DEBBIE BLUNDEN-DIGGS

Debbie Blunden-Diggs is in her inaugural season as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC). With an illustrious career spanning decades, her most recent roles in the company include: Chief Executive & Artistic Director (2024-2026), Chief Artistic & Producing Director (2019-2024) and Artistic Director (2007-2019). Before her ascent into artistic and eventual executive directorship, Debbie served as the company’s Associate Artistic Director, Deputy Director for Arts and Operations and Resident Choreographer. Prior to that, for more than 20 years she graced the stage as a dancer artist performing in much of the company’s repertoire.

Mrs. Blunden-Diggs’ choreographic prowess and undeniable artistic vision have become embedded in the company’s rich legacy and artistic blueprint. Her notable works include Configurations, Kaleidoscope, Fragments, Hush, In My Father’s House and Traffic. Her first piece, Variations in Blue, composed when she was 17, was submitted as an entry in the Young Choreographers Showcase and selected for inclusion in the National Choreographic Plan. She has contributed an impressive body of work, including No Room, No Place, No Where, for which she received a Monticello Award in 1982.

She has deservingly received numerous awards and accolades throughout her career. Among them are honors from Regional Dance America, Monticello Choreographic Fellowships in 1979 and 1980 and two Individual Fellowship Awards from the Ohio Arts Council in 1981 and 1984. Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10) presented her the Black History Month Congressional Award for Community Service in recognition of 40 years of serving the community through dance and dance education. The Fisk University Alumni Association honored her with an Excellence in Artistry Award, and she was awarded a Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District Master Fellowship for artistic excellence and community outreach initiatives in 2000. 

In May 2002, she adjudicated the Regional Dance America Northeast Competitions. Mrs. Blunden-Diggs was Co-Director/Choreographer for The Human Race Theatre’s production of Crowns, as well as Director/Choreographer for Central State University’s original production of In The Pursuit of Wind, amongst others. Additionally, throughout her career she has been tapped to create pieces for and mentor and mold students at the University of Dayton, Sinclair Community College, Wright State University, Central State University, South Dayton Dance Theatre, Colonel White High School and Stivers School for the Arts. While her community advocacy spans far and wide, it is her knack for leaving places better than she found them that’s unparalleled. In 2014, she received the Image of Hope Youth Advocacy Award for her contributions to improving the lives of youth in the Greater Dayton area. 

Mrs. Blunden-Diggs has been an adjunct professor in the University of Dayton’s Theatre, Dance, and Performance Technology Program, served on numerous boards throughout her tenure, including: the National Board of Trustees of Dance/USA, the Seedling Foundation Board for Stivers School for the Arts, and continues her service on a few others: Vice Chair of International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), Destination Dayton and DreamChaser Group.

A few of her most recent accomplishments include an Honorary Doctoral degree from the University of Dayton (Fall 2025) in recognition of her dedication and commitment to dance and performing arts in Dayton and across the nation, Woman of Influence honor from the Dayton YWCA (2026) and Legacy Award (2026) acknowledgement from the Greater West Dayton Incubator recognizing the company’s rich legacy and historical prominence and Debbie’s pivotal role in carrying the torch and cultivating the roots planted by her mother, Jeraldyne Blunden 58 years ago.