Dance review
Dance reinvents hip-hop and Verona-style romance

By Ana Paula Höfling

"Rome and Jewels," Rennie Harris Puremovement's Romeo and Juliet, brought the audience to its feet Friday night at Leeward Community College Theater.

Before the performance began, Rennie Harris, the director and choreographer, who also plays the narrator/master of ceremonies, got on stage briefly. He asked us to let go of any preconceived ideas we might have of hip-hop. In bringing an urban social dance onto the stage, Harris is establishing new rules, forging his own artistic voice and using the vocabulary of a form of movement most often associated with African-Americans to express ideas that go beyond the African-American community.

The idea to use a well-known play that has been staged again and again, in theater, film and dance, was a risky one, but Harris' Puremovement lives up to that challenge.

Harris' twist on this love story, aside from the hip-hop, is that Jewels is only seen by the players, never by the audience, yet, she is almost as real as if she were present. Her absence makes Rome's role even more demanding. Rodney Mason does a magnificent job as Rome, sliding seamlessly from the original Shakespearean text to tough or funny urban talk to nerdy actor who messes up his lines and, shielding his eyes against the front lights, asks "Mr. Harris" for another chance, in a delightful non-sequitur.

The mostly African-American cast is composed of 11 well-trained dancers who are also versatile actors. The movement is precise and impeccable, yet maintains a raw energy that is immediate and visceral. The dancers are almost superhuman in their virtuosic inverted movements that drew gasps and involuntary screams from the audience. Yet, none of the dance sequences are about these tricks, except for one, in which both "houses," the Monster Q's and the Caps, challenge each other in a contest of dance moves.

Harris' use of text throughout the work is well done. The text itself is not an adaptation of the original work, but a new script in which William Shakespeare is a mere collaborator, listed in alphabetical order with five others. Sometimes text is delivered simultaneously with popping, slowed down hip-hop moves or abstracted urban gestures; sometimes the movement is minimal, other times it is a response to the sounds of the words or to their meaning. Voice sound distortions and real-time spinning of records help punctuate phrases or draw them out to a reticent end.

Live video projected on the cyclorama, the vocal sound effects and a live deejay—who gets his own solo in the beginning of the second act—helped give cohesion and added a rich layer to the performance.

Harris' work creates a new category, something along the lines of urban post-modern dance theater, or perhaps post-post modern hip-hop. It is current, real and immediate and it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

"Rome and Jewels" repeats today at 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 with discounts for students seniors and military. Information:l 455-0385.

Ana Paula Höfling is pursuing her MFA in choreography at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.