Rennie Harris

Lorenzo (Rennie) Harris (Choreographer) is the Artist-in-Residence at University of Colorado Boulder and Artistic Director and Choreographer of 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. Born and raised in North Philadelphia, 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. Harris is featured in Rose Eichenbaum's Masters of Movement-Portraits of America's Great Choreographers with dance legends such as Carmen de Lavallade, Judith Jamison, Fayard Nicolas and Gregory Hines. In addition, he was awarded a medal from the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts as a master of African American Choreography, the United States Artist Fellowship award, and the Harman Shakespeare Theater award for his adaptation of West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet.

Harris is credited as forming the first and longest-running hip hop dance company, founding Rennie Harris Puremovement in 1992, and was the first hip hop choreographer in No Boundaries. With its roots in inner-city African-American and Latino communities, hip hop can be characterized as a contemporary indigenous form.

Source: 651ARTS_GeselMasonProgramFinal.pdf