BWW Reviews: Rhennie Harris Rhaw Tackles Major Issues in LOV: AMERICAN STYLE

In Lov: American Style, Rennie Harris, the prolific hip-hop choreographer, declares that hip-hop must maintain perpetual relevance. This work at DC's Dance Space, shows Harris' commitment to this tenet. Harris founded RHAW (Rennie Harris Awe-inspiring Works) in 2007 as a complement to his main company, Puremovement. He uses RHAW as a training company to help transition younger dancers into Puremovement. Harris mixes styles interchangeably (including Campbell Locking, Popping & Boogaloo, Bboy/girl, House. and Hip Hop) in order to vividly express pure emotion.

Lov: American Style is Rennie Harris' spin on the classic coming of age story. It focuses on a young man as he tries to live up to other's expectations (those both of his friends and law enforcement), as well as woo the girl he loves. The first half of the story takes place in high school and on the streets. Later, the hero is arrested for a crime that he did not commit and the second half of the show takes place in prison. While Lov: American Style is described as a hip hop dance musical, the story is told through dance and spoken word only and the dancers do not sing.

Harris took the idea of sampling, a key concept in hip-hop where an artist will take a portion of one piece of music and reuse it in a second piece of music, then building on themes already present in the piece. Harris sampled well-known pieces of pop culture throughout, starting in the title, Lov: American Style, that references the early 1970s TV anthology show, Love: American Style, as well as referencing many well-known pop-culture works, including Charlie Brown, A Few Good Men, and Cool Hand Luke. These samples are used as short hand for concepts with which the audience is already familiar (classic boy-meets-girl story, kids defying authority figures, and the social conflict between youths and law enforcement in inner city communities of color). The short hands allow Harris to state his social commentary more fluidly, as he doesn't have to establish each theme from scratch.

Picking up the torch first lit when Melle Mel laid down The Message, Lov: American Style's most prevalent theme is a biting critique of law enforcement. The work opens while theatergoers are still taking their seats, as a security guard standing in the corner begins to leer ever more openly at the audience. He gradually moves closer to the stage until beginning the show by calling out and eventually arresting an audience member, RHAW dancer Raphael Xavier, for using his cell phone. The security officer, later identified as Officer McKnight, also serves as a police officer and a correctional officer later in the story. Overall, he represents the Man and the establishment's watchful eye. He is a constant presence throughout Lov: American Style and one of the most successful elements in the work.

Lov: American Style was very ambitious, although not entirely successful. According to The Sentencing Project, on any given day one in every ten black men in their thirties is in prison or jail. New reports of extreme police aggression surface on an all too frequent basis, making Harris' story all the more timely and relevant. Given the gravity of the subject matter, Lov: American Style failed at times to do it justice and would be improved with some selective edits to improve the intermittent slow pacing. While it is a training company, a few of RHAW's dancers could not maintain Harris' high-energy pace throughout the show. Their fatigue was distracting, especially when they were serving as background for plot in the foreground. Finally, the happy ending (released on a technicality) undermines the show's message by implying that injustice will automatically correct itself. The ending gave a similar effect of an after school special and removes some of the needed urgency from the situation. A more likely and daring ending would leave the characters in prison thanks to a sea of inefficient bureaucracy and overworked legal representatives.

Rennie Harris has been a major force in hip-hop since the seventies and while Lov: American Style was not his most well executed creation, it is clear that he still has plenty to say.

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