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.
What's in a number?
In today’s world 40 is not such a big number. The human life span is longer, leaving 40 for middle age and not, as for most of history, a sign of one’s seniority. So what’s the big deal about turning 40 other than the clichés surrounding the "mid-life crisis"?
How about the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) founded in 1968, which has completed its 40th year and is beginning its 41st? Four decades and over 100 original dances that comprise the world’s largest collection of African-American choreographed works.
DCDC celebrates 40 years of creativity, community service, and its role as the Miami Valley’s cultural ambassador to the nation and the world. In commemoration, DCDC’s celebration, Engraving Our Legacy, extends through this 2009-2010 concert season with dance performance, special activities, and unique venues, such as the Miami Valley Country Club where DCDC will hold its grand gala celebration on December 5th, 2009.
This season will compress 40 years of dance-making into four concerts, which will demonstrate just why Ohio’s oldest contemporary dance company is world-class. When you consider that in 40 years DCDC became a national cultural beacon, one is impressed not by its age but by the sheer speed with which the company established itself on the international stage of dance well outside the nation’s urban capitals of art and art performance.
DCDC founder, Jeraldyne Blunden, was an indomitable spirit. Though she left us far too soon, she was present to witness, let alone put into effect, the fulfillment of her dream of a dance company rooted in the African-American experience.
In celebrating DCDC’s legacy through the presentation of past dance classics and new dance works as well, the 2009-2010 concert season reveals that Ms. Blunden’s dream, in a mere 40 years, built from the ground up an institution of stunning originality and global reach. Right here. In Dayton, Ohio.
