WAWA ABA
Stafford C. Berry Jr.’s neo-traditional African dance exploring perseverance through challenge premiered in 2013 and was selected for DCDC’s ambassador tour to Russia and Kazakhstan with DanceUSA in 2019.
Call(ing)
In this work which premiered in 2025, five women navigate life’s journey guided by recorded voicemails from DCDC Associate Artistic Director Qarrianne Blayr’s family.
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Martyrs’ Road
A look at the unending courage of those who continue to fight for justice choreographed by DCDC Senior Artistic Advisor Kevin Ward.
In My Father’s House
A gospel celebration choreographed by DCDC Chief Artistic and Executive Director Debbie Blunden-Diggs and featuring Gary Harris as the pastor.
Purposefully planned to coincide with Black History Month, the winter concert feels not only timely and relevant to organizers but an effective means to draw the Dayton community into a greater conversation of African American culture.
“Especially now with what we’ve gone through, especially the whole sort of erasure of Black history, I am very adamantly leaning into who we are unapologetically,” said Blunden-Diggs, daughter of DCDC Founder Jeraldyne Blunden. “We were founded by a woman in 1968 right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement and 57 years later here we stand. I want to allow people to experience our culture through our mode of communication, which is dance. This program was specifically curated to touch on some of the cornerstones of our culture — our spirituality, our history, our roots in Africa — along with how our culture stays connected.”
‘Bringing spiritual or liturgical dance in a highly produced space on the stage is what my personal passion is as a creator’
When Blunden-Diggs had the opportunity to create “In My Father’s House” in 1997, she said she dug deep into her experiences growing up as a member of Philips Temple Church.
“It was a portrait coming to life of what services felt like for me on Sundays,” she said. “There were men stewards of the church and the pastor was always on point. Now, the dancers get to bring to the work their own feelings about their own spirituality of growing up in church.”
A member of the historic Zion Baptist Church, Blunden-Diggs is excited to return to a work that speaks so profoundly to her creative impulses.
“To be a part of legacy spaces feels comfortable to me,” she said. “And bringing spiritual or liturgical dance in a highly produced space on the stage is what my personal passion is as a creator. If I had my own company, it would be solely centered around that kind of work.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Featuring the uplifting music of Grammy winner Kirk Franklin, “In My Father’s House” will include DCDC Company Member Devin Baker, an Indianapolis native who recalls the work being one of the first he learned and was able to tour when he joined the company in 2014.
“I grew up in the church so to come to a contemporary professional company and get to tap back into my spiritual roots was nostalgic,” Baker said. “Those songs also hold a special place inside my memory. Anybody who comes to see ‘In My Father’s House’ will can’t help but feel caught up in the spirit and funkiness of the dance. The thoughtful, well-crafted, technical proficiency of the liturgical dance (added) with the emotional depth of the artists (against) the backdrop of the music (is an example of) high praise.”
The tumult and tragedies of five decades of civil rights history
Baker is also featured in “Martyrs’ Road,” which is inspired by the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL on September 15, 1963. He feels honored to work with the aforementioned Ward, who conceived the piece in 1986.
“Kevin Ward is an all-around creative genius,” Baker said. “It’s an honor to be in ‘Martyrs’ Road’ (which) bridges history and contemporary experience by revisiting the accounts of the Civil Rights Era and the martyrs of the time like Medgar Evers. These martyrs have, in a way, catapulted this ongoing conversation of reconciliation, race and belonging in America. ‘Martyrs’ Road’ is a way to, in a contemporary setting, engage those concepts alongside what is happening today inside our communities and our politics. As much as we are DCDC dancers, we are also human beings affected by the world outside — we are not siloed.”
Credit: Ron Valle
Credit: Ron Valle
DCDC Company Member Allyia Nelloms, a Dayton native and Stivers School for the Arts alumna also featured in “Martyrs’ Road,” echoed Baker’s sentiments, particularly the opportunity to help stir productive dialogue.
“It’s an opportunity to be reminded that we don’t have to leave any parts of ourselves behind,” Nelloms said. “I (also) think it’s an opportunity to bear witness and allows us to have conversations where grief and resilience can stand side by side and we just all the truths to come forward.”
Conceived in five movements, “Martyrs’ Road,” centered on the family of 14-year-old murder victim Addie Mae Collins, looks to the past as a cautionary tale for the present.
“In recreating ‘Martyrs’ Road,’ I want to remind myself and audiences that the fight for a just world is unending,” said Ward in a press statement. “The enemies of human rights have not rested and do not rest. I am telling a story that many know in their bones. Mothers lost children, wives lost husbands, brothers buried siblings, and those hurts do not heal. We grieve still. We carry physical and psychological injuries still.”
‘A connectivity that spans generations’
Blunden-Diggs, who will be feted March 12 as one of YWCA Dayton’s Women of Influence honorees, also praised Berry and Blayr’s contributions while reiterating the strengths of the organization’s repertory.
“This is the first program I’ve done probably in the last four or five years that does not have a world premiere,” she said. “But that speaks to the level of depth that we have in our vault. I love Stafford’s work, his authenticity and the lens that he creates through and how he works with our dancers. And the three voices in ‘Call(ing)’ are (Qarrianne’s) grandmother, mother and sister. They are not physically in the same space but the connection they hold is very important. We all know that in our families, we love hard, we argue hard, we give hard. But at the end of the day there is a connectivity that spans generations.”
Credit: Tom Gilliam
Credit: Tom Gilliam
As DCDC continues to strengthen its community-minded approach, “Black By Popular Demand” will provide another example of fundamental outreach.
“I’m trying to convince the Dayton community that DCDC is theirs,” Blunden-Diggs said. “We belong to this community. I need the community to understand that and wrap their arms around us and support us. We’re proud to be a part of this community and we want you to have access to us.”
HOW TO GO
What: “Black By Popular Demand”
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
When: Feb. 28 and March 1; 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $18-$98
Tickets: Call 937-228-3630 or visit dcdc.org.
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