he means INspired.) Grab your tickets now. See you at The Grand!