DANCE MAGAZINE<br/>
The textures of complexions: Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson
and a company where communication is key<br/>
Dance Magazine, Feb, 2002 by Rose Eichenbaum<br/><br/>

COMPLEXIONS was conceived in 1994 to blend the uniqueness and the diversity of artists of different
cultures and races and to celebrate a shared passion for dance. Inspired by social and political issues as
well as human relationships, the company's repertoire is deliberately contemporary and accessible to a
wide range of audience tastes. Founders Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden, along with their New
York City-based company of dance thoroughbreds--there are roughly twenty in the company, but guest
artists swell the ranks as needed--have awakened audiences to a new, exciting genre that combines the
best of athleticism, lyricism, and technical training and experience.<br/><br/>
Rhoden's dancers dive headfirst into an innovative vocabulary of shapes, body undulations, and warpspeed
movement phrases, risky jumps, falls, and slides. Rhoden describes his work as an "amalgamation
of textures--dense, purposefully multilayered, and thick." Even his preference for moody, low lighting, as
designed by Michael Korsch, challenges his dancers. But as one dancer puts it, "We're willing to deal with
a little discomfort because we know we will look better to the audience."<br/><br/>
Rhoden's choreography is classical dance unleashed. It's a hip blend of hyper ballet, jazz, lyrical, and funk,
fine-tuned with Richardson's attention to perfection in execution and delivery. Rhoden challenges the
dancers to fill every movement, shape, and gesture to their most extreme end point, taking dance to an
exciting level of performance. A dancer whose background includes American Ballet Theatre and
Broadway's Fosse, Richardson says he is always trying to find ways to increase his body's communicative
range, make it more expressive. Although he has danced with some great companies and was nominated
for a Tony for Fosse, his hunger to exhaust the human body's ability to communicate continues.<br/><br/>

"Learn what is being expressed inside of you and come from an honest place," Richardson tells
dancers, encouraging them to examine why they dance. "If you want to speak, then learn how to with
different inflections and in different ways. Onstage you must commit [totally] to that voice because when
you are there you are completely vulnerable. Being honest ... [extends to] being comfortable and in
control."<br/>

Dancer Meg Gurin-Paul, formerly a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, says, "This choreography and overall
intention of its artistic directors force you to reach new levels technically and investigate the body in a way
you might never do. In classical ballet, the energy stops as soon as you hit your mark. Not so here. The
flow generated by the choreography is circular. It drives and invigorates you to push beyond into totally
uncharted territory."<br/><br/>
"When Dwight invited me to dance with Complexions," recalls dancer Seth Delgrasso. "I didn't think twice
about it. I knew dancing his choreography, and the way he encourages dancers to take liberties, would
elevate me out of my comfort zone of classical ballet and help me to discover another side to my
dancing."<br/><br/>
"Dancers are my first priority," insists Rhoden, who like Richardson is an alumnus of Alvin Alley American
Dance Theater. "I feel a responsibility to keep them inspired and create for them. I look for dancers who
are willing to make creative choices. That's how artists are born. Otherwise you have a bunch of robots
doing steps."<br/><br/>
Rhoden's Choreographic Approach is refreshingly dancer-specific. Rhoden says, "My work
completely changes according to who's in front of me, because I want them to feel a certain degree of
ownership of the work. I'll take what I know about them and how they move, and create from there. I tell
them this is the framework, you have to be off the stage by this time. I've given you a series of steps;
your timing is your own and you take it from there."<br/><br/>
Rhoden encourages his dancers to invest themselves and personally connect with the intention of the
work. While rehearsing From Me to You in About Half the Time, which deals with personal relationships, he
told them, "There's a certain emotion when there's no turning back. When it's over, it's over. There should
be a sentiment building to that final moment. When you get into that section, realize this is the last time
you will ever relate to this person in this way. Make it have meaning. When and if you meet again, your
encounter will carry little of your previous relationship." His use of imagery reinforces and informs the
dancers of his intention but also gives them an emotional hook of their own. His ability to clearly articulate
in words what he's trying to convey in movement is one of his most valuable attributes as a
choreographer. Simply stated, his dancers get it, because he is an excellent communicator.<br/><br/>
But by his own admission, the work also comes from a great need to express himself. "When I found
dance," he says, "I found out who I was. Six months after I started dancing I began choreographing."<br/><br/>
Rhoden, who has created more than thirty ballets for Complexions and other companies, including Alvin
Alley and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Theater, says, "I try not to posture. If something is getting
contrived, I'll stop. I'll give the dancers a break or call it a day.