She describes this during an interview in 2002: "My problemmy strong drive at that time was to remain in this academic position that anthropology gave me, and at the same time continue with this strong drive for motionrhythmic motion". Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. [9] In high school she joined the Terpsichorean Club and began to learn a kind of modern dance based on the ideas of Europeans [mile Jaques-Dalcroze] and [Rudolf von Laban]. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. Dunham, who died at the age of 96 [in 2006], was an anthropologist and political activist, especially on behalf of the rights of black people. [10], After completing her studies at Joliet Junior College in 1928, Dunham moved to Chicago to join her brother Albert at the University of Chicago. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. In 1949, Dunham returned from international touring with her company for a brief stay in the United States, where she suffered a temporary nervous breakdown after the premature death of her beloved brother Albert. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. However, it has now became a common practice within the discipline. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. Died: May 21, 2006. All rights reserved. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. From the beginning of their association, around 1938, Pratt designed the sets and every costume Dunham ever wore. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City. Her work helped send astronauts to the . Featuring lively Latin American and Caribbean dances, plantation dances, and American social dances, the show was an immediate success. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. As this show continued its run at the Windsor Theater, Dunham booked her own company in the theater for a Sunday performance. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th . The Katherine Dunham Fund buys and adapts for use as a museum an English Regency-style townhouse on Pennsylvania Avenue at Tenth Street in East Saint Louis. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. Also that year they appeared in the first ever, hour-long American spectacular televised by NBC, when television was first beginning to spread across America. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! Short Biography. The State Department regularly subsidized other less well-known groups, but it consistently refused to support her company (even when it was entertaining U.S. Army troops), although at the same time it did not hesitate to take credit for them as "unofficial artistic and cultural representatives". The finale to the first act of this show was Shango, a staged interpretation of a Vodun ritual, which became a permanent part of the company's repertory. Kraut, Anthea. Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. [51] The couple had officially adopted their foster daughter, a 14-month-old girl they had found as an infant in a Roman Catholic convent nursery in Fresnes, France. Its premiere performance on December 9, 1950, at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile,[39][40] generated considerable public interest in the early months of 1951. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. Kantherine Dunham passed away of natural causes on May 21, 2006, one month before her 97th birthday. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. 1. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." Some Facts. During this time, she developed a warm friendship with the psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm, whom she had known in Europe. [22] Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. Dunham herself was quietly involved in both the Voodoo and Orisa communities of the Caribbean and the United States, in particular with the Lucumi tradition. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. When you have faith in something, it's your reason to be alive and to fight for it. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. At this time Dunham first became associated with designer John Pratt, whom she later married. ", Richard Buckle, ballet historian and critic, wrote: "Her company of magnificent dancers and musicians met with the success it has and that herself as explorer, thinker, inventor, organizer, and dancer should have reached a place in the estimation of the world, has done more than a million pamphlets could for the service of her people. Commonly grouped into the realm of modern dance techniques, Dunham is a technical dance form developed from elements of indigenous African and Afro-Caribbean dances. Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. theatrical designers john pratt. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . This won international acclaim and is now taught as a modern dance style in many dance schools. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. First Name Katherine #37. The next year, after the US entered World War II, Dunham appeared in the Paramount musical film Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) in a specialty number, "Sharp as a Tack," with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Lyndon B. Johnson was in the audience for opening night. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. Dunham was exposed to sacred ritual dances performed by people on the islands of Haiti and Jamaica. "What Dunham gave modern dance was a coherent lexicon of African and Caribbean styles of movementa flexible torso and spine, articulated pelvis and isolation of the limbs, a polyrhythmic strategy of movingwhich she integrated with techniques of ballet and modern dance." Her dance company was provided with rent-free studio space for three years by an admirer and patron, Lee Shubert; it had an initial enrollment of 350 students. The next year the production was repeated with Katherine Dunham in the lead and with students from Dunham's Negro Dance Group in the ensemble. Dunham Company member Dana McBroom-Manno was selected as a featured artist in the show, which played on the Music Fair Circuit. She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. ", "Dunham's European success led to considerable imitation of her work in European revues it is safe to say that the perspectives of concert-theatrical dance in Europe were profoundly affected by the performances of the Dunham troupe. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. . Dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1910, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small suburb of . Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. She and her company frequently had difficulties finding adequate accommodations while on tour because in many regions of the country, black Americans were not allowed to stay at hotels. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. Early in 1936, she arrived in Haiti, where she remained for several months, the first of her many extended stays in that country through her life. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. Long, Richard A, and Joe Nash. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." This led to a custody battle over Katherine and her brother, brought on by their maternal relatives. [8], Despite her choosing dance, Dunham often voiced recognition of her debt to the discipline: "without [anthropology] I don't know what I would have done.In anthropology, I learned how to feel about myself in relation to other people. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago, to Albert Millard Dunham, a tailor and dry cleaner, and his wife, Fanny June Dunham. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "Today, it is safe to say, there is no American black dancer who has not been influenced by the Dunham Technique, unless he or she works entirely within a classical genre",[2] and the Dunham Technique is still taught to anyone who studies modern dance. Please scroll down to enjoy more supporting materials. [61][62][63][64] During this time, in addition to Dunham, numerous Black women such as Zora Neal Hurston, Caroline Bond Day, Irene Diggs, and Erna Brodber were also working to transform the discipline into an anthropology of liberation: employing critical and creative cultural production.[54]. Most Popular #73650. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. Occupation(s): Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. In 1976, Dunham was guest artist-in-residence and lecturer for Afro-American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from, In 2005, she was awarded "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" by the. However, fully aware of her passion for both dance performance, as well as anthropological research, she felt she had to choose between the two. Despite these successes, the company frequently ran into periods of financial difficulties, as Dunham was required to support all of the 30 to 40 dancers and musicians. Called the Matriarch of Black Dance, her groundbreaking repertoire combined innovative interpretations of Caribbean dances, traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham Technique, which she performed with her dance troupe in venues around the world. Dunham is a ventriloquist comedian and uses seven different puppets in his act, known by his fans as the "suitcase posse." His first Comedy Central Presents special premiered in 2003. She did this for many reasons. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. She also developed the Dunham Technique, a method of movement to support her dance works. 1. Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! Katherine Dunham PhB'36. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. In 1931, at the age of 21, Dunham formed a group called Ballets Ngres, one of the first black ballet companies in the United States. Katherine Dunham. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. She built her own dance empire and was hailed as the queen of black dance. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. [49] In fact, that ceremony was not recognized as a legal marriage in the United States, a point of law that would come to trouble them some years later. [54] Her legacy within Anthropology and Dance Anthropology continues to shine with each new day. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. Her mother passed away when Katherine was only 3 years old. She felt it was necessary to use the knowledge she gained in her research to acknowledge that Africanist esthetics are significant to the cultural equation in American dance. However, one key reason was that she knew she would be able to reach a broader public through dance, as opposed to the inaccessible institutions of academia. She was one of the first researchers in anthropology to use her research of Afro-Haitian dance and culture for remedying racist misrepresentation of African culture in the miseducation of Black Americans. After the tour, in 1945, the Dunham company appeared in the short-lived Blue Holiday at the Belasco Theater in New York, and in the more successful Carib Song at the Adelphi Theatre. She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. Search input Search submit button. Nationality. Katherine Dunham died on May 21 2006. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. Her field work in the Caribbean began in Jamaica, where she lived for several months in the remote Maroon village of Accompong, deep in the mountains of Cockpit Country. Encouraged by Speranzeva to focus on modern dance instead of ballet, Dunham opened her first dance school in 1933, calling it the Negro Dance Group. Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Known for her many innovations, Dunham developed a dance pedagogy, later named the Dunham Technique, a style of movement and exercises based in traditional African dances, to support her choreography. Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! Grow your vocab the fun way! Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. The prince was then married to actress Rita Hayworth, and Dunham was now legally married to John Pratt; a quiet ceremony in Las Vegas had taken place earlier in the year. Classes are led by Ruby Streate, director of dance and education and artistic director of the Katherine Dunham Children's Workshop. London: Zed Books, 1999. Tune in & learn about the inception of. For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. Marlon Brando frequently dropped in to play the bongo drums, and jazz musician Charles Mingus held regular jam sessions with the drummers. She arranged a fundraising cabaret for a Methodist Church, where she did her first public performance when she was 15 years old. Gender: Female. Dunham was always a formidable advocate for racial equality, boycotting segregated venues in the United States and using her performances to highlight discrimination. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox, adapted by Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler and H.S. for the developing one of the the world performed many of her. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. 3 (1992): 24. She returned to the United States in 1936 informed by new methods of movement and expression, which she incorporated into techniques that transformed the world of dance. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. The show created a minor controversy in the press. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." 2023 The HistoryMakers. Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. Video. Choreographer. On one of these visits, during the late 1940s, she purchased a large property of more than seven hectares (approximately 17.3 acres) in the Carrefours suburban area of Port-au-Prince, known as Habitation Leclerc. Facts About Katherine Dunham. With Dunham in the sultry role of temptress Georgia Brown, the show ran for 20 weeks in New York. Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. Later that year she took her troupe to Mexico, where their performances were so popular that they stayed and performed for more than two months. Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. [4] In 1938, using materials collected ethnographic fieldwork, Dunham submitted a thesis, The Dances of Haiti: A Study of Their Material Aspect, Organization, Form, and Function,. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. Birth date: October 17, 1956. "In introducing authentic African dance-movements to her company and audiences, Dunhamperhaps more than any other choreographer of the timeexploded the possibilities of modern dance expression.". Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. Video. Luminaries like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Katherine Dunham began to shape and define what this new genre of dance would be. Died On : May 21, 2006. [4], Katherine Mary Dunham was born on 22 June 1909 in a Chicago hospital. After Mexico, Dunham began touring in Europe, where she was an immediate sensation. Katherine Dunham or the "Matriarch of Black Dance'' as many called her, was a revolutionary African American anthropologist and professional dancer. Katherine Dunham in 1956. Birthday : June 22, 1909. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. used throughout the world choros, rite de passage, los Idies, and. At the recommendation of her mentor Melville Herskovits, PhB'20a Northwestern University anthropologist and African studies expertDunham's calling cards read both "dancer" and . [28] Strongly founded in her anthropological research in the Caribbean, Dunham technique introduces rhythm as the backbone of various widely known modern dance principles including contraction and release,[29] groundedness, fall and recover,[30] counterbalance, and many more. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. [52], On May 21, 2006, Dunham died in her sleep from natural causes in New York City. They had particular success in Denmark and France. As Julia Foulkes pointed out, "Dunham's path to success lay in making high art in the United States from African and Caribbean sources, capitalizing on a heritage of dance within the African Diaspora, and raising perceptions of African American capabilities."[65]. The impresario Sol Hurok, manager of Dunham's troupe for a time, once had Ms. Dunham's legs insured for $250,000. Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . Dunham's mother, Fanny June Dunham (ne Taylor), who was of mixed French-Canadian and Native American heritage. Katherine Mary Dunham, 22 Jun 1909 - 21 May 2006 Exhibition Label Born Glen Ellyn, Illinois One of the founders of the anthropological dance movement, Katherine Dunham distilled Caribbean and African dance elements into modern American choreography. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. In 1921, a short story she wrote when she was 12 years old, called "Come Back to Arizona", was published in volume 2 of The Brownies' Book. [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. She is a celebrity dancer. Her father was of black ancestry, a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar, while her mother belonged to mixed French-Canadian and Native . The company was located on the property that formerly belonged to the Isadora Duncan Dance in Caravan Hill but subsequently moved to W 43rd Street.
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