A celebration of funk is happening in downtown Dayton this weekend.
It features Dayton’s two leading dance companies, Dayton Ballet and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. They are teaming up with local musicians for a show they’re calling "Rhythm of the City."
It's an evening celebrating funk music and the city’s artistic roots, with performances April 10-12. Tickets are at daytonlive.org.
As part of WYSO’s Culture Couch series on the local arts scene, Brandon Ragland of the Dayton Ballet and Debbie Blunden-Diggs of DCDC come together to discuss dance, collaboration, and Rhythm of the City.
Brandon Ragland: So Debbie, what drew you to be in dance?
Debbie Blunden-Diggs: Oh, my God. That's such a long, long story. Let's start with the beginning. Actually, my mother is the founder of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. And so what I say is that dance is in my DNA. I've been surrounded by it my whole life. I joined the company when I was 12. It's not the company it is now. So I grew up as the company grew up. And every time I thought I needed to step outside of DCDC for a different opportunity, those opportunities were coming in to us. What about you?
Ragland: I started in church and it was very interesting because I've always loved movement. I loved the social dances, learning the latest line dance. I was at a Boy Scouts meeting and I got done early and I went downstairs and heard this music and I saw all of these people dancing and so I started mimicking in the hallway what they were doing. And the woman who was over it, she was so happy because she saw a boy that was interested in dance, so her eyes lit up and she said, are you here to audition for the dance ministry? And I said, I guess, sure. And she always talks about this. I still keep in touch with her to this day. And she was the one that took me to the Black College Dance Exchange. So she started exposing me to taking class with Katherine Dunham and Eleo Pomare, like a lot of these Black artists that really inspired me to start taking dance more seriously. So through those experiences, I went to a fine arts high school. I went for math and science to begin with and begged my parents to let me switch over to dance. And so I switched over to dancing. From there, started to really, really dive into my ballet training, and that's where I fell in love with ballet. Here I am.
Blunden-Diggs: That's an interesting beginning. We've never talked about that. I never knew that about you.
Ragland: To me, that's why when I first came here and was learning about all of these deep traditions and histories that both Dayton Ballet and DCDC have together, led me to really want to connect with you again and kind of reestablish that. And how has it been for you?
Blunden-Diggs: I think it's wonderful. I think that a lot of time passed where there was no connection. I've wanted for years to collaborate in some kind of way and to have this opportunity speaks to you and your leadership and your understanding about origins.
Ragland: For me, it was a no brainer. What I what also drew me to this job in Dayton and the arts community was that you have two, which is rare for one city. I don't think people realize that. Two prevalent, professional dance companies. And so I'm so happy to to have a project like Rhythm of the City taking shape.
Blunden-Diggs: This thing that we're doing on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of April is really, really special. And the only way people will understand how special it is, is if they come and see it. If they come join us, you get to be part of the party.
Ragland: Yes, come be part of the party.
