GRASS ROOTS PROJECT

Out of a desire to bring greater artistic excellence to communities in the western region and the West Coast, in 2013, Harris began exploring the possibility of establishing Grass Roots, a new street-dance theater company in the Boulder region. He chose Boulder, CO, as the company’s home for two reasons: 1) the region has a rich, yet marginalized, street dance scene, which Harris is compelled to foster, 2) his relationship with CU-Boulder offers unique possibilities for collaboration with CU’s remarkable scholars and artists, and 3) he is moved to invest in CU’s talented young dancers by offering the kind of professional opportunity that can launch a dancer’s career.

Grass Roots represents a new direction for Harris. For this company, Harris has enlisted a cast of both street and classically trained dancers of different ages and genders from diverse cultural backgrounds. Harris has created stage works that engage, through the medium of street dance, the most pressing social and political issues of the day. In the Boulder community, a place often derided for its perceived homogeneity, Grass Roots has put the region’s cultural diversity center stage and, through Harris’ world-renown artistry, provoke emotional connectivity and dialogue about important sociopolitical concerns facing us all.

IN HARRIS’ OWN WORDS

Grass Roots represents a new direction for Harris. For this company, Harris has enlisted a cast of both street and classically trained dancers of different ages and genders from diverse cultural backgrounds. Harris has created stage works that engage, through the medium of street dance, the most pressing social and political issues of the day. In the Boulder community, a place often derided for its perceived homogeneity, Grass Roots has put the region’s cultural diversity center stage and, through Harris’ world-renown artistry, provoke emotional connectivity and dialogue about important sociopolitical concerns facing us all.