Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
| Dayton Contemporary Dance Company | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Name | Dayton Contemporary Dance Company |
| Year founded | 1968 |
| Founding Artistic Director | Jeraldyne Blunden |
| Website | dcdc |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | Debbie Blunden-Diggs |
| Other | |
| Official school | Jeraldyne's School of Dance |
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, which was founded in 1968 by Dayton, Ohio native, Jeraldyne Blunden, is the oldest modern dance company in Ohio, and one of the largest companies of its kind between Chicago and New York City.
The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company was founded in 1968 by Jeraldyne Blunden as a performance outlet for students at Jeraldyne's School of Dance. Blunden picked students from her school for the dance company, acquiring twelve female dancers by 1972. One of these original dancers was Blunden's daughter, Debbie Blunden-Diggs, who would later become artistic director of the company.
In 1973, the company performed Blunden's ballet, Flite, earning the honor of being the first African-American group to gain membership to the Northeast Regional Ballet Association Festival. The company soon produced its first large scale performance in 1976, also marking the first time the dancers were paid for a performance. They performed Black Snow, a collaboration with acclaimed composer Roy Meriwether at Dayton's Memorial Hall in front of a sold-out audience.
Blunden shaped the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company as a repertory company through her continuous invitations for renowned guest artists to create pieces for her dancers. Young, budding choreographers, including Ulysses Dove, contributed to the growing company's repertory.
DCDC’s outstanding repertoire includes works by world class master choreographers such as Eleo Pomare, Alvin Ailey, Ulysses Dove, Merce Cunningham, Donald McKayle, Rennie Harris, and Talley Beatty. Today, DCDC continues to acquire new works by contemporary choreographers including Bebe Miller, Warren Spears, Dianne McIntyre, Shapiro and Smith, and Ronald K. Brown. To further expand its repertoire, DCDC commissioned works inviting Bill T. Jones, Garth Fagan, Dwight Rhoden and Doug Varone to participate in DCDC’s What dreams we have and how they fly. This four-piece program premiered in 2003 to celebrate Dayton’s native sons, the Wright Brothers’ first flight 100 years ago and will artistically explore what the invention of flight means to our contemporary world. 2013-14, as part of DCDC's 45th Anniversary, 10 new works were commissioned for DCDC by choreographers' Kiesha Lalama, Ronen Koresh, Ray Mercer, Donald Byrd, Alvin Rangel, Rodney A. Brown and more.
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