Credit: Scott Robbins
Credit: Scott Robbins
Another world premiere stems from Winifred Harris, associate artistic director of the Denver-based Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, a sister company of DCDC as a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance. South Chicago Dance Theatre, directed by DCDC2 alumna Kia Smith, is also in the lineup as featured guests.
“This program leans heavily on who DCDC is and our stories,” said DCDC Chief Executive and Artistic Director Debbie Blunden-Diggs, daughter of DCDC founder Jeraldyne Blunden. “This company was founded by a Black woman and is still led by a Black woman — that’s magical and it’s powerful. And this is going to be an extraordinary program.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
As gender inequality lingers across the national dance landscape, Blunden-Diggs recognizes the value in allowing female voices to be showcased and saluted.
“Women choreographers are underrepresented in the world of dance,” she said. “So, trying to bust through some of those glass ceilings here is something I’m pretty passionate about. Giving opportunity to women crafters is really important. Throughout history females have been the backbone of every man we’ve stood beside or behind. There are some really powerful moments in ‘huMAN/NAture’ that edify this. So, to organically be able to create and tell our stories through four different lenses of four different women supports the work that was planted and rooted here.”
Family as inspiration
Winfrey, a Nashville native who joined DCDC in 2014, excitedly revisits “huMAN/NAture” as it is inspired by moments from her family history. Created in six sections in collaboration with her brother Wesley, a jazz musician who composed the score, the work premiered in DCDC’s “Inside Out” concert in 2022.
“We are using family instances and ideas to merge our human condition and nature and the spirit that combines us,” Winfrey said. “Everything in the work is made from scratch — the music, the dancing, the artwork and the dialogue. Three years later we are seeking to enrich the piece to where we are right now without changing its structure. We want to make it more true to where we are right now as artists than where we were.”
Credit: Scott Robbins
Credit: Scott Robbins
Formulating a piece that speaks to different aspects of the human condition within a spiritual context (the title is a combination of human nature and manna, the biblical food given to the Israelites), Winfrey was drawn to her fascination with trees and how they are the epitome of endurance.
“I’ve always been interested in trees,” she said. “I want to be as strong and sturdy as a beautiful tree that has been alive for many years with deep roots in the ground and is not easily swayed. A tree in which you can feel the femininity of the leaves but also the sturdiness of the trunk. This work also speaks to how we all go through different seasons in life and how connected we are as God’s creation.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
In addition to being grateful for “huMAN/NAture,” which will be performed with live music, Winfrey is happy to have been invited to be part of DCDC’s celebration of Black women.
“As much as women are dominant as dancers in the field, we are not dominant as leaders in the field, which makes me feel that more should be done to allow spaces for Black women to have a leading voice,” she said. “I’m really grateful to be at DCDC where our founder was a woman and so many of our leaders are women.”
Women speaking their truth
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
In her creation of “Call(ing),” Blayr was motivated by her devotion to family and faith.
“It’s a tribute to the women in my life,” she said. “You’ll hear different recorded voices of those women such as my mother, grandmother and sister. The title is twofold. Physically and viscerally it’s about answering the call when someone calls you because you never know when you may or may not speak to them again.”
“The work is also tied to my spiritual beliefs. When God puts a calling on your life, try not to be afraid, discouraged, anxious or nervous of answering that call.”
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Blayr hopes the program will be a welcomed embrace of community.
“I want people to feel that it’s safe to be present, it’s safe to be powerful,” she said. “You don’t have to dim yourself and you have community to support that. The dancers are trying to demonstrate and embody real community. I hope audiences feel a sense of community, pride and inspiration to do whatever they want to do.”
Sisterhood and solidarity
In 1968, during the height of the civil rights movement, Jeraldyne Blunden founded DCDC, the oldest modern dance company in Ohio. Rooted in the Black experience, the internationally acclaimed troupe offers the largest repertoire of modern dance works by African-American choreographers in the world.
Credit: Photo: YWCA Dayton
Credit: Photo: YWCA Dayton
Two years after DCDC’s inception, Cleo Parker Robinson, inspired by the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, founded the dance company that bears her name. The company eventually staked its claim in the dance world and owns the rights to more than 30 works by Tony Award-nominated choreographer Donald McKayle (“Raisin,” “Sophisticated Ladies”), whose masterwork “Rainbow Round My Shoulder” is also a part of DCDC’s impressive repertoire.
In 2023, the International Association of Blacks in Dance, of which DCDC and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance are two of its five founding companies, was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Joe Biden.
The sisterhood between the companies was most recently displayed last season in DCDC’s presentation of “In Good Company,” and DCDC organizers are pleased to have a work by Winifred Harris on the upcoming program.
“I watched Winifred work with our dancers and I was very moved by the way she worked with them,” Blunden-Diggs said. “I asked if she would consider creating a work for us and she said she would love to. Her strength is in her softness. I knew I wanted to have some representation of that in our repertory. It’s also another way to make visible another part of the Black dance sector.”
“DCDC is a beautiful company that’s really strong in so many different aspects,” Harris said. “It’s good to go in and work with different dancers who have different strengths.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Her world premiere is entitled “Shadows Just Before,” an abstract work speaking to the necessity of personal growth and anticipatory moments of realization.
“There are shadow parts of us but it doesn’t mean they are bad parts,” Harris said. “There are parts within us we want to cultivate and bring to the surface. I’m just fascinated with shadows in general, especially how barren trees can look so beautiful and how other things can morph.”
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Credit: SCOTT ROBBINS
Harris also acknowledged the solidarity between DCDC and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance as groundbreaking companies bonded by Black excellence and the desire for representation.
“In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Black dance needed a place to go to show its excellence and speak in a voice that was needed, powerful and potent,” she said. “And I feel it carries itself through to this time. We are in a space and time that Black dance is the shepherd of stories.
“I think the companies that are able to continue the legacy of Black dance are always going to be forging new frontiers. As Black people, we are always making a way, and most often, a new way for our stamp in this world, our survival of culture, because people have tried to strip that away from us for so long.”
History in the making
In addition to incorporating Harris as a guest choreographer, Blunden-Diggs is equally eager to host South Chicago Dance Theatre as guest artists.
Credit: Scott Robbins
Credit: Scott Robbins
Blunden-Diggs is also confident the diversity of the program will be a testament to DCDC’s pedigree of creating living history.
“We love being a part of this community and appreciate this community and would love to make our community bigger,” she said. “We would love to fill the seats in the Victoria Theatre. (Audiences will) be watching history in the making. (They’ll) watch it happen in real time. And to have a seat at the table for that is something really special.”
Harris agreed, specifically heartened by the program’s emphasis on the female perspective.
“It’s important that we speak and hold the voice of woman artists high,” she said. “That’s why it’s so beautiful for this program to be at the top of March. You’re coming off of an awareness of Black History Month but moving into a new awareness and focus of Women’s History Month.”
HOW TO GO
What: “Power & Presence”
When: March 1-2; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
Cost: $9-$88
More info: Call 937-228-3630 or visit daytonlive.org/dcdc
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