Dayton dance troupes prepare promising premieres, familiar favorites

Dayton Ballet, DCDC lead notable concerts across region.

The 2022-2023 season in dance across the Dayton area will offer exciting opportunities for patrons to enjoy special milestones, an empowering new tour, various versions of a holiday staple, and an assortment of world premieres.

Dayton Ballet is celebrating its 85th season and the 95th year of the Dayton Ballet School. The organization’s anniversary concert will have two works by Dayton Ballet artistic director Karen Russo Burke (including “A Streetcar Named Desire”) and a world premiere by Jennifer Sydor, who danced 16 seasons with The Metropolitan Opera. Just in time for Halloween, Burke will also choreograph a new version of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” accented with an original score by local composer Austin Jaquith performed live by musicians from Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Families will be delighted by the grand, enchanting return of “The Nutcracker” (incorporating children under 12 for the first time since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic) and choreographer Septime Webre’s “Peter Pan.”

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, which recently launched its 54th season outdoors at Levitt Pavilion, is gearing up for a full slate centered around the theme “Etchings: Making a Mark.” Next month, the troupe will get out their raspberry berets for a tribute to Prince titled “Musicology,” a dinner theatre event choreographed by DCDC chief artistic and producing director Debbie Blunden Diggs with the Deron Bell Band performing Prince-inspired sets. In addition to providing the uplifting return of “In the Spirit of…,” the organization will supply a new community-driven series entitled “Director’s Lunch,” the introspective, in-studio “Crossroads” and the world premiere of “The Black Tour,” a narrative celebration intended to ignite the power of Black dance which will travel to museum, gallery and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) spaces across the country following its Dayton premiere.

Elsewhere: Arbogast Performing Arts Center will host Ballet 5:8′s touring production of “BareFace,” a new full-length story ballet by Julianna Rubio Sager inspired by the C.S. Lewis novel “Till We Have Faces”; Dayton Live and Miami University will present the storytelling, humor and percussive finesse of Step Afrika!; Gem City Ballet will open its 31st season with fall repertory including “Grand Tarantella” and “Swan Lake Act II”; Pontecorvo Ballet Studios and South Dayton School of Dance will mount “The Nutcracker”; and Clark State Performing Arts Center will spice up the holidays with “The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” a remixed and reimagined take on Tchaikovsky featuring all-star dancers, a DJ, a violinist and hip hop legend Kurtis Blow.

Also, area colleges will offer many premieres. Wright State University’s spring concert will showcase a varied program of classical ballet and cutting-edge contemporary dance. University of Dayton’s Dance Ensemble will participate in “Memoirs,” created in partnership with the pre-professional ensemble of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC2).

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Arbogast Performing Arts Center

500 S. Dorset Rd., Troy

937-418-8392 or arbogastpac.com

The Arbogast Performing Arts Center’s goal is “to bring added value to regional schools and the greater Miami Valley area with enhanced programs in performing and visual arts.”

Apr. 15, 2023: Ballet 5:8 – “BareFace”

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Clark State Performing Arts Center

Clark State Performing Arts Center, 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield

937-328-3874 or pac.clarkstate.edu/events

Clark State Performing Arts Center delivers national tours and concerts annually.

Dec. 3, 2022: “The Hip Hop Nutcracker”

Jan. 28. 2023: Troupe Vertigo: “Cirque Fairytales”

Dayton Ballet

Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton, and Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets, Dayton

937-228-3630 or daytonperformingarts.org

One of the oldest ballet companies in the United States, Dayton Ballet has become known for producing new works as well as traditional ballets. The organization is also the only dance company to establish a fund specifically to create new, full-length 21st century ballets.

Oct. 28-30, 2022: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Dec. 9-18, 2022: “The Nutcracker”

Feb. 10-13, 2023: “85th Diamond Anniversary”

Apr. 21-23, 2023: “Peter Pan”

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company Studios, 840 Germantown St., Dayton

937-228-3232 or dcdc.org

For over 50 years, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company has provided artistry rooted in the African-American experience while drawing from diverse, nationally recognized and emerging choreographers.

Oct. 29-30, 2022: “Musicology” (Sinclair Ponitz Conference Center)

Dec. 10, 2022: Founder’s Day (DCDC Studios)

Dec. 17-18, 2022: “In the Spirit of… Grace” (Dayton Convention Center)

Jan. 26, 2023: Director’s Lunch (Dayton Metro Library)

Feb. 4-5, 2023: “The Black Tour” (Victoria Theatre)

Mar. 2, 2023: Director’s Lunch (DCDC Studios)

Mar. 9-10, 2023: “Memoirs” (Boll Theatre, University of Dayton)

May 6-7, 2023: “Crossroads” (DCDC Studios)

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Dayton Dance Initiative

PNC Arts Annex, 46 W. Second St., Dayton

daytondanceinitiative.com

Completely dancer-driven, Dayton Dance Initiative strives to bring together dancers and the Gem City community through collaboration and creativity.

TBA: Spring Concert

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Dayton Live

Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton

937-228-3630 or daytonlive.org

Dayton Children’s Family Series offers a variety of family-friendly programming courtesy of Dayton Live.

Nov. 9, 2022: Step Afrika!

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Gem City Ballet

Stuart Sebastian Performance Space, 20 Commercial Way, Springboro

937-550-9245 or gemcityballet.org

Founded by Barbara Pontecorvo in 1992, Gem City Ballet, originally known as Ballet de Jeunesse, was conceived to educate young dancers in the joys and rigors of ballet, to make quality ballet performances available to a wide audience, and provide new and experienced choreographers a chance to create new works.

Sept. 21, 2022: Market Day performance (Dayton Arcade)

Sept. 30, 2022: Dayton Metro Library performance

Oct. 14-15, 2022: Fall Repertory

Dec. 11, 2022: Holiday performances (with Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra at Dayton Masonic Center)

Feb. 10-11, 2023: Winter Repertory

Apr. 21-22, 2023: Spring Repertory

Miami University Performing Arts Series

119 Center for Performing Arts, Oxford

513-529-3200 or miamioh.edu

Miami University’s programming prides itself on diverse, thought-provoking works.

Oct. 11, 2022: The Peking Acrobats

Nov. 11, 2022: Step Afrika!

Pontecorvo Ballet Studios

Stuart Sebastian Performance Space, 20 Commercial Way, Springboro

937-550-9245 or pbstudios.com

Spearheaded by Barbara Pontecorvo, Pontecorvo Ballet Studios trains young dancers to enter the world of professional dance.

Nov. 19-20, 2022: “The Nutcracker” (Franklin High School)

May 27-28, 2023: “Swan Lake” (Franklin High School)

Sinclair Community College

444 W. Third St., Blair Hall Theatre, Building 2, Dayton

937-512-2808 or sinclair.edu

Sinclair features students in multiple genres of dance.

TBA

South Dayton School of Dance

101 E. Alex Bell Rd. #130, Centerville

937-435-5052 or southdaytonschoolofdance.com

South Dayton School of Dance specializes in classical ballet, jazz, modern, tap, pre-ballet and other disciplines.

Dec. 4, 2022: “The Nutcracker” (Dayton Masonic Center)

Mar. 11, 2023: 36th Annual Spring Concert (Bellbrook High School)

University of Dayton

Kennedy Union Boll Theatre, 300 College Park, Dayton

937-229-2545 or udayton.edu

UD Dance Ensemble continues its annual collaboration with the repertory training ensemble of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC2).

Mar. 9-10, 2023: “Memoirs”

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

Wright State University

Creative Arts Center, 3640 Col. Glenn Hwy., Dayton

937-775-2500 or liberal-arts.wright.edu/fine-and-performing-arts

Wright State will present world premieres by WSU faculty and guest artists.

Apr. 20-23, 2023: Spring Concert

FALL ARTS PREVIEW

The fall arts season is underway. Throughout September, we’re bringing you season schedules and highlights for arts groups throughout the region.

Sept. 4: Theater

Sept. 11: Music

Sept. 18: Dance

Sept. 25: Visual arts

About the Author