The company’s foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not
reinforcing them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue or culture,
Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects
the movement of our world – and all its constituent cultures – as an interrelated whole.
In 2006, Complexions held their first summer intensive program, serving 80 students in its first
year. The program has grown to multiple cities and serves more than 600 students annually. Since
2009, a winter intensive was added to the roster, serving an additional 400 students, and CCB
added its pre-professional program in 2016. Complexions’ artistic directors and company members
teach master classes throughout the world, sharing the Complexions technique with dancers of all
levels. Together, Rhoden and Richardson have created in Complexions an institution that embodies
its historic moment, a sanctuary where those passionate about dance can celebrate its past while
simultaneously building its future. In the 24 years since its inception, the company has born witness
to a world that is becoming more fluid, more changeable, and more culturally interconnected than
ever before – in other words, a world that is becoming more and more like Complexions itself.
DESMOND RICHARDSON
(Co-Founder, Co-Artistic
Director), the first African-
American principal dancer
of American Ballet Theatre,
received Tony Award®
nominations for his role
in the original cast of Fosse on Broadway,
as the principal character Tony in Twyla
Tharp’s Broadway production Movin’ Out,
making his Broadway singing debut in the
Burt Bacharach/Hal David -Ann Reinking/
Scott Ellis Broadway production The Look Of
Love, and as a standout in recent Tony awardwinning
Broadway production After Midnight.
He recently graced the January 2016 cover of
Dance Teacher Magazine.
With his technical virtuosity and statuesque
expressive demeanor, he has been hailed
by The New York Times as among the great
dancers of his time. Lara Hartley poetically
described him on the Ballet Magazine website
as “Moving Sculpture, a body that is art,
passing through time and space with power
and grace - all parts connected, never stopping
but heart stopping in beauty.”
Richardson has been a principal member
and an invited guest artist with some of the
most prestigious companies domestically
and internationally, such as The Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater, The Frankfurt
Ballet,The Bolshoi Theater, The Royal
Swedish Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Theater,
Teatro a La Scala, The Washington Ballet and
The San Francisco Ballet, to name a few. He
has performed on the most important stages
in the world including The Metropolitan
44 CENTERBILL • FEBRUARY 2018
Opera, The Kennedy Center, The State (Koch)
Theater, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Teatro
al la Scala, Paris Opera, The Bolshoi Theater,
Teatro Massimo and the Kremlin stage in
Moscow Russia. Richardson has appeared
in many stage productions from City Center
Encores to being the recipient of numerous
awards for excellence in dance, such as The
Dance Magazine Award, Capezio Award,
Ailey Apex award, LA Ovation award, Bessie
award, The YoungArts Alumni Award, a
1986 Young Arts Finalist and the Presidential
Scholar of the Arts. Richardson was invited
to Israel to dance with Israeli dance icon Ido
Tadmor, pianist Daniel Gortler and vocalist
Adi Cohen for the 61st. Presidential conference
in Jerusalem, Israel. He has also appeared as
celebrity guest performer and choreographer
on hit television shows, films, videos and stage
productions, “The American Music Awards”,
The Oscars®, Italy’s AMICI, America,
Australia and Israel’s So You Think You Can
Dance for six seasons, principal performer
in Debbie Allen’s musical Soul Possessed,
Julie Taymor’s Opera Grendel as Beowulf,
Teatro al la Scala production of Moise e
Pharoné with Roberto Bolle and conductor
Maestro Riccardo Muti, featured performer
with Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna,
Elton John, Aretha Franklin and many others
in commercials and films, such as the Oscarwinning
smash hit Chicago, Julie Taymor’s
Across The Universe, Patrick Swayze/Lisa
Niemi’s One Last Dance, Charles Randolph
Wright’s (Director MOTOWN) Preaching
to the Choir, and can be seen in the new
independent film Fall To Rise.