Segerstrom Center for the Arts Presents Complexions Contemporary Ballet

Segerstrom Center for the Arts will present the Center premiere of COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet, Founding Co-Artistic Directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, on Saturday, September 16, 2023, at 7:30 PM in Segerstrom Hall. 

The program, choreographed by Rhoden, includes the West Coast premiere of Endgame/Love One (2022) to music by Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, Maneskin, Peter Gregson, Panic! At the Disco, and J.S. Bach. Richardson is the Assistant Choreographer of Endgame/Love One.

The program begins with five pieces all choreographed by Dwight Rhoden -- Hissy Fits (2006 excerpt) to music by Johann Sebastian Bach; Choke (2006) to Vivaldi: Summer from The Four Seasons; Elegy (2020) to music by Ludwig van Beethoven; and Snatched Back From the Edges (Work it Out 2021 excerpt) to music by Tye Tribbett.  The first act sequence also includes a preview performance -- Untitled (2023) – an excerpt from new ballet by Dwight Rhoden featuring music by U2; full ballet to have its world premiere at the Joyce Theatre, New York City, November 2023.

COMPLEXIONS takes an innovative spin on the classic principles of ballet and implements contemporary techniques that evolve and enlighten the scope of the ballet genre. Audiences are mesmerized by choreography that breaks boundaries and challenges the world view, while simultaneously presenting the beauty of diversity in movement across the globe.

COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet was founded in 1994 by master choreographer Dwight Rhoden and the legendary Desmond Richardson - “two of the greatest virtuosos ever to emerge from Ailey” (The New York Times) - with a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles and cultures. With stunningly gifted dancers and a breathtaking mix of dance styles and athletic intensity, COMPLEXIONS represents one of the most recognized, diverse, inclusive, and respected performing arts brands in the world.  

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.

COMPLEXIONS represents one of the most recognized, diverse, inclusive and respected performing arts brands in the World.  Having presented an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement on 5-continents, over 20-countries, to over 20-million television viewers and to well over 300,000 people in live audiences, COMPLEXIONS is poised to continue its mission to bring unity to the world one dance at a time.

COMPLEXIONS has received numerous awards including The New York Times Critics’ Choice Award. It has appeared throughout the US, including The Joyce Theater/NY, Lincoln Center/NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music/NY, Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts/New Orleans, Paramount Theatre/Seattle, The Music Center/Los Angeles, Winspear Opera House/Dallas, Cutler Majestic Theater/Boston, New Victory Theater/NY, and Music Hall/Detroit, The Bolshoi Theater, The Kremlin, The Mikhailovsky Theater, Melbourne Arts Center, and made its debut at the Kennedy Center in 2017, as a part of Ballet Across America.

​The company has appeared at major European dance festivals including Italy’s Festival of Dance ,the Isle De Dance Festival in Paris, the Maison De La Dance Festival in Lyon, the Holland Dance Festival, Steps International Dance Festival in Switzerland, Łódź Biennale, Warsaw Ballet Festival, Kraków Spring Ballet Festival, the Dance Festival of Canary Islands/Spain, and the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur/Canada. In addition, COMPLEXIONS has toured extensively throughout the Baltic regions, Korea, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Israel, Russia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Serbia, Jamaica, and Australia. 

Tickets, starting at $29, are on sale starting August 14 at scfta.org.

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