Complexions Contemporary Ballet Repertory Shines in MLK Week Performances

Overflowing with virtuosity, technique and cutting-edge choreography, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, "a matchless American Dance Company" (The Philadelphia Enquirer), is the future of contemporary ballet. Embracing diversity with 15 dancers of different ethnic and dance backgrounds, Complexions brings pure dance and excitement to the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Presenting Series' MLK Week Higher Ground Celebration on Friday, January 20 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Their engagement showcases the company's athletic and technically precise style in stunningly complex choreography. The planned repertory include the classics Gone and the pas de deux Ave Maria, and richly conceptual new works such as American Pie and the world premiere of the ballet Gutter Glitter. This world premiere work conjures the dynamic of a rising from the bottom, discovering the light within darkness, and finding that spark of beauty and inspiration in unexpected places. Gutter Glitter is the first installment in Master Choreographer Dwight Rhoden's Collage Series. The center's popular African Drumming and Dance Celebration immediately follows both performances.

Complexions was founded in 1994 by Rhoden and the legendary Desmond Richardson, both former stars with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. They developed a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, and cultures. Today, Complexions represents one of the most recognized and respected performing arts brands in the world. Having presented an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement on five continents and to over 20 million television viewers (So You Think You Can Dance), and to well over 300,000 people in live audiences, Complexions is poised to continue its mission of bring unity to the world one dance at a time.

Together, Rhoden and Richardson have created in Complexions an institution that, in the 23 years since its inception, has born witness to a world that is becoming more fluid, more changeable, and more culturally interconnected than ever before-a world that is becoming increasingly like Complexions itself.

The Robert M. and Ricki Conway Dance Series made Complexions' performance possible.

Ticket Information

Regular tickets are $32. Child/student tickets are $15. Visit performingarts.nd.edu/newseason for more information or call the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Ticket Office at (574) 631-2800 Monday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.

About the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

Since opening in September 2004, the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center has become an integral part of the University's vision and commitment to becoming a preeminent research university. It is the University's leading presenter of world-class artistic programming, one with an institutional focus on contemporary works. As an academic space, the center enhances the scholarship, teaching and practice of the performing and cinematic arts. As a community space, the center welcomes more than 100,000 patrons annually, including thousands of K-12 students in education and related artistic programs. Presenting Series and Browning Cinema programs are curated to increase the center's capacity to educate, enlighten, and engage.

Additional support for the Presenting Series provided by media sponsor WSBT-TV; visiting artist accommodations by The Morris Inn, program printing underwriting by Express Press Inc., WNIT Public Television, and Grass Roots Media.

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