Rennie Harris Puremovement presents American Street Dancer

Layering rhythms

American Street Dancer embodies the African American rhythms that connect tap, street dance, and hip-hop. Harris’s program notes explain that street dance and hip-hop dance are not the same. Rather, contemporary street dance styles such as krumping, juking, and go-go each build on rhythms specific to a particular kind of music. Their origins also are specific to particular places. Yet everything seemed to come from the beat of the drum Tyreis Hunte played at the beginning of American Street Dancer.

A jaw-dropping tap solo kicked off the dancing. Casel’s feet created rapid-fire rhythms that she layered on top of each other. Then her taps conversed with the bucket drums played by Tony Royster, Edward Smallwood, and Solomon Saunders. Members of Creation Global caught Casel’s momentum and infused it with Chicago footwork, a highly rhythmic form of street dance originating in that city.

Though unfamiliar with the term, I recognized Chicago footwork from high-profile performances, events, and ad campaigns. Creation Global dancers have performed with recording artists including Missy Elliott, Chance the Rapper, and Madonna. Eddie “Pause Eddie” Martin Jr., Donetta “LilBit” Jackson, Charles “King Charles” L. Parks IV, and Christopher “Mad Dog” Thomas made this sequence a highlight. Their lightning-fast feet and energetic moves were mesmerizing, with synchronized sections especially impressive. Martin seemed to challenge the laws of physics, and Jackson’s joyful energy beamed from the stage.

House of Jit dancers caught the rhythm next. Jit (also known as jitting or jit dancing) developed in Detroit, and it is known for expressive movement paired with electronic music. Michael Manson, Jr., Michael “King Flash” Reed, Lilanie “Lily/The First Lady of House of Jit” Karunanayake, Tristan “The Golden Child” Hutchinson, James Broxton, Gabrielle “Queen Gabby” McLeod, and Malaino “Asap” Ross kept the footwork fast and the energy high. Their movement, costumes (black pants and button-down white shirts), and the chairs they used as props evoked commercial dance sequences familiar from music videos and musical numbers. Now I know these incorporate and borrow from this fast-paced, improvisational street dance style.

RHPM dancers joined Creation Global and House of Jit for a final section in which dancers seemed to pass momentum between their bodies. After a lively synchronized dance, the performers took turns soloing. They pulled out all the stops with flips, dynamic splits, well-timed gestures, and effective pauses.

Like water for metronomes

The Rennie Harris Hip-Hop Orchestra brought talent to match the dancing. Musical interludes showcased the incredible skills of beatboxers Akim Funk Buddha, Kenny Muhammad, and Alexander Sanchez. Individually and together, these artists sounded like running water, thumping bass, drum machines, motors, and babies, as well as whole tracks replete with samples. Similarly, DJ Razor Ramon conjured an incredible array of sounds and rhythms from turntables spun with various body parts without missing a beat.

Such impressive music and dancing should make American Street Dancer greater than the sum of its parts. The work’s structure, pacing, and message are muddled, though. The show got off to a slow start with an unclear opening sequence and the long, dance-free orchestra jam following the espresso shot of the tap solo. Meanwhile, projections and recordings suggested the rich history of street dance and its relationship to African American culture and history, but these were too hard to see and hear to make a strong impact. This is disappointing considering RHPM’s artistically important and culturally significant work.

Nevertheless, American Street Dancer was the most entertaining performance of my 2025 so far. Street dance is varied, complex, life-affirming, and incredibly fun to watch. It also is more inclusive than many forms of dance performed in concert. For instance, gender, body type, race, and ethnicity remain considerations in ballet. In street dance, these seem less important than skill. This appeared to resonate with viewers, who skewed younger and more diverse than than the crowd at most dance concerts. Given all street dance has to offer audiences, here is hoping Philly’s performing arts venues offer more of it.