It was an hour and a half of pure energy -- as evidenced by the sweat dripping down the faces of about 20 dance students.
University of Memphis master dance students had a once in a lifetime opportunity Wednesday to be taught by world renowned choreographer and dancer Rennie Harris.
Kara O'Toole, a dance professor, is responsible for bringing Harris in to teach the class.
Harris is the lead man for the dance company PureMovement, which he started in 1991. The company travels worldwide to perform and teach for about 10 months out of the year, Harris said.
Harris and PureMovement have been in Memphis for about three weeks, working with Ballet Memphis on a collaborative project which will combine hip-hop style dance with ballet, Harris said. The performance will consist of three parts -- a Ballet Memphis performance, a PureMovement performance and then the combined performance of the two companies. Harris choreographed the dancing for the combined performance.
Harris said it was nice for a ballet institution to reach out to the hip-hop dance style.
"Ballet came from the street too," Harris said. "It came not only from the court dances, but a lot of the social dances also influenced it at the time."
Dorothy Gunther Pugh, Ballet Memphis' founder and artistic director, invited PureMovement to collaborate with them after seeing them perform at a festival.
Hip-hop is an extension of traditional African art and culture, Harris said. He said that hip-hop culture should not be looked at as a new phenomenon.
"Before there was rap there was Dolomite, Red Foxx, the Watts Prophets; all these origins of storytelling," Harris said. "It's the same thing, just different eras, different generations."
Harris, a Philadelphia native, who has been teaching hip-hop dance since he was 14, had students' hearts pumping and skin sweating immediately Wednesday. By the end of the class, students looked ready to hold their own hip-hop performance
Harris sees dance as a way of worshipping a higher power. He possesses a spirituality and passion for what he's doing that comes through in his movements.
In ending the dance session, he taught the class his mantra along with hand movements.
The mantra is, "Peace, love and respect for everyone," he said. "The only time I will look down on anyone is to help them up."
Senior Natalie Raglan attended the class Harris taught and said he was amazing. She's planning on going to his dance workshop in Philadelphia this summer.
"With this I was able to completely free my body, and it allowed all my emotions to just come out," Raglan said.
The PureMovement and Ballet Memphis performance will be held Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at the Orpheum. A dress rehearsal will take place on 7 p.m. Friday at the Orpheum for a reduced price of $10 with student ID.
