The Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance company is coming back to Miami to present \u201cNuttin\u2019 But a Word,\u201d and Executive Director Rodney Hill is warning audience members to expect \u201cthe unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he recommends coming in with an open mind \u2014 one ready to make its own interpretation.<\/p>\n
Hill described \u201cNuttin But a Word,\u201d which will be performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center this weekend, as a suite of movements whose music will surprise viewers. Contrary to the \u201cflipping and rap music\u201d often expected to coincide with hip-hop, he said the show has something different in store.<\/p>\n
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An image of the company performing “Rome & Jewels.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Rennie Harris Puremovement)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a piece with Al Jarreau, which is something totally unexpected when you think of hip-hop,\u201d Hill said. \u201cThe movement is challenging to that music. And as hip-hop dancers, when we perform to any type of music we just adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
On that end, principal dancer and Miami native Joshua Archibald agrees.<\/p>\n
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Principal dancer Joshua Archibald.<\/p>\n
(Rennie Harris Puremovement)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of people hear \u2018hip-hop\u2019 and \u2018street dance\u2019 and they either think about the old-school \u2018Breakin\u2019 movies or people battling in \u2026 the \u2018Step Up\u2019 movies, or they’ll think about performing artists like Beyonc\u00e9 or Kendrick Lamar or Drake, who have dancers on stage with them. So if that is the basis of (the audience\u2019s) understanding of this dance, they might be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Movement with meaning<\/p>\n
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Joshua Culbreath in “Nuttin’ But A Word.”<\/p>\n
(Rennie Harris Puremovement)<\/p>\n
Archibald likens the Rennie Harris Puremovement company to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, two dance touring companies telling stories and expressing ideas and artwork through their choreography.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re doing the same exact thing,\u201d Archibald said. \u201cThe movement language is just different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though born in Kingston, Jamaica, Archibald was raised in Miami, graduated from\u00a0Terra Environmental Research Institute and studied dance at the Miami-Dade College Kendall campus.<\/p>\n
He says Rennie Harris has a broad definition of hip-hop.<\/p>\n
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Company founder Rennie Harris.<\/p>\n
(Rennie Harris Puremovement)<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of his work, while it may have larger-than-life themes, or may focus on key sociopolitical perspectives on the world that we live in \u2026 they all utilize hip-hop language in movement and other street dances as well,\u201d Archibald said.<\/p>\n
He said the upcoming show at the Arsht may give rise to feelings that can\u2019t exactly be articulated with words. And, he says, therein lies the reasoning behind its curious title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI describe it as a through-line of a few different stories that all follow a central theme, and basically the core behind the work is the statement of how actions speak louder and more to power than words,\u201d Archibald explained. \u201cThis is where the phrase \u2018nothing but a word\u2019 comes from. When people say things to you in certain communities, your response would be, \u2018Alright, you ain’t said nothing but a word.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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Company Executive Director Rodney Hill.<\/p>\n
(Rennie Harris Puremovement)<\/p>\n
Archibald said the phrase isn\u2019t meant to be disparaging, \u201cbut it’s your actions and the things that you do that ultimately decide who you are in this world and how you are perceived as you go about your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archibald has toured in the show and is interested in audience members\u2019 responses to the varied styles of dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s like how people can look at an abstract painting and take their own ideas of it. The viewer just pieces it together on their own,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe takeaway that you get from a lot of people who’ve seen the show is Rennie\u2019s ability to tell stories and evoke emotion using this physical movement,\u201d he added. “I think it amazes people to see how they can be drawn in so much without a story that’s being spoken about or written in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami connections<\/p>\n
Hill touched on the Rennie Harris Puremovement company\u2019s long history with Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve been to Miami several times, even dating back from the early 2000s. We\u2019ve been coming to Miami since 1999, so there’s a long connection,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Miami Light Project, under (artistic director) Beth Boone is really prevalent in the performing arts community, so we work with them a lot. And of course, we\u2019re coming back and forth to the Arsht Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also mentioned the semi-annual cyphers that are held in Miami and sponsored by Harris\u2019 educational division.<\/p>\n
\u201cRennie Harris University is a hip-hop university where people register cohorts,\u201d Hill said. \u201cWe have cohorts in Miami and Boulder, Colorado, and we have cohorts from all around and what they do is they take online classes. And then every spring or winter, we either have our winter cypher in Boulder, or spring cypher in Miami. And this is when all the cohorts come together and then we have workshops and performances.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Archibald described Rennie Harris University as \u201cthe educational side of what Rennie Harris likes to do with his work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo on top of producing these shows and setting work at these different universities and choreographing for different movies, he also has a side of the organization that archives hip-hop history, and not just movement-wise, but as a cultural context,\u201d Archibald said. \u201cHe started creating a process of teaching hip-hop in a more holistic manner in an academic setting, because you see a lot of like universities now starting to pick up hip-hop dances and social and street dances as part of their curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archibald said these were among the first intensive dance workshops he had attended.<\/p>\n
Before the opening performance, The Arsht will host a free hip-hop workshop and freestyle cypher on Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m., open to all ticket holders.<\/p>\n
\u201cKids will be learning social dances from hip-hop social dances, dating from the \u201880s all the way up to present,\u201d Hill said, \u201cEveryone loves taking hip-hop classes. They’re going to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n