Prior to his dance and theater career, Harrison was a competitive acrobat and tumbling specialist. When he was 17 he placed fourth in power tumbling at the World Games in Honolulu. However, citing that he did not have the body to reach the top ranks in competitive acrobatics, he enrolled at the University of Utah, took up competitive cheerleading, and switched focus to dance. While 18 and still at the University of Utah, director Herbert Ross and choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett cast him as a featured dancer in the film Footloose after seeing him perform flips at the local drive-in. After college, Harrison moved to New York City, where he went on to appear in multiple Broadway musicals, such as Cats,Damn Yankees,Meet Me in St. Louis,West Side Story, and A Chorus Line. Harrison choreographed his first performance for the closing ceremonies celebration of the New York Marathon at the Roseland Ballroom. His group of acrobats were credited as "ZeroGravity," though Harrison changed the name to "AntiGravity" when they performed an annual feature in the Easter Show at the Radio City Music Hall. He directed his first full-length acrobatic show for Club Med Resorts in 1991. For six years, the interdependence he established with the international resort company allowed his performers to attain access to rehearsal space, where he continued to develop the troupe's acrobatic style.
Theater
Metropolitan Opera
Harrison has had a long-standing relationship with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. In 1992 he led the Opera's first in-house acrobatic troupe in 14 stage appearances, and in the following year, Harrison created acrobatic staging in a production of Berlioz'sLes Troyens. From 1995 to 1996, Harrison created staging for Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata, Salome, Turandot, and Pagliacci. In 1997, Harrison added acrobatic acts to Ariadne auf Naxos and La Damnation de Faust. During that time Harrison collaborated with many of the MET's notable figures, including Hal Prince and Franco Zeffirelli. Since 1998, Harrison has consulted on acrobatic and aerial performances in multiple opera productions, including Aida, Samson et Delilah, and Manon.
Aerial choreography
Christopher Harrison has provided aerial choreography for multiple Broadway and theater productions, including the 1997 revival of Leonard Bernstein's Candide. In the original production of Swing!, which opened in December 1999, Harrison was credited for providing the show's "aerial flying" elements. Harrison also designed the aerial act for Jane Krakowski in the revival of Nine, for which he shared a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. In 1992, Harrison appeared with AntiGravity alongside Marisa Tomei in The Comedy of Errors at the Delacorte Theater for Shakespeare in the Park. In the original production of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, Harrison collaborated with director Susan Stroman on aerial design and created an aerial bungee number for Nathan Lane.
Television appearances
Christopher Harrison first appeared on television with AntiGravity during the 1991 Miss America Pageant in a segment called "Extreme Dance" by choreographer Scott Salmon. In the same year, Harrison choreographed a segment for the NBA All-Star Game half-time show, as well as a television special "NBA All-Star Stay in School Jam" with MC Hammer. In addition to live performances, Harrison also choreographed television commercials for multiple companies, including BF Goodrich, Samsung, and branding agency Big Blue Dot. 1n 2002, Harrison and AntiGravity were featured on Fox's Good Day New York newscast, as well as ABC's Good Morning America. This was followed by a debut of the company on NBC's Today Show in 2003.
On November 3, 1990, Christopher Harrison founded AntiGravity, Inc when organizers from the New York Marathon hired him to choreograph a performance for the Marathon's closing ceremonies at the Roseland Ballroom. Initially credited as "ZeroGravity," the performance troupe comprised athletes, acrobats, and former Olympic competitors, with Harrison serving as director and choreographer. Later in 1991, Harrison changed the name to "AntiGravity" when they performed a feature for the Radio City Music Hall annual Easter Show. They have since performed in over 500 productions and live performances in over 25 countries, with teams in New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Toronto, and Ontario.
AntiGravity Fitness
In 2007, Harrison launched a fitness technique called AntiGravity Aerial Yoga, which he then licensed to various fitness centers, including Virgin Active Fitness in Milan, Steve Nash Fitness World in Vancouver, British Columbia, Madonna's Hard Candy Fitness in Moscow, and Crunch Fitness gyms throughout the US. Since the launch of the initial technique, Harrison has combined yoga practices, Pilates, ballet barre exercises, and strength training techniques into multiple exercise curriculums under the brand AntiGravity Fitness.
Personal life
Harrison's personal struggle with the tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints pertaining to homosexuality, greatly influenced his outlook on life. Harrison's approach to athleticism, a fascination with flight, and an attitude against graveness called "Be AIRful" culminates in an overall outlook he calls the AntiGravity philosophy.
