Renowned hip-hop artist Rennie Harris's  Soon is a dynamic House dance piece inspired by Philadelphia’s original “G.Q.” style. This work is a heartfelt tribute to the power of community and spirit, drawing from Harris’s personal journey and experiences growing up in North Philadelphia.

• Choreographer: Rennie Harris
• Premiere: April 2025
• Duration: 23 mins
• Cast: Full company

Pressed personifies mental and emotional experiences, both common and unique, inspired by the choreographer’s personal journey towards survival. The choreographer uses the cultural body language of Hip Hop's most eclectic evolutions as a spine to connect African, Black American, and Euro-American dance styles and techniques. Joshua L. Ishmon is a young, rising choreographer whose inventive artistic vocabulary boasts signature movement and thought-provoking commentary and context that will challenge audiences.

• Choreographer: Joshua L. Ishmon
• Premiere: April 2025
• Duration: 18 mins
• Cast: Five Dancers

Ray Mercer's  Mental  is a metaphoric and emotional journey exploring inner battles with breathtaking athleticism, contrasting sustained introspection. Danced to a powerful original score by Bongi Duma. Ray Mercer has created works for Philadanco, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, New Jersey Ballet, and Ailey II, and is the most celebrated choreographer at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids’ annual fundraising events.

• Choreographer: Ray Mercer
• Premiere: April 2025
• Duration: 17 mins
• Cast: Full company

Commissioned by the American Dance Festival for both Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the Paul Taylor Dance Company as a complement to their joint appearance at the 2025 summer dance festival. This special event showcased DCDC performing Taylor’s Esplanade, and PTDC performing Ulysses Dove’s Vespers on a shared program. The highlight of the event was Splendor, choreographed by Amy Hall Garner. While the work premiered using a mixed cast of dancers from both companies, it is as well, a dance that can be performed by either company singly, and how DCDC will present it.

• Chreographer: Amy Hall Garner
• Premiere: July 2025
• Duration: 22 mins
• Cast: Eight Dancers

Choreographed by Countess V. Winfrey, huMAN/NAture is a testimony to the bond of family and humanity's roots. The full 33-minute work takes a deep dive into the origins of man, drawing upon African fables. Danced to text and an original jazz score by Wesley Winfrey,the musical score may be performed live by a 12-piece band.

• Choreographer: Countess . Winfrey
• Premiere: February 2022
• Duration: 33 mins
• Cast: Full company
• Tech Requirements: Backlit Backdrop

This work, part of our social justice series, is a celebration of triumph over adversity. Dancers express the hope, unity, courage, and joy that accompanied the non-violent protest movement of the Civil Rights era. Danced to Duke Ellington's "Three Black Kings," composed in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., images of King and marchers unfurl in the background.

• Choreographer: Crystal Michelle
• Premiere: September 2015
• Duration: 13 mins
• Cast: Eight Dancers
• Tech Requirements: Projection capabilities preferred

This multi-layered work investigates elements of desire, longing, and loneliness through the lens of queer embodiment within Black spiritual spaces. Choreographed by Guggenheim Fellow Tommie-Waheed Evans, Home takes inspiration from Ashton T. Crawley’s Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility. Through movement, sound, and interior enveloping projections, it explores themes of bodily surrender, openness, and Black spirituality within the complicated spaces we call home.

• Chreographer:  Tommie-Waheed Evans
• Premiere: February 2023
• Duration: 20 mins
• Cast: Full company
• Tech Requirements: Rear Projection

Another in our social justice series. Drawing inspiration from 20th Century African American authors, choreographers Debbie Blunden-Diggs and Crystal Michelle explore the ever changing landscape of the struggle for black existence. Riffing off of Shange, Hurston, Wilson and Baldwin, Bodytalk dances and speaks to women’s empowerment, Jim Crow and heaven through an inspired union of African and contemporary dance theatre. 

• Choreographer: Debbie Blunden-Diggs, Crystal Michelle
• Premiere: 2016
• Duration: 75 mins (no intermission)
• Cast: Full company

Paul Taylor’s 1975 masterwork, inspired by the sight of a girl running to catch a bus, lifts pedestrian movements like walking, running, sliding, and falling out of the ordinary. In five sections, set to the Bach Violin Concerto in E, and the Double Violin Concerto in D minor, the work is brimming with youthful energy and poignancy. The final section features dancers careening fearlessly across the stage.

• Choreographer: Paul Taylor
• DCDC Premiere: February 2024
• Duration: 25 mins
• Cast: Nine Dancers

Following the 1996 premiere, Wings was hailed by audiences and critics alike as a glorious tribute to the wartime efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen. Sir Warren Spears’ work follows seven prospective “Red Tails” from early training to the moment they become triumphantly airborne. Employing gestural language, partnering expressing intense camaraderie, and bounding leaps, Sir Warren neatly sums up their tremendous dedication, patriotism and success. Included in our social justice series.

• Choreographer: Sir Warren Spears
• DCDC Premiere: 1996
• Duration: 25 mins
• Cast: Seven Dancers

Let the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company fill your holiday season with joy and love as the dancers retell the story of The Littlest Angel by Charles Tazewell. This marvelous tale illustrates how humility and purity of heart demonstrate the true giving spirit. This holiday ballet is the perfect presentation for the entire family. School day concerts and themed school-age workshops are available with this performance.

• Choreographer: Crystal Michelle
• Premiere: 2014
• Duration: 75 mins (includes intermission)
• Cast: Full company
• Opportunity for local dance community inclusion. Uses minimalist set pieces, and hanging pieces.

This work takes its inspiration from the events that took place in Montgomery, Alabama on August 5, 2023 (called by some The Montgomery Brawl). The dance ritual is about imagining equity, justice and freedom by and for those historically and systemically denied equity, justice and freedom. Included in our social justice series.

• Choreographer: Charles O. Anderson
• Premiere: February 2024
• Duration: 25 mins 
• Cast: Full company
  
  

 This work seeks to capture the “lightbulb” moment of the creative spark. What happens between the choreographer’s envisioning the dance and the dancers animating that vision? This I Know… explores the creative process in six distinct sections, powered by group interactions.

• Choreographer: Ray Mercer
• Premiere: February 2017
• Duration: 27 mins 
• Cast: Ten Dancers