Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director

Desmond Richardson is an iconic American dance professional who is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, currently celebrating its 30th-anniversary season. Desmond is a Broadway Tony Award nominee, TED Talk guest artist and speaker, and guest choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance and AMICI (Italy).  

Desmond is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and has graced the covers of various publications; he was the first African American principal dancer of American Ballet Theater, a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Frankfurt Ballet, and a featured guest performer nationally and internationally. 

 He has received the Capezio, Rosey Roosevelt Thompson, Bessie and Dance Magazine awards, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Desmond and his collaborator Dwight Rhoden are co-creators of Mozart: Her Story —The New Musical with producers Tegan Summer, Patricia Klausner, and Christopher Sepulveda; the show has been performed at Carnegie Hall and in London. Desmond’s character Ted appeared in the third season of The Other Two, the HBO Max hit series.