I have always viewed dance as an art of structure and discipline. Traditional ballet has an ethereal quality—tulle and tights with hands just so. Complexions Contemporary Ballet performed at the Auditorium on February 7, a one-night stop on their current tour. Ballet requires athleticism for endurance and the trust that your partner can twirl you around and set you back on your feet. Complexions Ballet embodies that artistry and athleticism in an exhilarating 90 minutes that had me transfixed.
Part one consisted of five dances, all choreographed by principal choreographer Dwight Rhoden. This Time With Feeling was the opener set to a spare music arrangement from Beethoven. It felt like a deconstruction of the art form. It was machine-like, with all the cogs fitting and then dissolving in a blur of upper-body movement and leaps on and off the stage. I was not a fan of the fog machine or dry ice, the go-to effect in several dance productions. Gone was an emotional and stunning performance danced to Odetta singing "Another Man Done Gone." It is a blues wail about men disappearing, held in chains, and being killed. The movement evoked the agony of families torn apart and Black men dying in obscurity.
Following Gone was a stunning performance set to Giulio Caccini's "Ave Maria." April Watson and Joe Gonzalez performed a pas de deux that brought the house down. Watson wore her hair in a bun in the previous dances but released her hair into a glorious halo for "Ave Maria." Watson and Gonzalez have a chemistry that brought the corporeal into the sacred. The song is a paean to the mother of Jesus, expressing a reverence for the sorrow she endured. The dance required extraordinary athleticism in slow and controlled movements. Michael Korsch's lighting design created a sculpting effect on every muscle.
The entire group came on to perform Mercy, closing out part one. They were dressed in diaphanous white attire designed by Christine Darch. It swung and flowed in contrast with the percussion-heavy and dramatic music. This was a study in perfect coordination with the dancers playing percussion on stools. This machine was in perfect order, moving in sync on and off the stage. Zimmer is known for his soundtracks that add to the suspense of a film. The Complexions troupe added a cinematic depth that enhanced the soundtrack.
After the intermission, the group performed a tribute to U2 titled For Crying Out Loud. In 2024, the tribute Star Dust: From Bach to Bowie put movement to the prescient compositions of David Bowie. The choice of U2 was excellent as their music has always been socially conscious and formed during the Troubles era in Ireland. The dances in For Crying Out Loud fit the current times in America. "I Will Follow" was particularly effective, and the closer "Pride (In the Name of Love" was a beautiful tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King. Complexions closed it out on a high note with dance that was not traditionally interpretive but drove the point home of love being the answer.
Complexions Contemporary Ballet is now in its 30th year. It was formed by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, who had branched out from Alvin Ailey. Rhoden choreographed all of the performances on February 7. The performance was beautiful and uplifting and deserved the ovation it received. These dancers are artists with their bodies as a moving canvas. Complexions Contemporary Ballet blurs the line of delineating roles specific to men or women. You are as likely to see a woman lifting a male dancer as seeing a gender-fluid dancer en pointe. Complexions Contemporary Ballet performed at the Auditorium Theatre.
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