By Kathleen Caffrey

It all began with the Artist Opportunity Grant from Culture Works and dancer Jocelyn Green, who likely was tired of waiting tables every summer. Here in Dayton, like in most places, the dance season goes from fall to spring. Meaning in the summer dancers must find a way to make the bridge, whether saving ahead of time or getting gigs to fill the time. It also means that the general public has to wait for the coming season to experience dance again. 

The first season of the Dayton Dance Initiative was in 2019. Sixteen dancers, paid, were able to have a summer gig to keep their craft active and keep money in the bank.  Opening with Making Moves dancers from Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC), the Dayton Ballet, and the Arthur Murray Dance Center - among others - get to work together and show a wider picture of what dance in Dayton is. This is in keeping with the group motto, printed and placed predominately in literature. “Creativity - Community - Collaboration.”

And the idea is to keep it that way. In speaking to Joycelyn she had a clear vision. “I want DDI to be a team organization. Leaders. Known and supported by the community. I want to reach new audiences, dance in new places, and be in a new creative space. Keep Dance in Dayton.” It is a vision that contributes to the cultural and economic value in the area. 

The collaboration had a new meaning in the 2023 show - interdisciplinary collaboration. I was present for the rehearsal and the July 1st performance, the first of it’s kind with this new aspect. The 2023 show featured eight local and statewide artistic collaborators who were incorporated into choreography with poetry, music, song, and even fine art. 

The new collaborations included 2022 Ohio State Poet of the Year, Erica Paulson who contributed both her work and her voice to a piece called The Intersection of What Makes You Know You’re Alive exploring the push and pull of pain, drive, joy, and the lives that we build in between.  It also pulled from literary talent, Jason Harrison, owner of the local gym Present Tense Fitness. He worked on Insouciance, a work exploring black maleness and the traumas that too often come with it. In Pertho, local Artist Ron Rollins created a work of abstract expressionism as three dancers, Alex Flewellen, Katy Gilliam, and KC Lyphout acted as the three primaries and danced to the movement of the artist’s brush. 

I’ve taken to calling Dayton “The Secret City”, all too often overlooked by the far more attention-grabbing metropolises of Columbus and Cincinnati. However, it is full of brilliant and breathtaking talent in a range of realms. Made all the better when those realms come together.