Dance With Muscle<br/><br/>

Complexions Contemporary Ballet Brings Eclectic Sounds and Taut Bodies to Downtown<br/><br/>

by Julie Riggott<br/><br/>

Complexions Contemporary Ballet has a fitting name: The dance company combines a range of forms, everything from ballet to street, utilizing music as varied as classical and blues, and its mix of ethnicities creates a multihued palette for the performances.<br/><br/>

Complexions Contemporary Ballet offers everything from Baroque music to moves inspired by hip-hop dancing. The company performs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion April 11-13. Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.<br/><br/>

Complexions returns to Downtown for three shows April 11-13 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, its first Los Angeles performance since 2001. While audiences will likely be struck by the movements, many will also gawk at the dancers' athletic and sculpted bodies.<br/><br/>

From their home base in New York, co-artistic directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson said that the unity of diverse elements is at the heart of the 14-year-old dance company.<br/><br/>

"It's about making things that might be seemingly different come all into one place and work in a harmonious nature, so that sends a message of unity on many levels," said Rhoden, the director and choreographer of the company.<br/><br/>

Rhoden and Richardson met at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, where both were principal dancers. They have worked with performers such as Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Aretha Franklin and Madonna; and Richardson has appeared in films including Chicago and Across the Universe. Those and other experiences have informed their work with Complexions.<br/><br/>

"For us, it's all about the exploration, that's why we actually started Complexions, to explore new and interesting theatrical possibilities and ways of movement, bringing house and street to ballet," said Richardson, also the company's lead dancer.<br/><br/>

Richardson, who started off street dancing, and whose first job was working on Michael Jackson's "Bad" video when he was 17, trained in voice and dance at the High School for the Performing Arts in New York. But he still likes to visit clubs when he's not in the dance studio.<br/><br/>

"I like to change my hat all the time," said Richardson, who in 1996 became the first African-American principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. "For the majority of dancers we are training now, we always tell them, 'Don't forget about the things that you like to do, those hobbies are important, and imperative actually, to your life, and they inform your dancing.'"<br/><br/><br/>

From Chopin to Marvin Gaye<br/><br/>


The programming for the L.A. shows illustrates the company's signature eclecticism. Both Program A on Friday and Program B on Saturday and Sunday include "Dear Frederic," a dance choreographed by Rhoden to the classical piano music of Frederic Chopin. The entire company of 16 dancers will be on stage for this lighthearted contemporary ballet. "There's no plot; it's abstract," Rhoden explained. "It's a marriage of classical form and contemporary rhythm."<br/><br/>

Friday's program includes pieces such as "Moody Booty Blues," what Rhoden terms a "hot little five-minute romp" through tunes by Roy Buchanan. Though only an excerpt is performed on Friday, the entire "goodtime blues ballet for five dancers" will be featured on Saturday and Sunday.<br/><br/>

Richardson will also perform a solo on Friday. "Loose Change" features music by David Ryan Harris on acoustic guitar. The song "If I Had a Dime" explores the classic theme of boy loses girl. It was choreographed for Richardson by actor/singer/dancer Taye Diggs.<br/><br/>

Opening night closes with an excerpt from "Chapters," a work in progress following the lives of 20-somethings in New York City. Written and choreographed by Rhoden, it begins with four young men coming back from military duty and tracks their relationships over the years. It is told entirely through the music of Marvin Gaye, including hits like "Mercy, Mercy, Me" and "What's Going On."<br/><br/>

On Program B, Richardson performs "Lament," a solo to contemporary cello music with improvised vocalizations. The closing dance is "Pretty Gritty Suite," set to songs by Nina Simone.<br/><br/>

Rhoden is not kidding when he says, "We believe in defying classification. All of our dancers are very strongly classically trained but can do all types of dance. We like unique and individual voices. We're not looking for dancers to all be the same height and look the same."<br/><br/>

Because their dance tends to be complex, extremely physical and athletic, with plenty of lifting and almost gymnastic elements, the dancers tend to be noticeably muscular. Rhoden had the perfect description for his dancers: "sculpture in motion." Richardson, in fact, looks like a lithe bodybuilder.<br/><br/>

"It is a visceral art form," said Richardson, who won the dance world's equivalent of the Oscar, the Dance Magazine Award, last year. "There is a bit of cross training that we need to do, especially for stamina. A lot of people go to the gym. I don't necessarily go to the gym because I do a lot of isometrics.<br/><br/>

"For me it's about lengthening the muscle and keeping the muscle lengthened but cut, so under the lights it's something that, you know, looks nice," he said, laughing.<br/><br/>

Complexions Contemporary Ballet performs April 11-13 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 972-0711, musiccenter.org or ticketmaster.com.<br/><br/>

Contact Julie Riggott at julie@downtownnews.com.<br/><br/>

page 20, 4/7/2008<br/>
© Los Angeles Downtown News.