Rennie Harris

American Hip-Hop Dancer & Choreographer (1964- )

I got to join a writing fellowship towards the end of 2023 called Oz's artwire. My first writing assignment was to watch Rennie Harris's “Rome & Jewels” and craft a creative response. This show, man this show...

It had me standing, had me laughing, and towards the end had me crying. A modern take on Shakespeare, this show raised questions about what society pressures us into being, what we blame on desire, whether that desire is authentic or manufactured. The lighting and stage design, the formations what gets said via line, via rap, via body movement, it brought me back to a very real place.

It brought me back to growing up in Memphis and turning on the news. The blue glow that is always on the streets at night because something is always going down. It brought me back to COVID and the BLM movement. It brought me back to high school. Cutting up with friends, ragging on each other in band, getting cat-called in the halls and understanding what it felt like to be made an object in someone else's eyes. Its a mixture of things for sure but I was just utterly impacted by the performance. The imagery created, the questions it raised for me, the commentary on current life—I think it will stay with me for a long time.

→ Learn More at Rennie's site

→ My piece inspired by the show "China Doll"