Rennie Harris Puremovement to Perform at Joyce Theater, 1/28-2/2

After a 10-year hiatus, the sensational, world-renowned Rennie Harris, believed by many to be the best living hip-hop dancer/artist on earth, will return to The Joyce Theater with his company Rennie Harris Puremovement from January 28 - February 2, 2014 to perform a program that features the most exciting, compelling and acclaimed pieces from the company's repertoire. Tickets are $10-$49 ($26-$37 for Joyce members) and can be arranged by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or online at www.joyce.org. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

Rennie Harris Puremovement has been thrilling audiences since its 1992 founding in Philadelphia, by Rennie Harris, on the belief that hip-hop was the most important original expression of a new generation. Since then, Harris has toured the world, winning praise from critics and fans alike for his edgy and sophisticated choreography. This 2014 Joyce Theater engagement, 10-years after his last thrilling performance on the Joyce stage, features the most signature, gripping works from the company's repertory seen for the first time in NYC on the same program. Program highlights include the multi-award winning Rome and Jewels, a collaboration between dramaturge Ozzie Jones, who narrated the original and will reprise his role for this engagement, and composer/sound designer Darin Ross. The work has been excerpted and remounted especially for this Joyce Theater season. In addition to Mr. Jones reprising his role, Rome and Jewels will feature several members of the original 2000 cast, including Bessie Award-Winner Rodney Mason as "Rome." Also on tap-- P-Funk, which begins happily with four dancers b-boying, locking, and popping, before descending into darkness; the fiercely athletic Students of the Asphalt Jungle, a hallmark of the hip-hop vocabulary that has been re-directed for this engagement; and the probing, politically charged March of the Antmen, with all three works telling absorbing stories through potent movement.

This special program of Rennie Harris Puremovement's most signature works, seen for the first time in NYC, displays perfectly the company's well-earned reputation for capturing the fierce urban spirit of hip-hop.

Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer and Director Dr. Lorenzo (Rennie) Harris was born and raised in an African-American community in North Philadelphia. Since the age of 15, Dr. 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. In 1992, Harris founded 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. Harris's 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. Dr. Harris is committed to providing audiences with a sincere view of the essence and spirit of hip-hop rather than the commercially exploited stereotypes portrayed by the media. As a teen-ager, Harris founded and captained ensembles such as the Step Masters, The Scanner Boys, and, for a brief stint,was a member of the Magnificent Force (NY). The Scanner Boys were an innovative hip-hop dance group that pioneered Philadelphia hip-hop movement in the early 80s. In 1992, the Scanner Boys performed for the last time at "Dancing in the Streets" at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Dr. Harris then formed Rennie Harris Puremovement. Currently, Harris tours three evening-length works and a collection of repertory works from the last 15 years of Rennie Harris Puremovement. Rome & Jewels, the first evening-length work choreographed and directed by Rennie Harris, uses Shakespeare's text, in addition to original material contributed by the cast, to tell its own story based on West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. To date, Rome & Jewels is the longest touring hip-hop dance theater work in American history with three Bessie Awards, two Black Theater Alvin Ailey Awards, a Herb Alpert award and a nomination for a Lawrence Olivier Award (UK). Rome & Jewels has performed for sold-out audiences nationally and internationally.

Harris was voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia history and has been compared to twentieth-century dance legends Alvin Ailey and Bob Fosse. He has been awarded the key to the cities of Miami and Philadelphia, and 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 recently awarded a medal from the Kennedy Center (DC) as a master of African American Choreography. He also received the Kulu Mele' African Rooted Dance award, Governor's Artist of the Year At 45; Philadelphia Rocky Award (peer); The United States Artist Fellowship award; and The Harman Shakespeare Theater award for Adaptation of West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet.