DANCE

Society for the Performing Arts presents Complexions Contemporary Ballet, at 8 pm, Friday, October 14, 2011, in Wortham Center's Cullen Theater, as part of the SPA Tudor Family Dance Series.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Artistic Directors Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden have strived to re-define dance their entire careers. The two have allowed the transformative power of their art to flow freely throughout the entertainment world—from E! to PBS to VH1 to FOX TV’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” for which they’ve choreographed and Richardson appeared as a celebrity guest performer. Both former principal dancers—Rhoden with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Richardson with American Ballet Theatre, they founded Complexions in 1994 to remove boundaries in dance, not reinforce them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole.

Since founding their company in 1994, artistic directors Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden have conceived works that stretch dancers, both physically and conceptually, compelling them to step outside their comfort zones and to, in their words, “reach beyond the basic movement to find a deeper meaning.” Along the way, they have commandeered many forms of music including classical, the blues and even rock and roll.

The Company embraces diversity with 14 dancers of different ethnic and dance backgrounds, as well as with its dazzling work encompassing everything from big, dynamic ensembles to poignant duets and solos. It is Rhoden and Richardson’s unique career paths that have paved the way for them to re-define dance—as their multifaceted resumes will show, neither has ever been comfortable with his art being placed in a box. Instead, from E! to PBS to FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” from Cirque de Soleil to the Joffrey Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the two have allowed the transformative power of their art to flow freely throughout the entertainment world—their creative vision restricted by nothing but the limits of the human body itself.