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DANCE NEWS: The Hermitage Celebrates 20th Anniversary Season and 15th Year of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize with Two $30,000 Commissions
Honoring Visual Artist Sandy Rodriguez and Dancer-Choreographer Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris
The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO) in collaboration with the Philadelphia-based Greenfield Foundation celebrates the 15-year legacy of the distinguished Hermitage Greenfield Prize and the Hermitage’s 20th Anniversary season.
Two recipients have been selected for the 2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, one in the discipline of visual art, and for the first time, one in the field of dance and choreography. Hip-hop and street-dance artist, dancer-choreographer Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris, and visual artist Sandy Rodriguez will each receive a six-week Hermitage Fellowship and a $30,000 commission to create a new work in their respective fields. Their first public presentations will be on Manasota Key, Sarasota County, Florida in 2025.
Driven by a commitment to the ancient concept of “patronage,” the late Bob Greenfield, former president of the Greenfield Foundation created the Hermitage Greenfield Prize in hopes that a great work of art will result. While it is a prize, it is a prize for future work, not for past accomplishments. An incubator for diverse and original works across all artistic mediums, the Hermitage aims to inspire creative minds to achieve their greatest potential.
2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner: Sandy Rodriguez
2023 HGP Finalists: Maura Brewer, Azza El Siddique, Joanna Keane Lopez
2023 HGP Jurors: Allison Glenn, Christine Kuan, Anne Patterson
Dedicated to championing bold and impactful new work, The Hermitage, a multi-disciplinary artist retreat, supports the creative process, elevates the artist experience, and enriches the lives of audiences and arts appreciators around the world.
“Rennie Harris is the hip-hop master who has become one of the most exacting and exciting choreographers of his generation… It’s not just his decades-long work in hip-hop and street dance that brings such a vibrant lucidity to rhythm and the dancing body, but the way he gives virtuosity a sense of theater, of form, of feeling.”
—The New York Times
Rennie Harris belongs in the pantheon of American masters,” says Joseph Melillo. “His usage of Hip-hop techniques, styles, and vocabularies has transformed the dance genre to an artistic plateau. He has accomplished this transformative achievement with humanity, intelligence, and grace.”
DANCE & CHOREOGRAPHY
2023 Hermitage Greenfield Prize Winner: Lorenzo ‘Rennie’ Harris
2023 HGP Finalists: Dormeshia, Jamar Roberts, Christopher Williams
2023 HGP Jurors: Joe Melillo, Michael Novak, Charmaine Warren
