Jeraldyne Blunden (1940–1999) was the founder and artistic director of the
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.
Jeraldyne Blunden left a permanent mark on the field of contemporary dance by founding the oldest modern dance company in Ohio and inspiring a generation of choreographers and dancers. Her company,
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, has grown to be one of the largest companies of its kind between
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and proudly holds the largest repertoire of classic works by African-American choreographers in the world.
Early life and education
Born Jeraldyne Kilborn in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
on December 10, 1940, Blunden began her dance training at the age of six at the Linden Center, a recreation center in the African-American community of West Dayton. In 1948, a number of African-American mothers approached the Schwarz School of Dance, later to become The Dayton Ballet School, about providing opportunities for their children to enroll in the school.
However, segregation was common in Dayton during the 1940s and The Schwarz School of Dance had not admitted black children due to the possible ramifications to the school. Yet, despite social pressures, the founders of the school, Josephine and Hermene Schwarz, decided to break social boundaries and brought their school to African-American students through the Linden Center.
Throughout Blunden's dance career, the Schwarz sisters served as her role model and mentor. The sisters helped her gain access to summer scholarships to the
American Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival (ADF) under the direction of Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter hosts its main summer dance courses including Summer Dance Intensive, Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, and the Dance Professional Workshops. It also ho ...
in Connecticut where she studied with dance icons such as
Martha Graham,
José Limón
José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dan ...
,
George Balanchine, and
James Truitte
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
. These teachers later became her colleagues and friends as she followed the pioneering path of the Schwarz sisters, excelling as dancer and director.
Career
At age nineteen, Blunden became the director of dance classes at the Linden Center. Blunden made sure her students were able to gain a broad range of experiences, including summer opportunities and scholarships to attend schools such as the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Center
Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Cente ...
(later Ailey School),
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
, and the American Dance Festival. Under her leadership, the student population soon outgrew the Linden Center's capacity and the Schwartz School of Dance had to move to the basement of St. Margaret's church on McCall and Home Avenues in Dayton.
As the school flourished, Blunden experienced some major life changes. She married Charles Blunden in 1959 and a year later gave birth to her daughter, Debbie Blunden-Diggs. In 1963, Blunden chartered her own dance school named Jeraldyne's School of Dance, beginning a new era of opportunity.
Blunden's School of Dance was founded on the premise that students should have a place to learn, train, and perform before moving on to bigger city stages. To provide high caliber dance training in Dayton, Blunden continued to train and perform across the country, bringing back knowledge and experience to the Midwest. Her experiences included performances and classes at
American Dance Festival
The American Dance Festival (ADF) under the direction of Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter hosts its main summer dance courses including Summer Dance Intensive, Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, and the Dance Professional Workshops. It also ho ...
, Antioch Summer Theatre, Connecticut Dance Theatre Workshop,
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...
, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.
In 1968, Blunden founded her own dance company,
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, to create more opportunity for her students to perform. While Blunden saw the obstacle of adding a second dance company in a city as small as Dayton, she tenaciously pursued her dream and began to handpick dancers from her dance school for the company. By 1972, the dance company had twelve female company members, including Blunden's daughter, Debbie Blunden-Diggs.
Blunden's new company provided the opportunity for her to cultivate her choreographic talent through the creation of new works for her company. The performance of her ballet Flite in 1973 earned her company the honor of being the first African-American group to gain membership to the Northeast Regional Ballet Association Festival.
The year 1976 marked the company's first large-scale performance and the first time the dancers were paid for a performance. They performed Black Snow, a collaboration with acclaimed composer Roy Meriwether at Memorial Hall in front of a sold-out audience.
Over the years, Blunden shaped the
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company as a repertory company, inviting many renowned guest artists to create pieces for her dancers. Blunden possessed powerful foresight and wisely acquired works by young, budding choreographers such as
Ulysses Dove.
This powerful foresight also led her to the cultivation of young talent such as
Dwight Rhoden
Dwight Rhoden is an American choreographer and artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet who began dancing at the age of 17 while studying acting. He has performed with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Les Ballet Jazz de Montréa ...
, who founded his own company and became one of the country's most well-known dance artists. Seeing promise in both Kevin Ward, one of her dancers, and Debbie Blunden-Diggs, Blunden primed them to be her successors and created a space for Kevin Ward as director of the company's apprenticeship dance corps, DCDC2, established as the pre-professional wing of her rising touring company. Blunden fell ill in 1990, naming Kevin Ward the Associate Artistic Director of the company and Debbie Blunden-Diggs the new Director of DCDC2.
Death and legacy
Blunden died on November 22, 1999 at age 58. She left behind a legacy of an innovative dance company already receiving national and international recognition.
Jennifer Dunning
Jennifer Dunning (born February 4, 1942) is a writer and critic for ''The New York Times'' on the subjects of dance and ballet. She is the author of the 1985 ''But First a School: The First Fifty Years of the School of American Ballet'', the 1996 ...
from the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
described Blunden's legacy as a beloved leader in the dance world, stating, "That no-nonsense approach to life was mixed with steely determination, a great personal warmth and humor and an unsentimental humanity that made her a much-loved figure on the national dance scene." Her legacy is still carried on today by her daughter Debbie Blunden-Diggs and granddaughters Alexis Diggs and Lyndsey Diggs. DCDC is now run by Debbie, her daughter, and DCDC2 is run by Shonna Hickman-Matlock. Her granddaughter Alexis is taking classes at Jeraldyne's School of Dance hopefully to take over DCDC or her older sister Lyndsey Diggs
Recognition
Blunden's achievement has been recognized both in Dayton and throughout the nation. She received honorary doctorate degrees from the
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...
and
Wright State University, as well as prestigious awards including the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship Award, the Dance/USA 2000 Honors Award, the
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for ...
Award, the
Dance Magazine
''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including '' Point ...
Award, The
National Black Arts Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award, Dance Women Living Legend Honors, and the Regional Dance America Northeast Award.
Awards
* 1991 Regional Dance America Northeast Award
* 1995
MacArthur Fellows Program (MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship Award)
* 1997 Dance Women Living Legend Honors
* 1998 Dance Magazine Award
* 1998 Katherine Dunham Award
* 1998 The National Black Arts Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award
* 2000 Dance USA Honors Award.
* 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, YWCA or Dayton
References
External links
"True to the Founder's Vision – Dayton Contemporary Dance Company – Company Profile" ''Dance Magazine'', Jan, 2001, Doris Hering
Jeraldyne Blunden Papers, Special Collections and Archives, Wright State UniversityMission & History , DCDC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blunder, Jeraldyne
1940 births
1999 deaths
American choreographers
MacArthur Fellows
Wright State University faculty
Artists from Dayton, Ohio