{"id":32761,"date":"2016-03-15T13:38:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T19:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=32761"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:00:44","slug":"dance-moves-contemporary-complexions-and-bill-t-jones-come-to-utah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/dance-moves-contemporary-complexions-and-bill-t-jones-come-to-utah\/","title":{"rendered":"Dance Moves: Contemporary Complexions and Bill T. Jones come to Utah"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"complexion\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Chloe Stacey<\/p>\n

Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden\u2019s New York-based company Complexions Contemporary Ballet took a trip to Provo on March 4th for a one-night-only guest performance. Featured in the de Jong Concert Hall on Brigham Young University\u2019s campus, the Complexions dancers demonstrated the intricate nuances between structured ballet technique and fluid contemporary movement, while exploring concepts of love, loneliness, and relationships.<\/p>\n

The company performed an excerpt from \u201cCryin\u2019 to Cry Out,\u201d choreographed by resident choreographer Dwight Rhoden. The duet features a man and woman standing in spotlights on opposite sides of the stage. The two dance simultaneously, but not together. They remain on their opposite sides, signifying separation. Focusing internally, they express emotions that are desperate to come out but that have to be borne alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone\u201d tells the story of three lonely and destitute men who find camaraderie with one another. Smoky lighting keeps the men in hazy silhouettes for the entirety of the dance, giving an ominous, hopeless feeling. The shadowy figures repeat forceful arm movements to rhythmic clapping and gospel vocals. As the men dance individually, this repetitive motion is the thread that ties them all together in a strengthening brotherhood\u2014a sign of belonging and survival.<\/p>\n

The show wrapped up with Rhoden\u2019s 30-minute \u201cBallad Unto\u2026\u201d which just had its Complexions premiere in October of last year. Performed by all 13 members of the company, \u201cBallad Unto\u2026\u201d is a powerful note to end on. The bold piece demonstrates the explosive movement of seven couples. The choreography alternates between women and men group movement and then explores pas de deux work. The audience witnessed how the couples come together in an \u201cintimate abstraction of love\u201d (program excerpt).<\/p>\n

Complexions Contemporary Ballet put on an exhilarating hourlong show with original and creative movement that never stopped pushing boundaries and always gave the audience something new to see.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article is published in collaboration with loveDANCEmore.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"billtjones\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Ashley Anderson<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Six panels of white marley hang in front of the traveler at the back of the stage. <\/em>
\nThey begin to skim the floor and cover a central space without quite reaching the lip. <\/em>
\nInterlocking foam shapes lay waiting. <\/em>
\nSo does a small white table with carefully placed microphones. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nThe physical and electronic instruments of Nick Hallett and Emily Manzo are to the right. Company members are invisible, preparing and bracing for a dance in new altitude. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was a dream for Park City Institute director Teri Orr as she stood before the Eccles Center audience sharing the many attempts that got Bill T. Jones\/Arnie Zane Dance Company to Park City. As the show began, Jones took the stage to introduce \u201cAnalogy\/Dora: Tramontane.\u201d More disarming than a descriptive program, a choreographer inviting you to share in material is an excellent way to begin.<\/p>\n

In his introduction Jones described how he came to interview Dora Amelan about her experiences in World War II. Dora’s son,\u00a0Bjorn Amelan, is the decor designer for “Analogy\/Dora”\u00a0and recently married to Jones; in Jones\u2019 retelling, Bjorn began to notice that as Dora aged, new stories emerged conversationally. Jones is no stranger to telling stories, particularly those of individuals moving through trial or tragedy, his body of work existing very much in relationship to broad social histories.*<\/p>\n

\u201cAnalogy\/Dora\u2026\u201d begins with dancers creating tableaus by manipulating the interlocking foam pieces. The foam shapes form windows, doorways, roofs and other boundaries. Some of these tableaus could have been lifted from Jones\u2019 other works, many including the same sizeable narrative arcs and containing equally abstract, precise and formal movement.<\/p>\n

As the dance proceeds, the foam pieces continue intermittent transitions but are accompanied by interview texts. For an avid dancegoer, it\u2019s easy to recount a handful of pieces in this vein, most accompanied by a muffled recording or a singular and heavy monologue. Jones\u2019 strategy is different, and more compelling: the dancers trade roles of Dora and Jones, allowing her storytelling to ripple among the cast. This method of delivery also simulates the architecture onstage, reaching the audience in a collective manner. When the story is displaced from its origins (a single Jewish teenager in France), the diversity of the cast in both race and physicality contributes to the concept of a shared narrative. The company makeup also lends itself toward the second and third installments of \u201cAnalogy,\u201d which is a proposed trilogy exploring different personal histories.<\/p>\n

Both the content and shared telling are at times didactic but at other times revelatory as the audience assigns how a narrative unfolds given our own assumptions and experiences. For example, one may bristle depending on which company member is the Gestapo, which is Dora\u2019s sister in the hospital after a failed abortion, which is a parent, or which is Dora herself. The architecture also crosses into potential pedanticism because the pieces could have been, although they were not, placed in the form of a swastika. This line between instructive and illuminating is one Jones\u2019 work often straddles whether for better or worse.<\/p>\n

Throughout \u201cAnalogy,\u201d a live score includes traditional French and German songs and periodically interrupts the text with electronic music, allowing Jones\u2019 signature movements to take center stage. These moving sections were striking as they exacerbated tension through full-bodied vibrations and dispelled the same tension through sweeping yet distilled phrase material.<\/p>\n

Met with a standing ovation, \u201cAnalogy\/Dora\u201d clearly reached its audience. As I exited through the expansive theater I remained curious not just about the work itself but also about the mode of presentation on the Wasatch Front. Most of my peers were ambling to their cars and heading back to Salt Lake or Utah counties. The Eccles Theatre beautifully framed the work, but I wonder how vital dances by iconic choreographers could be more effectively presented by participation among additional arts partners.<\/p>\n

\u00a0*Most recently the company tackled the history of Lincoln which, along with another earlier take on Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin, has been documented by PBS, extending their documentation to broad audiences. The company has also created numerous works exploring the AIDS epidemic and terminal illness including \u201cStill\/Here,\u201d which sparked a \u201cvictim art\u201d debate after New Yorker critic Arlene Croce refused to review the piece.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is published in collaboration with loveDANCEmore.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Chloe Stacey Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden\u2019s New York-based company Complexions Contemporary Ballet took a trip to Provo on March 4th for a one-night-only guest performance. Featured in the de Jong Concert Hall on Brigham Young University\u2019s campus, the Complexions dancers demonstrated the intricate nuances between structured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":861,"featured_media":32762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2838,2839],"class_list":["post-32761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","tag-bill-t-jones","tag-by-chloe-stacey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/complexion.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 19:22:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32761"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97399,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32761\/revisions\/97399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}