METROLAND<br/>
Explosive Moves<br/>
By Mae G. Banner<br/>
Complexions<br/>
The Egg, Nov. 19<br/><br/>
Desmond Richardson and Nina Simone created meteor showers that flashed and exploded
throughout the Complexions dance concert last Friday at the Egg. The living dancer and the late
and legendary singer almost seemed to be feeding off each other, with Simone's soul-wrenching
voice pushing Richardson to the far reaches of his boundless emotion and power.<br/><br/>

Richardson, a glorious dancer with muscles like black marble, makes you believe he is the first
dancer on earth. Costumed in a brief red tunic, quivering and twisting in Dwight Rhoden's Africanbased
choreography to Simone's "So Low," Richardson pressed the limits of movement. He
danced barefoot, rising to his toes and stamping down like an ancient king, translating Simone's
utter earthiness to physical calligraphy that involved even his fingertips.<br/><br/>
Rhoden has called Richardson his muse. Both veterans of the Alvin Ailey company, they moved
on in 1994 to found Complexions. They gathered a few talented friends-dancers who were also
musicians, costumers, designers and poets-with the aim of taking dance a step further and
showing off the many dimensions of their original work.<br/><br/>
They had instant success. The company has grown from half-a-dozen founding members to 20.
By the cofounders' design, the company is multiracial and multinational. When you see them on
stage, though, they are more alike than different. They all dance with the in-your-face attitude of
Ailey dancers, while Rhoden's choreography also is influenced by the push-me, pull-you
extremities of William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt.<br/><br/>
The Ailey sass and the Forsythe anger suffused I'm Gonna Leave You, a duet for Edward
Franklin and Heather Hamilton, which they danced at the heart of Pretty Gritty Suite, set to 11
blues and jazz standards sung by Simone. It was a duet as duel, marked by kicking, spanking
and hair pulling-all with a jazzy swing.<br/><br/>
Simone was an empress who could treat a blues as an art song or a novelty number as a call to
arms. Rhoden chose from Simone's great range in Pretty Gritty Suite, including a devilish "I Put a
Spell on You" for an androgynous male and two strong women; a witty, jukin' "Gimme Some" for
a grinding, hunched-over male quartet; and "Mood Indigo" as an adagio ballet for Alicia Graf and
Brian Chung.<br/><br/>
The suite encompassed romance, anger, despair, racial pride, and a golden-lit full-company finale
whose long diagonal structure reminded me of "Rock-a My Soul," which was Ailey's rafter-ringing
finale for his Revelations.
Ballet bust-up: Complexions dance
company.
Pretty Gritty was the last and most fulfilling part of Complexions' very full program because it
displayed these top-of-the-line dancers in a full spectrum of moods and rhythms and in
combinations from duets to the full-shot finale.<br/><br/>
Rhoden's touch was less sure in Red/The Force, a full-company mishmash that opened the
program. Red is part of a three-act ballet, Anthem, that expresses Rhoden's views of the United
States and how our country is seen by others, especially after our post-Sept. 11 aggression in
Iraq.<br/><br/>
It's a worthy subject, but the choreographer has a lot of editing to do if he wants to make his
meaning plain. The leading dancers, including Richardson (substituting for Chung) and Hamilton
are obscured by the clutter of a too-large, too-busy corps.<br/><br/>
Richardson's moving and triumphant So Low was part of a smaller-scale sampling of excerpts
from Rhoden works over the past three years. Again, the choreographer seems to be eager to
show us everything he's got, all in one program. Unlike the crowded madness of Red, these
duets, trios and quartets were gems.<br/><br/>
Music ranged from J.S. Bach to Annie Lennox. The action was full of sudden contrasts, from slow
and liquid passages to frenetic, fractured moves, always with that undertone of violence imported
from Ballet Frankfurt. We're talking love as combat; ballet with a kick.<br/><br/>
Sarita Allen and Franklin, both long-time Ailey dancers, performed a poisonous Sweet Low Rise
to the singing of Simone. She raises a knee; he pushes it down. She falls backward into his arms
and he travels, so she has skitter her feet to keep up. It's killer dancing that leaves the audience
limp.<br/><br/>
The women of Complexions can raise one leg alongside their ear to describe six o'clock. The
men can fall into a double backward somersault and rise again in a single elastic move. Everyone
can jump ceiling high and suspend in the air with their legs in a full split. Really, Rhoden and his
dancers approach ballet as extreme sport, rough, but beautiful.