May 7, 2008 – Experience dance in all its glory with Complexions Contemporary Ballet at the Reichhold Center for the Arts at 8 p.m., on Saturday, May 17.
Complexions seamlessly and boldly intersects the lives of dancers from various artistic and cultural backgrounds, creating America's original multicultural dance company.
Co-artistic directors Dwight Rhoden, resident choreographer, and Desmond Richardson, main dancer, founded the ballet company in 1994. Both are former principal dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Their first project became a three-night sold-out stint in New York. The following year, the company won The New York Times Critics Choice Awards.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Rhoden said they wanted to bring people together "who might not ever be on the same stage." The prolific duo have teamed up with accomplished dancers from far and wide, including Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, South Korea, Russia, the Netherlands and the United States.
Richardson pushes his troupe to move to modern and contemporary dance as well as to be on pointe for ballets. For their company, Rhoden and Richardson seek out dancers with bodies built like swimmers: long, lean and lithe. Richardson, who resembles that look, takes center stage in the solo "Lament."
Rhoden enjoys experimenting with music. His suite of dances features music by classical composer Frederic Chopin (Dear Frederic) and jazz great Nina Simone (Pretty Gritty Suite). The repertoire also includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach (Flaw), Stevie Wonder (Wonder-Full) and Annie Lennox (3 for 6).
Rhoden also tackles contemporary issues through dance. In two ambitious projects, the choreographer looks at life before and after September 11 in the three-part "Anthem" and of the lives of 20 New Yorkers in "Chapters Suite," set to the music of Marvin Gaye.
Two years ago, Complexions became the first American dance company to perform choreographer Ulysses Dove's classic "Dancing on the Front Porch to Heaven." Considered a "visually and emotionally stunning" dance, the piece features three couples coping with love and loss.
In May 2008 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the company will premiere Rhoden's choreography of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's ballet "Pulcinella." The ballet first premiered in Paris in May 1920.
Complexions will host a master class for dancers at 6 p.m., on Friday, May 16, in the Reichhold Theatre. Interested participants should call 693-1550. The deadline to register is Wednesday, May 14.
Reichhold Center for the Art's season sponsors are: First Bank, First Insurance, Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Resort, Tropical Shipping, the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts and Innovative Cable TV.
Tickets are $45, $36 and $20 and are available at Modern Music, UVI Bookstore, V.I. Bridal & Tuxedo, Urban Threadz, Essentric Shoe Boutique, Island Video (Nisky), Home Again (Red Hook) and the Reichhold Center Box Office at 693-1559.
