"Structure's a guideline; it shouldn't control every thing. Making work, the only thing that's real is what's happening now. I have few laws: (1) you remember everything that's good; if I don't remember it, and especially if the dancers don't, it wasn't that dope; (2) don't force anything. If I'm just making people do the same shit over and over that means that I can't see the next step, and it's time to change the space, do something else; (3) learn the rhythm first, the choreography last. As long as there's a pulse the body will respond, and if the body knows it, you always will. Stay away from the urge to count; the rhythm is a feeling, a quality, it moves you." Rennie Harris walks the tightrope between what he calls the "truth of hip-hop" and the "formality of the theater stage." A self-taught dancer who performed under the tag "Prince of the Ghetto," and opened for both Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC, Harris, versed in the hip-hop styles of Stepping, Poppin, Boogaloo, B-boy, Campbell Locking, Hip-Hop and House, moved from the tradition of hip-hop to choreographing it as a concert dance form. His early solos wove gestures of psychic fragmentation with autobiographical text. In his group works, he draws on what he terms "the tension of individuality" and multiple vocabularies from the African diaspora. In Rome and Jewels, iambic pentameter meets the rhyming syncopation of street slang. His newest piece, Facing Mekka, contains dances for women as a counterweight to the machismo of the hip-hop world

Born 1964, Philadelphia, PA Lives in Philadelphia, PA 1982 West Catholic High School for Boys 1991-92 Founded Rennie Harris Pure Movement Dance Company

	2003	Facing Mekka, an evening length spiritual journey. Funded by Dance Advance, a program of the PEW Charitable Trusts
	2001	CHUB, produced by Dance Umbrella. A continuation of Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, the festival traveled to Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the Spoleto Festival in Italy
	2001	Legends of Hip-Hop~Honoring the Source, a celebration of hip-hop dance's innovators, creators and pioneers. Touring company premiered at Colorado Dance Festival
	2000	Rome & Jewels, an evening length hip-hop opera. Funded by National Dance Project, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Premiered Wilma Theater, Philadelphia. Continues to tour world-wide
	1998	Jazz, Tap, Hip-Hop, produced by Dance Umbrella, collaboration with tap artist Herbin Van Cayseele. Premiered at Jacob's Pillow, Lee, MA and had a subsequent New England tour
	1997	March of the Antmen, inspired by the life and death of Dru Minyard. Premiered at the Painted Bride Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA
	1997	Surrender, commissioned by dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet for "Shut Up and Dance!" Premiered at Forrest Theater, Philadelphia, PA
	1997	Hip-Hop and Holler!, commissioned by Philadelphia Dance Projects, collaboration with Grisha Coleman. Premiered at the Painted Bride Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA and Aaron Davis Hall, NYC
	1996	John Coltrane Project Commission, collaboration with Rennie Harris Puremovement dancers and Positively to the Point dancers. Premiered at Annenberg Center, Philadelphia, PA
	1995	Lorenzo's Oil, commissioned by Philadelphia Museum of Art, collaboration with Antonio Guerra. Premiered at "John Cage: Rolywholyover A Circus," Philadelphia, PA
	1995	Fallen Crumbs from the Cake, commissioned by Pennsylvania Prison Society. Premiered at Holmesburg Prison, Philadelphia, PA
	1995	Students of the Asphalt Jungle, commissioned by Chuck Davis' DanceAfrica America. Premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
	1994	State of Mind II, commissioned by Ivrim Festival, collaboration with Myra Bazell. Premiered at Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
	1993	P-Funk, a work dedicated to other dancers who have lost their way or been slain on the streets. Premiered at Annenberg Center, Philadelphia, PA
	1992	Endangered Species, commissioned by "Mime Now." Premiered at Movement Theater International, Philadelphia, PA

	2002	Laurence Olivier Award Nominee
	2001	Bessie Award for Choreography, Rome & Jewels
	2001	Black Theater Alvin Ailey Award (Chicago)
	2000	Voted one of "100 Most Influential Philadelphians in last 100 years," Philadelphia Weekly
	1999,97	Dance Advance Grant, PEW Charitable Trusts
	1996	PEW Fellowship in the Arts for Choreography
	1996	City of Philadelphia Cultural Fund Grant
	1995	Philadelphia Repertory Development Initiative Grant
	1994	Susan Hess Choreographer's Project
	1993	Winner, New Mime Festival, Movement Theater International, Philadelphia, PA
	1992	Philadelphia Repertory Development Initiative Grant