Dance has been a part of Jillian Davis’ world for as long as she can remember.
Growing up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania, a toddler-aged Davis was always moving around, dancing next to the radio speakers. By the time she was three years old, Davis’ parents signed her up for ballet classes.
“I just always loved moving my body. I always loved reacting to music, and as soon as I found out that I could do this as a profession, I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” she told BridgeDetroit.
But things haven’t always been easy for the dancer. Standing at 6-foot 2-inches and even taller in ballet shoes, Davis is often taller than the male dancers in the room, which was a turn-off for traditional ballet companies, she said.
But Davis eventually found her dance home with New York-based Complexions Contemporary Ballet company, where she’s been performing for the past 10 years.
Complexions will make a stop in Detroit for two performances at the Detroit Opera House Saturday and Sunday as part of its 30th anniversary tour. A mainstay at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, this marks the first time the company will perform at the historic venue.
“Detroit is our second home for sure because we’ve been coming for so many years,” Complexions co-founder Desmond Richardson said. “And to be coming back in this capacity at the Detroit Opera House is really quite a feat.”
The Detroit shows will include a new piece, “30: Ode to the Dance of Revolution,” set to music by Michael Abels, composer of the scores for Jordan Peele films “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope,” as well as co-composer of 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera “Omar.” The dance will also include a spoken-word section written and performed by Complexions poet journalist-in-residence and Sphinx Organization founder Aaron Dworkin. Detroit Opera Resident Artist Brianna Robinson will perform in Complexions’ signature work, “Ave Maria,” which will be the first time the company has performed the dance with a live singer and orchestra.
The first half of the program will be performed with the Detroit Opera Orchestra, while the second half will feature music from U2 for the piece, “For Crying Out Loud.”
In addition, Complexions will offer a public masterclass at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Opera House, utilizing NIQUE, the official technique created by Richardson and fellow co-founder Dwight Rhoden.
Davis likes the way Complexions celebrates differences, including dancers who have differing styles.
“We’re all soloists and we’re all speaking the same language with Dwight and Desmond’s technique and choreography, but we’re all completely different, so they’re celebrating our individuality. I’m very lucky to have become a part of this,” she said. “And I think the dance world is stepping up in terms of more inclusivity, but Complexions has been doing it now for 30 years, so it’s an honor to be a part of that legacy.”
‘A ballet company with personality’
The idea for Complexions began to form in the early 1990s when Rhoden and Richardson were dancers for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Rhoden was beginning to choreograph for other dancers and Ailey’s artistic director at the time, Judith Jamison, gave him his first chance to choreograph on a larger scale.
“I just really became enthralled with the creation of dances,” Rhoden said. “When Desmond and I were deciding to leave the Ailey company, and he was going on to dance elsewhere, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”
The two then began working on a project that would eventually turn into Complexions.
“We booked a space here in New York City on 96th Street and thus, Complexions was born that year, in 1994,” Richardson said. “We had 24 of our friends from different companies who were on the stage. There was something really palpable to the amalgam of people on the stage. And the genius of Dwight’s choreography; people really gravitated towards it.”
Rhoden said it was inspiring seeing dancers from all walks of life, from the ballet world to the modern world, together in one show.
“Once we made all these pieces for this one-time show, we looked at each other in the tech rehearsal and just thought, ‘This is so special, we have to do something with it,’” he said. “We decided that it would go further than just that one performance and it certainly has gone further, because here we are, 30 years later.”
Unlike many traditional dance companies, Complexions is known for having a multicultural roster of dancers, as well as mixing classical ballet with other styles like modern, jazz and hip-hop. The company has traveled across the United States and the world, performing on five continents and in more than 20 countries to audiences of more than 300,000 people.
Complexions is keeping up with the tradition of offering something a little different with its latest performances. Richardson said the company used music from U2 before in their piece “Rise” years ago. But when Rhoden heard the rock band’s 2023 acoustic album, “Songs of Surrender,” he wanted to create something new. U2 songs featured include “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “I Will Follow,” “Every Breaking Wave,” “Vertigo,” “With or Without You” and “Pride.”
“The choreography is totally different and it’s more sparse, but just as exciting,” he said. “There’s something that’s really quite palpable to the audience when they see ‘For Crying Out Loud,’ and the dancers do such an amazing job with it.”
Meanwhile, the choreography for “30” was created after Dworkin sent Rhoden and Richardson one of his poems.
“When he (Dworkin) was writing the poem, we were looking at different pieces of music, and Michael Abels’ piece came into being one of the selections that we were looking at possibly using,” Rhoden said. “I had met him maybe even a year or so ago and I was like, ‘We should use this piece of music. It just kind of fit. And he also thought that the poem would be beautiful on top of this piece of music.”
But overall, Richardson hopes the show provokes thought and that audiences have a good time.
“This company is not afraid to entertain,” he said. “We tell our dancers, ‘Go all in, kill it and have an experience’ so that they can transport your audience and they can have an experience, and then they learn something new that maybe they hadn’t known before.”
Rhoden said the show’s theme of love is true to the company’s foundation and he hopes that the audience will be able to notice that.
“Complexions is a ballet company with a personality,” he said. “The resounding theme that we hope our audience walks away with is that they are moved and touched by the work. Some of it is emotional and some of it is just great energy. We just hope that we can reach our audience, which is what we love to do.”