DWIGHT RHODEN has estab-lished a remarkably wide-ranging career, earning dis-tinction from The New York Times as "one of the most sought out choreographers of the day." A na-tive of Dayton, Ohio, who began dancing at age 17, Rhoden has performed with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Les Ballet Jazz De Montreal and as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He has appeared in numerous television specials, documentaries and commercials throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and has been a featured performer on many PBS "Great Performances" specials.

In 1994, Rhoden founded Complexions Contemporary Ballet with fellow dancer Desmond Richardson. Under Rhoden's direction, Complexions has brought its unique blend of contemporary dance to audiences throughout the globe. Rhoden's choreography has been the lynchpin in the development of the Com-plexions repertory, which now numbers more than 80 ballets. He has been praised for his prolific body of work, visionary style and boundary-breaking sensibility.

Widely known as "a dancer's choreogra-pher," Rhoden has worked with, coached and created for some of the most diverse artists spanning the worlds of ballet and contem-porary dance. He has directed and choreo-graphed for TV, film, theater and live perform-ances including "So You Think You Can Dance," E! Entertainment's "Trib-ute to Style" and Cirque Du Soleil. He has also worked with such high-profile artists as Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Kelly Clarkson and Patrick Swayze.

Rhoden is the Resident Choreographer of North Carolina Dance Theatre and has lec-tured, taught, created works for and served as Artist in Residence at universities around the U.S., including New York University, Juilliard and The University of Mississippi, where his 2004 Racial Reconciliation Project was credited as a catalyst for dialogue in a community that has been historically divided. Rhoden is a 1998 New York Foundation for the Arts Award recipient and beneficiary of the 2001 Choo San Goh Award for Chore-ography. In May 2006 he received The Ailey School's Apex Award in recognition of his ex-tensive contributions to the field of dance. His most recent projects include a collaboration with the 1950s doo-wop group The Drifters, that pre-miered in Pittsburgh in 2009; a dance version of the movie All That Jazz; and a full-evening production of Othello presented by North Carolina Dance Theater.