Rennie Harris, leader in the field of hip-hop dance, reaches out to new audiences with Lifted, which will feature gospel music and hip-hop dance theater to illuminate the spirit of House dance and themes of social justice onto concert stages. Loosely based on the story of Oliver Twist, Lifted follows a young black man who is surrounded and supported by his church community. The work depicts another facet of black culture—the spirituality of gospel music and the community of the church and the dance—a sorely needed depiction in this era of daily shootings and incarceration of black men. Lifted will merge the organic spiritual tapestry of House and gospel music to create an epic dance narrative realized through the complex footwork of House dance.

The storyline of Lifted revolves around a church community who attempts to avoid a band of thieves/pick pockets by casting them aside and labeling them as all bad with no hope of redemption. Joshua, the son of a prominent couple in the church is intrigued with B-boys and their lifestyle, but in order to be a part of the band of thieves he must be initiated by robbing a stranger. Unfortunately, the stranger he robs unknowingly is revealed to be his uncle. Shocked and disappointed, Joshua contemplates suicide to avoid both the shame from his family and the revenge of the thieves for failure to complete his initiation. In the eleventh hour, his uncle forgives him while members of the church emerge to save him just as the young band of thieves is about to exact revenge.

Lifted draws upon gospel music, which is one of the many musical genres to have influenced House and has deep roots in black oral and spiritual traditions. House dance, which is often referred to as going to “church”, has many parallels to gospel music. Within both cultures, there is the collective energy of the entire community, the physical transformation of protracted dancing (and in the case of gospel music, singing), and the vital aliveness of that heightened state. Led by musical directors, Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp of UNIVERSES, the sound score for Lifted will merge the rhythms of House with the spiritual vocals of gospel to create an emotionally potent narrative.

Harris has built a career translating the street styles of hip-hop dance to the concert stage. Since the 1980’s, Harris has been working in House dance, one of the sub-genres of hip-hop dance that is comprised of fast and complex foot oriented steps combined with fluid movements in the torso. House is well known as a cultural unifying force within the club culture of Chicago and New York, being one of the most inclusive social dance styles within the hip-hop dance family. Thus, House is the perfect community-based dance language to tell this story of redemption and acceptance.