From July 31st to August 7th, 2011 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily), award-winning hip-hop choreographer Rennie Harris brings to Miami the 2011 Illadelph Miami Legends Festival, a series of hip-hop workshops and dance classes scheduled to be held at the brand new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center and the Miami Light Project.

Eric Fliss, general manager of South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC), says he brought Harris to the center because, “We wanted to engage a diverse set of summer events. In June, we hosted a three-week summer camp run by the Greater Miami Youth Symphony for advanced students of classical music. The Illadelph Miami Festival is a way for us to reach yet another segment of the community. Accessibility to all members of both the artist community and general population is central to the mission of the Center.”

Harris’ work deconstructs the notion that hip hop is a violent, undisciplined form of expression. Instead, Harris demonstrates the openness of the art form and reveals hip hop’s universal, and even spiritual, essence and appeal. According to Harris, hip hop has the power to communicate and express the hopes, aspirations and fears of a new generation of dancers, a new community of artists, which fits perfectly with SMDCAC’s mission. “The hip-hop movement has made a significant contribution to the arts and to popular culture,” Fliss says. “And we look forward to hosting these types of programs now and in the future.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgM_XqzL8T4 Illadelph Miami will be held from July 31 to August 7, 2011 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center at 10950 S.W. 211th St., Cutler Bay, Fla. 33189 and Miami Light Project at 404 N.W. 26th St., Miami, Fla. 33127. For more up-to-date information, visit Rennie Harris on Facebook. Full-week registration is available for $500 ׀ Day passes are available for $100. Contact: [email protected].