Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Photo Credit Jae Man Joo.
On Saturday, August 10 I saw Lula Washington Dance Theatre and Complexions Contemporary Dance at the Ford Theatre in LA. This was my second time at the venue off the 101 freeway and its a beautiful hidden place - reminds me of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.... The theatre sits about 1900 and heads ups if you ever go - get a ride. Its stacked parking. Meaning, first car in the parking lot equals last one out! The evening began with the Local Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Her company keeps getting better and better. The first piece of work the company performed was Love Is created in 2010 by Christopher Huggins. We saw an excerpt of the piece and overall, I'd say I had mixed feelings about the work. Maybe it was because I only saw an excerpt and I couldn't connect with the characters/storyline of the piece. Another piece we saw by Lula that evening was We Wore the Mask. Now, this is the second time I've seen this piece. The first time I saw the piece was at an International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference in Dallas in 07. The artists keep getting better and better and shout out to Queala Clancy for the opening solo!! I loved the mask and having the live music onstage was a huge bonus too! Complexions closed the evening and their opening piece - The Curve - was beautiful. A few years ago, I happened to be in conversation with a Ballet Hispanico dancer at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC and he told me that he was formerly with Complexions and then proceeded to tell me that he had to leave because the work was too hard on his body. After seeing Dwight's piece a few days ago, I can def understand what this dancer meant.... Tons of Isometric movements EVERYWHERE. But hey - if you missed Complexions Contemporary Dance don't worry. They have another performance in our neighborhood. Check out my calendar page here.
Here I am at the Ford theatre with another one of my favorite BODYTRAFFIC Artists - Christopher Bordenave.