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Philadelphia hip-hop legend Rennie Harris’ new work Funkedified, June 7-8

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus is thrilled to present Philadelphia hip-hop legend Rennie Harris’ new work Funkedified at the Merriam Theater on Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8, 2019. Praised by The New Yorker as “the most brilliant hip-hop choreographer in America,” Harris’ latest work features his PureMovement dancers in a must-see multi-media collaboration that celebrates funk music and street dance of the 1970s, set against the landscape of a video montage of African American communities of the era.

Narrated by Rennie Harris, Rennie Harris: Funkedfied is a visual motif of the 1970s accompanied by The HoodLockers and the New York funk band, Invincible, who will paint an eclectic soundscape and texture. The performance navigates the audience through a snippet of the decade per Rennie Harris’ journey into funk music and culture, which ultimately evolves into hip-hop culture.

“Rennie Harris is a Philadelphia institution whose talent and passion has made an impact on dancers and dance lovers across the globe,” said Anne Ewers, President, and CEO of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. “His work pushes artistic limits of hip-hop dance while paying homage to both personal and social history. It has been a privilege to present Harris’ work, alongside multiple companies this spring, as part of our varied Kimmel Center dance offerings.”

Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris was born and raised in North Philadelphia. In 1992, he founded Rennie Harris Puremovement, a hip-hop dance theater company dedicated to preserving and disseminating hip-hop culture. Voted one of the most influential people in the last one hundred years of Philadelphia history, Mr. Harris has received several accolades, including the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, the Governor’s Arts Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, and an honorary doctorate from Bates College. The London Times wrote of Mr. Harris that he is “the Basquiat of the U.S. contemporary dance scene.” Rennie Harris Puremovement was chosen by DanceMotion USA as one of four companies to serve as citizen-diplomats to tour Egypt, Israel, Palestinian territories, and Jordan in 2012.

A pop culture icon, Rennie Harris was a member of several dance groups who have opened and performed with Salt-n-Pepa, Madonna, Sister Sledge, and more. He has worked on two dance television shoes, Dancin’ on Air and Dance Party USA, as well as had his own TV show, One House Street. No stranger to the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus, Rennie Harris’ acclaimed work “Lazarus” was presented by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company in the Academy of Music in February 2019. His work most recently appeared on the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus as part of PHILADANCO: Dance Philly Style in April 2019.

RENNIE HARRIS: FUNKEDIFIED
Kimmel Center’s Merriam Theater
June 7, 2019, 8:30 p.m.
June 8, 2019, 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now starting at $20.00. Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office.

 

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