Desmond Richardson

Desmond Richardson is an American dancer, actor, and co-founder and co-artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Born in 1968 and raised in Queens, New York, Richardson first encountered dance at a neighborhood block party when he was ten years old. His family background was steeped in music: his grandmother served as choir directress at their church and played piano, while his father performed rhythm and blues with the group The Manhattans. Richardson went on to audition for the High School of the Performing Arts, where he received training in classical ballet technique and modern dance.

Following his secondary training, Richardson auditioned for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, where he studied from 1983 to 1986 on a full scholarship under Walter Raines, Robert Christopher, Denise Jefferson, Penny Frank, Ronald Brown, and other dance educators. During that same period, he received a merit scholarship to the Internationale Akademie des Tanzes in Köln, Germany, attending from 1984 to 1985. In 1986, he was named a recipient of the Presidential Scholar Award for the Arts from YoungArts, and that same year he was invited to join Ailey II. Richardson subsequently became a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's main company, a position he held from 1987 to 1994. During his eight years with the company, he performed works choreographed by José Limón, John Butler, Elisa Monte, Billy Wilson, and others. Richardson has also mastered a wide range of dance forms, including hip hop, classical ballet, modern, and contemporary ballet.

In 1994, Richardson co-founded Complexions Contemporary Ballet alongside fellow Ailey dancer Dwight Rhoden. The company developed a Post-Soul aesthetic rooted in Black exploration and individual eccentricity, introducing heterogeneity into American concert dance through an emphasis on gender ambivalence and the plurality of race, sexuality, and dance formality. That same year, Richardson joined the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of William Forsythe. In 1997, he joined American Ballet Theatre, where he performed the lead role in the company's production of Othello and was promoted to principal dancer, becoming the first Black principal dancer since the company's inception. He subsequently performed numerous other lead roles with the company.

Richardson's Broadway career spans from 1999 to 2013 and includes four productions. In 1998, he joined the premiere cast of the musical Fosse, a credit that earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1999. He later appeared in The Look of Love, Movin' Out, and After Midnight. Richardson has also performed as a guest artist with internationally recognized companies, among them the Swedish Opera Ballet, the Washington Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, and the San Francisco Ballet.

His work in film includes an ensemble role in the film adaptation of Chicago alongside Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as a role in Patrick Swayze's film One Last Dance. He appeared in High Strung Free: Dance alongside Harry Jarvis, Juliet Doherty, and Thomas Doherty, and played the role of Sammy in Fall to Rise opposite Daphne Rubin-Vega, Katherine Crocker, and Tamara Tunie. Richardson is also set to appear in the HBO/Max series The Other Two as Ted. His television work includes appearances as a celebrity performer and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and its international editions in Italy, Israel, and Australia. On July 16, 2008, he was featured specifically as a choreographer on the American edition of that program.

Among Richardson's additional performance credits, he performed alongside Grammy artist Bobby McFerrin in an improvised performance at Larry Rosen's Jazz Roots at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Venue in Miami. He was a featured guest artist in the 71st Academy Awards live television presentation and performed with Michael Jackson at Jackson's 30th-anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden. He also appeared in a principal role in Debbie Allen's dance and theatrical presentation Soul Possessed, which had its world premiere at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1999.