Dwight Rhoden’s Ballad Unto . . . is part of Complexions two-week season at the Joyce
COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
November 14-26, $62-92
212-691-9740
www.joyce.org
www.complexionsdance.org
Complexions Contemporary Ballet returns to the Joyce this week, kicking off its two-week fall season displaying the diversity that has been its trademark since its founding by Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson in 1994. The company will present three programs plus a sold-out gala, offering work from a wide range of choreographers.
The gala, honoring artistic advisor and Ailey instructor Sarita Allen, will be held on November 14, with Dream On, set to a poem by CCB inaugural poet-journalist-in-residence Aaron Dworkin; Rhoden’s Black Is Beautiful, a 2022 pandemic film making its live debut, with the Pre-Professional Students of Howard University; Justin Peck’s The Dreamers, a 2016 duet set to music by Bohuslav Martinů; Rhoden’s 2015 Ballad Unto . . . , set to music by Bach; and excerpts from Ricardo Amarante’s Love Fear Loss (inspired by the life of Édith Piaf) and the world premieres of Jenn Freeman’s Regardless and Rhoden’s For Crying Out Loud (with music from the U2 album Songs of Surrender).
Program A consists of Ballad Unto . . . , For Crying Out Loud, Love Fear Loss (with pianist Brian Wong), and Regardless (with drummer Price McGuffey). Program B comprises The Dreamers and Rhoden’s 2020 solo Elegy, 2023 Blood Calls Blood, 2020 eight-movement Endgame / Love One, and Ballad Unto. . . . Program C features The Dreamers, Elegy, Blood Calls Blood, For Crying Out Loud, and Ballad Unto. . . .
The November 15 performance will be followed by a Curtain Chat, and there will be a family matinee on November 18. The CCD dancers include Alberto Andrade, Christian Burse, Jacopo Calvo, Kobe Atwood Courtney, Jasmine Heart Cruz, Jillian Davis, Vincenzo Di Primo, Angelo De Serra, Chloe Duryea, Joe Gonzalez, Alexander Haquia, Aristotle Luna, Marissa Mattingly, Laura Perich, Miguel Solano, Lucy Stewart, Candy Tong, Manuel Vaccaro, and April Watson.
“We are thrilled to be headed back to the Joyce with ‘Dream On,’ a dynamic program that showcases the talent and incredible range and diversity that has always been the bedrock of our company,” Rhoden said in a statement. “‘Dream On’ is an affirmation of the dream Desmond and I had twenty-nine years ago, and the passion, pride, and possibility that have brought us this far and encourage us to keep going.”
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]