Dayton Contemporary Dance Co. thriving as it tells the stories of Black people

Yahoo

20-02-2025

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — For more than 50 years, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company has thrilled audiences all over the world. The internationally renowned organization prides itself on being culturally diverse and telling the stories of Black people.
Debbie Blunden-Diggs, artistic director at DCDC, said it's been that way since the beginning.
'It is a company rooted in the African American experience,' said Debbie, 'which means we tell the stories of our culture and beyond our platform as wider than that.'
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'We transcend boundaries with what we do in our storytelling through movement. It's an experience unlike any other.'
It's what her mother, DCDC founder Jeraldyne Blunden, envisioned when she started the company in 1968.
'She wanted to make a place for African American dancers to get really, really valuable in quality training,' Debbie said of her mother. 'And so that's what she set out to do.'
Blunden and the company had humble beginnings, training girls in the hallways of borrowed spaces and having to constantly move without a true place to call home.
Yet she persevered and blazed a trail for what a Black-owned dance company could be.
'I don't even know that I understood the magnitude of what she was trying to do,' Debbie said. 'I don't know that she understood the magnitude of what she was trying to do.'
Now 56 years later, DCDC is one of the largest contemporary dance companies in America, and one of the best in Ohio.
Artists come from all around the world to be classically trained. The company has toured the world dancing on stage for packed houses in Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, even performing in front of European royalty.
For some, it's more than just a privilege.
'It means responsibility to do things as authentically as I can,' said DCDC dancer and choreographer Qarrianne Blayr. 'It means bringing people along for that journey, and especially for other Black women in this world and in this company and in my family.'
Qarrianne hails from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and has been with the company for more than a decade.
She stands on the shoulders of giants, such as Sheri 'Sparkle' Williams, who toured for 46 seasons with the company, a feat unheard of in the dance world.
She even received the coveted 'Bessie Award' for exceptional achievement by a dance artist in 2002.
These are the types of performers that come through the doors of DCDC, setting the standard for the next generation.
'This company is rooted in the African American experience here in Dayton, Ohio,' said Debbie. 'This is Black History Month. We are Black history. We create it every day. We create it every time we take the stage.'
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