Review Of "Body Impossible: Desmond Richardson And The Politics Of Virtuosity" By A. Osterweis

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2-1-2025

Published In

Choice

Abstract

This first book of Osterweis (California Institute of the Arts) focuses on the career of Desmond Richardson. Emphasizing the roles race and gender identity have played in his development, it investigates Richardson’s virtuosity in concert dance and popular performance forms. Osterweis considers Richardson’s rigorous training in ballet and modern dance and his dedication to street and jazz dance styles. Early performances with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) are examined. The author catalogs ways subsequent work with choreographer William Forsythe at Ballet Frankfurt encouraged Richardson to expand his technical and artistic skills. At AAADT, Osterweis suggests he presented as a "hypo-hetero-masculine Black man" in narratives derived from African American history and culture. Forsythe’s choreography immersed him in a process that privileged improvisation and a more abstract expression that wasn’t racially or sexually specific. Political complexities of how Richardson’s virtuosity was deployed with American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and in the co-founding of his company (Complexions Contemporary Ballet) with his partner Dwight Rhoden, are interrogated. His forays into the entertainment worlds of Broadway, film, and video with Michael Jackson and Prince are also probed. Each of these analyses is anchored in the context of Richardson’s Black, queer virtuosity. Numerous photos illustrate key textual points. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through faculty; professionals.

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This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

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