Rennie Harris Performance Retrospective

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts presented a 15-year retrospective of the Philadelphia-based hip-hop dance company Rennie Harris Puremovement. Consisting of three consecutive performances and a total of nine works, the programs highlighted the company’s diverse cast of b-boys, spoken word artists, hip-hop and tap dancers, and the group’s founder, Pew Fellow Rennie Harris’ signature movement style of hip-hop, break dancing, martial arts, and the Brazilian art form Capoeira. The retrospective performances included two of Harris’ full-length hip-hop ballets—Rome & Jewels, a reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet through the lens of gang violence, and Facing Mekka, which features video projection by Tobin Rothlein to depict themes of poverty and African rituals.