Known as one of the most influential people in the history of Philadelphia, Rennie Harris is a renowned hip hop choreographer, educator and revolutionary contemporary concert dancer. He holds two honorary doctorate degrees from Bates and Columbia college and is a 1996 recipient of the Pew fellowship in the Arts for choreography. He has received three Bessie Awards for his work “Rome & Jewels”, an award from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the city of Philadelphia Cultural Fund, a Pew Repertory Development Initiative grant and a 1996 Philadelphia Dance Projects Commission. He is also a three-time nominee for the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts an unrestricted prize awarded to mid-career artists working in the fields of film/video, dance,
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At that particular time, I was part of a program organised by the Philadelphia Folklore Center that was documenting hip hop dance as a folklore. The center hired a group of teenagers me included to visit schools and talk to students about the goals of the program. When I got paid, I realised that I could actually dance for a living, and for that reason I decided to explore hip hop. So I formed a group called the Step masters after joining high school. We were well-known for stepping. I did this for three years before forming a popping group called the Magnificent Force. But before the Magnificent force, I was part of another popping dance group, the Scanner boys. We developed hip hop culture in the early 80s and reigned as the best popping group in Philadelphia. As part of The Magnificent force I participated in several dance contests and became one of the two or three dance crews to join the first ever hip hop tour across the country. It was not long before I went on-screen to do a couple of commercial shows and eventually getting my dance Tv show. Unfortunately after one year of filming, the show ended and I had no clue about what the next chapter of my life would entail. Hence, when I received a commissioned offer to create a forty-five minute dance work, I accepted in spite of the fact that I had no clue about the task. The process of creating the work was …show more content…
I attended a few African dance classes to get in touch with the Africanist aspect of Hip hop. I also attended Hip hop dance classes that teach old Hip hop dance steps to go back to the basics of hip hop.
As a choreographer and a dancer, do you think it's important to have a good training background?
No if we are referring to Hip hop and yes if we are talking about ballet. This is because it is one of the easiest dance genres to learn and as a dancer, you do not need years of training to become a hip hop dancer. Look at me as an example. Another reason is that Hip hop dance is always evolving with the times. Therefore a good training background in hip hop is only useful for learning the basic moves but nothing more than that. My performances are hugely based on improvisation thus when hiring dancers a good training background is usually the least of my concerns.
So what do you look for in dancers auditioning to be members of either the Rennie Harris Puremovement company or the Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring
At that particular time, I was part of a program organised by the Philadelphia Folklore Center that was documenting hip hop dance as a folklore. The center hired a group of teenagers me included to visit schools and talk to students about the goals of the program. When I got paid, I realised that I could actually dance for a living, and for that reason I decided to explore hip hop. So I formed a group called the Step masters after joining high school. We were well-known for stepping. I did this for three years before forming a popping group called the Magnificent Force. But before the Magnificent force, I was part of another popping dance group, the Scanner boys. We developed hip hop culture in the early 80s and reigned as the best popping group in Philadelphia. As part of The Magnificent force I participated in several dance contests and became one of the two or three dance crews to join the first ever hip hop tour across the country. It was not long before I went on-screen to do a couple of commercial shows and eventually getting my dance Tv show. Unfortunately after one year of filming, the show ended and I had no clue about what the next chapter of my life would entail. Hence, when I received a commissioned offer to create a forty-five minute dance work, I accepted in spite of the fact that I had no clue about the task. The process of creating the work was …show more content…
I attended a few African dance classes to get in touch with the Africanist aspect of Hip hop. I also attended Hip hop dance classes that teach old Hip hop dance steps to go back to the basics of hip hop.
As a choreographer and a dancer, do you think it's important to have a good training background?
No if we are referring to Hip hop and yes if we are talking about ballet. This is because it is one of the easiest dance genres to learn and as a dancer, you do not need years of training to become a hip hop dancer. Look at me as an example. Another reason is that Hip hop dance is always evolving with the times. Therefore a good training background in hip hop is only useful for learning the basic moves but nothing more than that. My performances are hugely based on improvisation thus when hiring dancers a good training background is usually the least of my concerns.
So what do you look for in dancers auditioning to be members of either the Rennie Harris Puremovement company or the Rennie Harris Awe-Inspiring