Rennie Harris Sets the Record Straight about Hip Hop Dance

Rennie Harris knows that he doesn’t always say what people expect to hear when he’s asked about his dance company, Puremovement, and its groundbreaking work bringing hip hop to the concert dance world. He knows that he doesn’t always create what people expect to see either. But, after almost 24 years of being immersed in the concert dance world Harris feels that now more than ever it’s important for him to continue to represent what he believes is the truth about hip hop dance.

“I feel like we’re in a state of fighting the image of what presenters think is hip hop. I feel like I’m fighting for what’s authentic,” he said.

The Philadelphia-based Puremovement will present Harris’s definition of authentic hip hop when it performs Januay 28–Feb. 2 at the Joyce Theater. The Joyce programs will include highlights from the Puremovement repertoire: excerpts from his “Romeo and Juliet” inspired work “Rome & Jewels,” “Continuum,” “P-Funk,” “March of the Antman,” and “Students of the Asphalt Jungle.”

Harris, who divides his time between Philadelphia and Los Angeles where he is a dance professor at UCLA, said a big part of the challenge in presenting hip hop in the concert dance world is that expectations are skewed. Presenters and audiences, he said, are either looking for what they see on television in shows like “So You Think You Can Dance,” or they expect to see works that fit the model of more traditional dance works.

“I think artistically there’s a long way to go when it comes to hip hop or street dance. I don’t think enough time has gone by for people to really understand what they’re watching with regards to the movement,” he said. “You have a lot of presenters who are still judging it through a European lens.”

“At the same time, a lot of what is being called hip hop is just a mixture of jazz or modern dance and they call it hip hop and think ‘Oh, this is amazing work.’ When you watch a video and see all this choreography, it’s really just jazz dance with the gestures of rappers.”

The real hip hop, Harris said, has a rawness to it and less of a concern with things like the placement of the arms or complicated spins.

“Hip hop dance comes from the hips down and it’s supported by the arms. The arms don’t necessarily dominate. It’s not about grabbing your crotch and all that,” he said. “If you watch hip hop from the early ‘80s like in a Dougie Fresh or Queen Latifah video you’ll see real hip hop. That’s the real thing.

“What you see today is okay. Some of it is actually dope. Some of it looks good. I’m not saying it’s not good dance, but it’s just not hip hop. It’s a hybrid.”

At the same time though, Harris said he tries to be careful not to criticize the work of his fellow artists. Asked, for example, what he thinks of Lil’ Buck, who has become the new darling of the concert dance world with his performances combining the hip hop style known as Jookin with classical music, Harris gives a cautious critique.

“I don’t call it hip hop. It’s street dance. It’s interesting. He’s doing some gliding and some waves. It’s not really new. But it’s sort of like a new wave of juxtaposition,” Harris said. “That’s not to disrespect him or say he’s not a good dancer.”

Harris, understandably, is more comfortable talking about what he’s doing and how that fits into furthering the conversation about what hip hop dance is really about. “My art is not about being dynamic all the time even though that’s what presenters and some people expect,” Harris said. “My art is about using this movement that started as social dance and using it as a base. It’s about being introverted and intelligent and thought-provoking.”

For more information or for tickets go online at www.joyce.org.

—Karyn D. Collins