Dayton Contemporary Dance Company - Dayton

Rooted in the African American experience, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company is a culturally diverse contemporary dance company committed to reaching the broadest audience through exceptional performance and arts-integrated education. We are a company of professional dance artists who are bold, electrifying, and innovative. We are steeped in the spirit of Sankofa—retrieving from a rich past as we move forward. DCDC engages audiences through their hearts, minds, spirits and our common humanity.

Who We Are

DCDC teaches young and old the power of the moving body, through intentional dance rubrics that support all other learning. We are embedded in the Dayton community even as we dance for audiences worldwide—the soil of Ohio is on us. We dance the joy, and the celebration, of our African American communities, providing portraits and mirrors as we do so. And we do this through the unique, the familiar, the lofty and the earthbound art of dance.

Our Story

In 56 years of success, DCDC remains a vital performing arts company and a seasoned educational resource to its home community of Dayton, neighboring regions, the state of Ohio, the nation and the world.

In 1963 DCDC founder, Jeraldyne Blunden opened a dance school for African American youth excluded from the city’s segregated dance studios. With a corps of outstanding dancers, she established in 1968, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. 56 years later we witness the phenomenal success of her decision and today DCDC has grown to be one of the best in the nation, proudly boasting the largest repertory of works by Black choreographers in the world.

Educational programming features prominently in DCDC’s annual offerings. We continue this mainstay of our mission with lectures, classes and outreach for students worldwide. Dayton Contemporary Dance Second Company, DCDC2, is also on hand as ambassadors, building and sustaining bridges to local constituents and nurturing future generations of dance artists and audiences.