The New York Times<br/>
DANCE REVIEW; Energy Beyond The
Goals Of Art<br/>
By JENNIFER DUNNING<br/>
Published: September 20, 1997<br/><br/>

A telling comment by Nietzsche appears on the first page of the program for
Complexions -- A Concept in Dance, which performed on Thursday night at the
Majestic Theater of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. ''We should consider each
day lost on which we have not danced once,'' the quotation reads. And that was
very much the spirit of the evening's five pieces, choreographed by Dwight
Rhoden, a co-founder of the company with Desmond Richardson.<br/>

The Majestic stage pulsated with exuberant energy and sensual heat. To
paraphrase another pundit, however, unexamined dance is not worth watching.
When Mr. Rhoden limits his choreographic palette to just a few performers and a
fairly simple, direct theme, one can see a distinctive talent pushing through.<br/>

His two premieres made that point very clearly. ''Romeo and Julio,'' performed
by Mr. Richardson and Antonio Carlos Scott, is a daring and thought-provoking
departure from the norm. It is no longer startling to see a duet for dancers of the
same sex. And Ian Hendrickson-Smith's enjoyably dawdling jazz rearrangement
of the Prokoviev score (performed live by Mr. Hendrickson-Smith, Richard
DeBonis, Jennifer Vincent and Jeremy Manasia) soon loses its element of
surprise. What is interesting about the duet is its abstraction.<br/>

''Romeo and Julio'' makes few allusions to love, sex or loss. The men might be
acrobats passing in the night, two tangled bodies that seldom knot together, more
often using each other as springboards and for symmetry. That coolness is
difficult to get used to. One waits for a tiny signal of affection or desire. But Mr.
Rhoden has created a fascinating variation on an age-old theme.<br/>

His new ''Inkblots,'' choreographed with Mr. Richardson to music by Mr. Scott,
was pure unexamined dance, an endless, mindless spectacle notable only for the
zeal and expertise of its large cast. A hilariously over-the-top Sarita Allen, several
hard-dancing soloists and a terrific corps raced across the stage, engaged in a few
quick and sultry acrobatic duets and sped up and down a flight of white stairs to
no apparent purpose. Program notes about Rorshach blots were useless, as were
the dance's 10 section titles. At times one suspected this might be a club-style
reenactment of Dante's ''Divine Comedy,'' or a very long sojourn in some other
kind of hell.<br/>

Complexions began as a kind of art co-op that made use of all its dancers' gifts.
Mr. Rhoden and Mr. Richardson have struck gold with Ricky Lizalde, an
imaginative costume designer, and Mr. Scott, who has become an authoritative
composer of music for dance. Both contributed to the new works, which also had
dramatic lighting by Stephen Petrilli.<br/>

Mr. Rhoden was back at his best in ''Growth -- A Part of the Bigger Picture,'' a
sizzling yet substantial showcase for the considerable skills of Sheri Williams,
who performed the solo, and in a duet from ''Global Warning.'' Jodie Gates stood
out for the subtlety and intriguing offhandedness she brought to the duet, with
Ryan Taylor her imposing partner.<br/>

The program was completed by ''Frames.'' The lead dancers also included
Michael Thomas, and Rebecca Rigert, with Chris Freeman standing out for his sly
and supple dancing in the corps.