“Rennie Harris: Street Dance Pioneer”

When:
April 15, 2023 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
2023-04-15T18:00:00-04:00
2023-04-15T19:00:00-04:00
Where:
Hermitage Beach
6660 Manasota Key Road
Englewood
Florida 34223
“Rennie Harris: Street Dance Pioneer” @ Hermitage Beach

“Rennie Harris: Street Dance Pioneer”
Featuring 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner in Dance and Choreography Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris
In Conversation with Joseph V. Melillo and Charmaine Warren

Presented in partnership with The Greenfield Foundation and Community Foundation of Sarasota County

Saturday, April 15 at 6pm

Hermitage Beach (entrance at 6660 Manasota Key Rd., Englewood, FL 34223)

Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.

2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner in Dance & Choreography Rennie Harris believes that hip-hop is the most important original expression of a new generation. He has dedicated his life and his company, Rennie Harris Puremovement, to preserving and celebrating hip-hop culture through workshops, demonstrations, and public performances. Joined in conversation by Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Executive Producer Emeritus and a longtime friend of the Hermitage Joseph V. Melillo as well as fellow juror Charmaine Warren, founder of Black Dance Stories, Harris shares insights into his remarkable career bringing street dance to stages all around the world, and how being the first ever recipient of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize in dance will shape his new work “Losing my Religion.” Be among the first to hear about how this piece shifts away from what was to what is and what can be.  

Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris, winner of the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize in Dance and Choreography, was born and raised in an African American community in North Philadelphia. In 1992, Harris founded Rennie Harris Puremovement, a street dance theater 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 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. Harris is committed to providing audiences with a sincere view of the essence and spirit of hip-hop. Harris was voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia history. Among his awards are honorary doctorates from Bates College and Columbia College. The London Times wrote of Mr. Harris that he is “the Basquiat of the U.S. contemporary dance scene.”