Foreground l to r: Jennifer Fomore and Leonora Martelly. Backrow: Lisa Edwards and Gillian Rougier in the Castillo Theatre production of Homeland Security: Bringing Dr. King Up To Date.

World-renowned dancer/choreographer Desmond Richardson, working with young people from the All Stars Project, created a brilliant dance-theatre production entitled Homeland Security: Bringing Dr. King Up to Date, which ran March 9 to April 1.

Directed and choreographed by Richardson and produced by the Castillo Theatre, this experimental developmental dance-theatre piece received raves from Time Out NY Kids and Dance Spirit magazines and introduced Dr. King to post-9/11 America. Mixing dance, music, text, photography, and video, Homeland Security questions our assumptions about the nature of a "homeland' and asks what security means to our young people today. The cast of Homeland Security was comprised of nine teenage performers from New York’s inner city communities.

The Castillo Theatre, a program of the non-profit All Stars Project, has long been the home of socially engaged, developmental theatre — stage works that challenge both artist and audience to stretch beyond old ways of seeing. This is a spirit that Richardson has embraced. "When you give kids something to relate to," he says, "you are showing them an option, opening up an avenue. I want to help young people be edgy and be okay with it, to think outside the box."

Hailed by the New York Times as "one of the great modern dancers of his time," Desmond Richardson is a multi-talented artist who has mastered a wide range of dance forms including classical, modern, and contemporary. His immense talent was recognized very early on when, as a student at the New York High School for the Performing Arts, he received a merit scholarship from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and later became a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Richardson has performed with Ballet Frankfurt, the Swedish Opera Ballet, the Washington Ballet, Teatro at La Scala and the San Francisco Ballet.  He has appeared on Broadway in Movin’ Out, The Look of Love and Fosse, for which he received a 1999 Tony Award Nomination. He was featured in Patrick Swayze’s film, One Last Dance and the film version of the Oscar-winning musical Chicago. He has also danced with popular musical artists Prince, Aretha Franklin, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Richardson is the artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, based in New York City.