ACTIVE REPERTORY
The following is a list of Active Repertory for the world-class Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
If you are interested in presenting any of these works or have any questions regarding the works please contact Teri Fritze, Touring & Production Manager, at 937-228-3232 x106 or teri@dcdc.org
Awassa Astrige/Ostrich
- Asadata Dafora
- World Premiere: 1960
- DCDC Premiere: 1997
- Running Time: 4 minutes
- 1 dancer
The ostrich is not the comic bird, burying its head in the sand, as typically portrayed in cartoons, but it is a large, stately and potentially lethal bird should you suffer a blow from one of its powerful legs. The ostrich commands our respect, and in this portrayal, choreographed in 1932, by Sierra Leone native, Asadata Dafora, this largest of birds is seen as regal, if not a little sinister.
The reconstruction of this work was made possible by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Beyond a Cliff
- Dwight Rhoden
- DCDC Premiere: 1991
- Running Time:
- dancers
Children of the Passage
- Ronald K. Brown and Donald McKayle
- World Premiere by DCDC: 1999
- Running Time: 25 minutes
- 11 dancers
Set to the vibrant rhythms of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, this ballet follows a party of decadent lost souls who are haunted and later rescued by spirits that reconnect them to their ancient and ancestral character. The language of movements is translated from the visual poetry of African and African-American dance and the celebration of cultural rituals of yesterday and today.
- Can be performed with live accompaniment. Additional fee.
This project commission was made possible by the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from The Dayton Foundation.
Continuing Education
- Kevin Ward
- DCDC Premiere: 2007
- Running Time: 16 minutes
- 4 dancers
One of four works that make up colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence.
Five paintings — Taboo, Dreams, American Revolution, Wounded Man and Ordeal of Alice- serve as foundation of the exploration of Lawrence’s art of social turbulence from the 1960’s. His work from this period is crammed with monsters, demons, dogs, angels and men.
Games
- Donald McKayle
- DCDC Premiere: 1984
- Running Time:
- dancers
Growth
- Dwight Rhoden
- World Premiere: 1994
- DCDC Premiere: 1995
- Running Time: 6 minutes
- 1 dancer
Growth is a solo that can be performed by either a male or a female. The stamina-challenging ballet is the story of a young dancer coming of age and the emotional uncertainties he or she must face.
In My Father's House
- Debbie Blunden-Diggs
- World Premiere by DCDC: 1997
- Running Time: 20 minutes
- 12 dancers
Set to four contemporary gospel tunes by Kirk Franklin and the Family, In My Father's House brings the modern-day church experience to the stage. The built-in encore, "When I Think About Jesus" is so highly energized that it brings the audience to its feet, and they leave the theater dancing and singing.
Jacobs Ladder
- Rennie Harris
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2007
- Running Time: 17 minutes
- 14 dancers
One of four works that make up colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence.
“The piece is inspired by the passion and verve of Mr. Lawrence’s work, I hope to convey his inspiration for life, his understanding of spirit, and his freedom of voice, mind and body. In short, his work understands that movement is the last manifestation of ones reality. It is what we do, not what we say or who we hope to be, but rather, what we do that defines us.” — Rennie Harris
JLawrence Paint (Harriet Tubman Remix)
- Donald Byrd
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2007
- Running Time: 30:33
- 13 dancers
One of four works that make up colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence. Donald Byrd used painting from Jacob Lawrence’s Harriet Tubman series. The piece walks through Harriet Tubman’s life through the images of Jacob Lawrence and the art of dance.
J Lawrence Paint (Harriet Tubman Remix) was made possible by the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts. Additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Las Desenamoradas
- Eleo Pomare
- World Premiere: 1967
- DCDC Premiere: 1988
- Running Time: 17 minutes
- 10 dancers
This piece was inspired by the dramatic play “The House of Bernarda Alba” by Federico Garcia Lorca. It depicts the frustration of five sisters confined to their mother’s manless household where heartless pride and sterile convention destroy love and life.
The reconstruction of this work is part of “The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance,” a project of the American Dance Festival supported by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation
Lyric Fire
- Dianne McIntyre
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2006
- Running Time: 37 minutes
- 8 dancers
It is the choreographer’s intention to put into physical motion Dunbar’s poetry and Dunbar himself: to blur the old distinction between dialect and standard verse by infusing each choreo-interpretation with the bold, sensitive, elegant humanness he wants us to see in “his people”. First appears Dunbar, the Poet and his Muse who “sets his soul ablaze with lyric fire” allowing him to see the songs in the world around him; in children, in nature, in love, in racial conflict, in race pride, and in the poet’s own inner world.
Support for Lyric Fire comes from The Kettering Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Reynolds and Reynolds Company Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, David and Guinette Kirk/DNK Architects, and National City Bank.
Mourner's Bench
- Talley Beatty
- World Premiere: 1947
- DCDC Premiere: 1990
- Running Time: 6 minutes
- 1 dancer
The dancer "sitting on the mourner's bench" reflects upon the end of a mixed rural community, which had, prior to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, worked in harmony to farm the land. The arrival of the KKK and their creed has destroyed the harmony of the community, and the dead are buried under the cover of night ("My hair was wet with midnight dew.") A single mourner remembers the horror of the slaughter that he has witnessed that day in 1865.
The reconstruction of this work is part of Black Tradition in American Modern Dance, a project of the American Dance Festival supported by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation.
On the Wings of Angels
- Sir Warren Spears
- World Premiere by DCDC: 1996
- Running Time: 30 minutes
- 6 dancers
This work, which had its premiere in spring of 1996, was immediately hailed by audiences and critics alike as a fitting tribute to the wartime efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were African-Americans who received their flight training at an airbase in Alabama as preparation for their service to their country in time of war. Although these men met hardships and obstacles placed in their paths by a racist military system, the "Red Tails", their nickname, distinguished themselves with honor in WWII. Sir Warren has crafted a work that follows the men from their early training to the time they become airborne, never literally, but almost impressionistically. Along the way, he shows us the intense camaraderie that developed as these men faced enemies on two fronts – at home and overseas. Using gestures of saluting, pointing to the skies and pledging their hearts, Sir Warren, neatly sums up the tremendous dedication, patriotism and accomplishment of African Americans who were willing to make the supreme sacrifice to their country.
Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder
- Donald McKayle
- World Premiere: 1959
- DCDC Premiere: 1987
- Running Time: 17 minutes
- 6-8 dancers
At one time it was a common sight to see a group of men leaving or returning to a prison farm linked together at the ankles with a length of chain. A woman appears in their dreams and to each prisoner she is a love temporarily lost-a sweetheart, mother, or wife. Yearning for freedom, two men escape only to die in their quest. The contemporary dance mirrors the lost hope and frustrations of these men.
The reconstruction of this work is part of Black Tradition in American Modern Dance, a project of the American Dance Festival supported by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation.
Sagas de Salvador
- William B. McClellan, Jr.
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2006
- Running Time: 24:44
- 13 dancers
Sagas De Salvador is the sixth and last installment of the dance series Brasil: Works From Experience, choreographed by William B. McClellan, Jr. who received a grant from Culture Works to research Afro-Brazilian dance and culture in Salvador, Brazil during December 2004. McClellan created the series to convey, not only what he learned about Brazilian life and society, but how the experience touched him personally. “One day in Salvador felt like an entire year in the United States. I knew a fair amount about Brazil before arriving, but I was not prepared for the actual experience of being there. It was like a dream. So much beauty and so much strife all at once. It was a whirlwind of emotions.” Sagas De Salvador will feature several very different sections that come together to reflect, through personal experience, the feeling of being swept through the life and spirit of Afro-Brazilian Salvador.
This work was made possible by the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District Individual Artist Fellowship.
Sets and Chasers
- Kevin Ward
- World Premiere by DCDC: 1999
- Running Time: 25 minutes
- 10 dancers
A ballet set to Duke Ellington’s orchestra recorded live on November 7th, 1940 at a ballroom dance in Fargo, North Dakota. The fusion of sounds includes the static of the local radio station, the voices of the announcer and Duke Ellington, the background texture produced by the musicians and crowds.
The title refers to the sequences of numbers that jazz musicians separate an evening’s performance into (sets) and the breaks (chasers) that signal the end of a set. All in all, this is an exciting documentation of a major event, a live recording of the 1939-1942 Ellington orchestra, hailed as one of the greatest ensembles in the history of American music.
The Stack Up
- Talley Beatty
- World Premiere: 1982
- DCDC Premiere: 1992
- Running Time: 25 minutes
- 10 dancers
A topical portrayal of life on the streets.
Traffic
- Debbie Blunden-Diggs
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2003
- Running Time: 17 minutes
- 12 dancers
Traffic is an abstract work performed in three sections to a percussive score. This ballet examines the ebb and flow of everyday life both individually and collectively through movement patterns
Unresolved
- Shonna Hickman-Matlock
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2002
- Running Time: 11:35
- 2 dancers
Unresolved describes the struggles of two lovers trying to decide the future of their relationship. They must determine whether to remain lovers or go their separate ways. Ultimately the lovers’ future remains ‘unresolved’
We Ain't Goin' Home But We Finna To Get The Hell Up Outta Here
- Reggie Wilson
- World Premiere by DCDC: 2007
- Running Time: 28:56
- 8 dancers
One of four works that make up colôr-ógrăphy, n. the dances of Jacob Lawrence.
An eclectic work based on social line dances of today, African themes, and improvisation.
