Facelift for Dayton dance company

Organization strives to bring world-renowned performing art to city.

A $435,000 facelift to the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company’s studios and offices will help solidify Dayton as a destination for performing arts and culturally enriching activities, local officials said.

The renovation project will create state-of-the-art rehearsal and dance space at the company’s home, located at Central State University’s Dayton campus, said Ro Nita Hawes-Saunders, DCDC’s executive director. It will serve the dancers themselves as well as providing improvements for educational and community programs, she said.

“It allows us to be highly competitive in terms of being a world-renowned arts organization,” she said.

DCDC is raising money to renovate its studios, administrative offices, reception area, kitchen and outdoor main entrance at 840 Germantown St.

The renovation efforts started about two years ago, and DCDC has already installed new flooring, ceiling and mirrors in its two studios. Electric equipment will be added soon.

Earlier this month, the city of Dayton approved an $80,000 grant for DCDC. The money is from the West Dayton Development Trust Fund.

DCDC also received about $125,000 from the state of Ohio and $110,000 from various donors. The Virginia W. Kettering Foundation chipped in $20,000.

The dance company, founded in 1968 by Jeraldyne Blunden, moved to CSU’s Dayton campus in 2009 from its downtown home.

DCDC is one of five premiere African-American contemporary dance companies in the United States. It tours across the region, nation and globe and holds the world’s largest archive of classic African-American dance works.

DCDC has partnered with CSU, the University of Dayton and Wright State University to offer performances, classes and artistic collaborations.

The group also works with local K-12 schools. Each year, about 25,000 students participate in one of DCDC’s educational initiatives, with many young people visiting the dance studios for arts instruction.

DCDC plans to host community programs, workshops and seminars in the updated facility.

DCDC’s performances fill up concert halls in New York City and China, but the organization remains an under-appreciated treasure in this region, said Martine Collier, president and CEO of Culture Works, which is the regional arts service, funding and marketing agency for the eight-county region.

DCDC brings in dancers from around the world, and the upgraded facilities will be another selling point to help with talent acquisition, she said.

“This is the absolute epitome of the AfricanAmerican dance form in the world, and it’s located here in Dayton, Ohio,” Collier said.