DCDC to move to new location

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company is moving its administrative operations and dance studios to a new location-the Central State University-Dayton Campus (CSU-Dayton) at 840 Germantown Street in Dayton.

The move to the new location will increase opportunities for collaboration between the dance company and Central State University, allowing both DCDC and CSU-Dayton to enhance services to the Dayton-area community.

Choreographer, DCDC's Artistic Director, and daughter of DCDC founder, Jeraldyne Blunden, Debbie Blunden-Diggs, notes, "As DCDC is wrapping up its 40th anniversary season celebration that continues through this December, I think about how much DCDC has changed over four decades and now we are coming full circle to origins. My mother first thought about DCDC as a school for dance for excluded black youth in Dayton's West Side. Her school, the Jeraldyne's School of the Dance, then later DCDC itself, was first located at the Linden Center in the Wright-Dunbar area. I am very grateful for this wonderful opportunity for DCDC to have a new home on the CSU-Dayton Campus."

DCDC's move was the result of the dance company's new strategic plan developed over three years, adopted last year, and enthusiastically supported by its board, dancers, and administration. DCDC's new strategic plan is a business model, in which DCDC and a university or college exchange resources and services between them for their mutual benefit and in support of their kindred missions. DCDC's innovative strategic plan calls for a collaborative relationship between the dance company and an institution of higher learning.

DCDC's Executive Director, Ro Nita Hawes-Saunders, explains: "The move to CSU's Dayton Campus is an example of a collaborative relationship made possible by our new strategic plan and is a step in the right direction. For DCDC to collaborate with CSU will maximize our combined services to the community. We will have more individuals and families enjoy dance in all its offerings, and have our community's youth learn together through DCDC's highly successful arts-integrated education programs. We can, and will, form collaborative and concurrent relationships through our new plan with other universities, colleges, and suitable institutions in the future."

As over the past several years, DCDC continues to work collaboratively with the University of Dayton as well as CSU to build strong artistic and educational programs that serve the wellbeing of their constituencies and the greater Miami Valley community.

Central State University President John W. Garland said the move will enable the University to build on past collaborations with DCDC. "We're thrilled to house a nationally recognized dance company of DCDC's caliber on the CSU-Dayton campus," he said. "This will help us realize our longstanding goal of expanding opportunities for students in the fine and performing arts."

Central State University, with its main campus in Wilberforce, Ohio, is one of the nation's oldest historically black universities, with a 122-year legacy of academic and athletic achievements. The University has leading edge programs in urban education, engineering and science, and fine and performing arts. At Central State University, leaders are creating CHANGE. A centrally located branch campus in Dayton, Ohio, CSU-Dayton offers a range of courses and class schedules conveniently located three minutes from downtown Dayton at 840 Germantown Street.

For almost 20 years, DCDC's studios and offices were housed in the Metropolitan Arts Complex in downtown Dayton at 126 North Main Street. DCDC is grateful to the Victoria Theatre Association, which owns and operates the complex, for the dance company's many productive years there.

Online: www.dcdc.org