DCDC HISTORY
MISSION
Rooted in the African American experience, DCDC's mission is to deliver contemporary dance of the highest quality to the broadest possible audience. DCDC reaches this audience with local performances, through national and international touring, and through the company's educational programs in the Miami Valley and on tour.
DCDC 40 years: 1968-2008
In 1968, a woman of unusual qualities and determination made a momentous decision. It was a time of social upheaval and change, no less in Dayton, Ohio than elsewhere. Faced with the general marginalization of African-American artists and of African-American dancers in particular, this woman decided to rise to the occasion of the times and establish what would become one of America’s most respected dance companies.
Her name was Jeraldyne Blunden and her legacy, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, is one of the world’s premier performing arts organizations esteemed by dance aficionados and the cognoscenti as a beacon of American art. It is also recognized by the very people who make up the Dayton community, the same community that helped Mrs. Blunden build DCDC from the ground up: fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, siblings, family relatives, welcomed strangers, individual and institutional donors, powerful dancers and choreographers, and, of course, you—our audience. All have had their hand in making DCDC what it is today.
Because of her own extraordinary talent as a dancer and teacher, trained by the likes of George Balanchine and Josė Limón, and later the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” award, Mrs. Blunden demanded and practiced the highest standards in the art of the dance. She applied that knowledge to her determination to make her hometown a cultural center for dance—against great odds—and assemble a dance troupe second to none. And her standards, engraved on every dance at DCDC, remain intact today.
Central to Blunden’s vision for DCDC is that dance of the highest quality be available to as many people as possible. Far from the ivory tower, DCDC has not strayed from its grassroots origins while, simultaneously, engaging artists of the widest variety and international scope. The likes of Ronald K. Brown, Rennie Harris, Bill T. Jones, Donald McKayle, Dianne McIntyre, Dwight Rhoden, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, to name a few, have graced DCDC’s studios.
DCDC has also produced and archived the largest collection of dance works by African-American artists. The most recent, in 2007, was colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence, a quartet of dance works by Donald Byrd, Rennie Harris, Kevin Ward, and Reggie Wilson and inspired by the great African-American painter. Praised by critics, colôr-ógraphy was also a staggering success among audiences throughout DCDC's second largest tour in company history.
Other DCDC hallmarks through the years include The Flight Project (2003) in commemoration of the centenary of flight; Children of the Passage (1999) commissioned by the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center as part of an ambitious project, When the Spirit Moves: The Africanization of American Movement; and in 2001, DCDC was featured in Free to Dance, which aired on PBS’ Emmy Award winning DANCE IN AMERICA Great Performances.
But DCDC’s work does not stop when the curtain comes down. In its premier education outreach program, Teaching, Learning, and Caring, DCDC brings the discipline and creativity of dance to stimulate the minds and bodies of under-served public school youth throughout the Miami Valley. The company’s apprenticeship program, DCDC2, prepares the most promising dancers for the rigors of professional dance, and The Jeraldyne School of the Dance offers dance lessons to the public.
We at DCDC welcome you to our 40th anniversary season, Engraving Our Legacy. Our offering of performance works this season is borne of the deepest gratitude for the life and work of Mrs. Blunden as well as for all those who continue to follow her example. In paying such tribute, DCDC will continue to leave its mark on all who witness and enjoy its good works.
