By Jonathan Turner
Central Iowa audiences are in for a treat as the diverse, colorful Complexions Contemporary Ballet takes to the stage March 25, at 7 p.m., at Des Moines Civic Center, 221 Walnut St.
Led by dance icons Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Complexions has awakened audiences to a new, exciting genre with their singular approach of reinventing dance and contemporary ballet, according to the company. Armed with a rich Alvin Ailey lineage and a cadre of 16 stunning dancers, Complexions has been hailed as a “matchless American dance company” by the Philadelphia Inquirer and “game changing” by London’s The Guardian.
The March 25 program includes Retro Suite, a high-energy ride through some of its most unforgettable works and “For Crying Out Loud,” a raw, unfiltered new work set to U2’s “Songs of Surrender.” The full company shines in its diversity, and the raw physicality of individual dancers is undeniable.
Complexions was founded in 1994 by master choreographer Dwight Rhoden and the legendary Desmond Richardson with a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles and cultures. Today, 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 five continents, the dancers have performed in over 20 countries, to over 20 million TV viewers and to well over 300,000 people in live audiences.
Complexions has received many awards including The New York Times Critics’ Choice Award, and has appeared throughout the U.S., including its debut at the Kennedy Center in 2017, as a part of Ballet Across America.
The company has been at major European dance festivals including Italy’s Festival of Dance, Isle De Dance Festival in Paris, Maison De La Dance Festival in Lyon, Holland Dance Festival, Steps International Dance Festival in Switzerland, Łódź Biennale, Warsaw Ballet Festival, Kraków Spring Ballet Festival, Dance Festival of Canary Islands, Spain, and the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur, Canada.
Complexions member Joe Gonzalez is a 37-year-old Boston native, whose family is from the Dominican Republic. He trained at Roxbury Center Performing Arts and the Boston Arts Academy. Gonzalez has participated in Boston Conservatory’s summer intensive, American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival and twice at Springboard Danse Montreal. He received his BFA from Boston Conservatory and has commissioned works for a few universities, educational institutions, and dance companies.
Gonzalez toured nationally and internationally as performing artist with Philadanco, Anna Myer & Dancers, Prometheus Dance, #DBdanceProject, WaheedWorks and was the 2020/21 DanceVisions Artist in Resident at Performance Garage. He is currently founder and artistic director of Jo-Mé Dance and was on faculty at Temple University, Georgian Court University and Boston Arts Academy. He joined Complexions in 2022.
Complexions dancers include members from Mongolia, Colombia, Italy. There are African-American, Caucasian and Asian dancers, a true variety, Gonzalez noted recently.
“That is pretty much our number-one goal, to show that this diverse group of people can work together and look amazing and feel right,” he said, noting they have amazing camaraderie, and can be a positive role model for society at large.
“The ballet companies are still making their way in that direction,” Gonzalez said of improving diversity. “Not quite fully yet, but with Complexions, we have even gender-neutral roles and we look at men on pointe and women on pointe and just different ways of how dance can be represented and how it can represent our community.”
He first started dance school at 11, after dancing around the house, seeing music videos on TV. “On the first day, I walked into the dance school and I fell in love,” Gonzalez recalled. “I just knew right from there I was like, this is what I want to do.”
One reason he started his own company was because many kids like himself couldn’t afford dance school. “So I wanted to create a space for kids to come either through or whatever they can afford,” Gonzalez said. He gets a lot of satisfaction from choreographing his own works.
“What I practice in is really finding the individual voice of the dancers I’m working with and adding that to what I’m creating,” he said.
“Dance is so expressive,” Gonzalez (also an associate artistic director) said. “Sometimes, just hearing ‘I love you’ is different than feeling ‘I love you.’ And sometimes dance can kind of share that feeling. You can leave a little bit more inspired.”
Complexions has brought him around the world, “different places I would have never thought I’d been able to see,” he said.
The Des Moines program features a retro suite of the last 32 years, a variety of works they’ve done, and Gonzalez is featured in a trio. “For Crying Out Loud,” first done in 2023, is based off the U2 “Songs of Surrender” album that year, with reinterpretations of their classic songs.
Tickets to the performance are $20, $49, and $61 (plus fees), available HERE.
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