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. ", Scholar of the arts Harold Cruse wrote in 1964: "Her early and lifelong search for meaning and artistic values for black people, as well as for all peoples, has motivated, created opportunities for, and launched careers for generations of young black artists Afro-American dance was usually in the avant-garde of modern dance Dunham's entire career spans the period of the emergence of Afro-American dance as a serious art. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". Fun Facts. ", While in Europe, she also influenced hat styles on the continent as well as spring fashion collections, featuring the Dunham line and Caribbean Rhapsody, and the Chiroteque Franaise made a bronze cast of her feet for a museum of important personalities.". In addition, Dunham conducted special projects for African American high school students in Chicago; was artistic and technical director (196667) to the president of Senegal; and served as artist-in-residence, and later professor, at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and director of Southern Illinoiss Performing Arts Training Centre and Dynamic Museum in East St. Louis, Illinois. Among Dunham's closest friends and colleagues was Julie Robinson, formerly a performer with the Katherine Dunham Company, and her husband, singer and later political activist Harry Belafonte. Omissions? Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . Kantherine Dunham passed away of natural causes on May 21, 2006, one month before her 97th birthday. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. In 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. At the height of her career in the 1940s and 1950s, Dunham was renowned throughout Europe and Latin America and was widely popular in the United States. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Text:. Biography. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? 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. Her father was given a number of important positions at court . Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . 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. . Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. In December 1951, a photo of Dunham dancing with Ismaili Muslim leader Prince Ali Khan at a private party he had hosted for her in Paris appeared in a popular magazine and fueled rumors that the two were romantically linked. Katherine Dunham, the dancer, choreographer, teacher and anthropologist whose pioneering work introduced much of the black heritage in dance to the stage, died Sunday at her home in Manhattan. The Dunham Technique Ballet African Dancing Her favorite color was platinum Caribbean Dancing Her favorite food was Filet of Sole How she started out Ballet African Dance Caribbean Dance The Dunham Technique wasn't so much as a technique so Video. Alvin Ailey later produced a tribute for her in 198788 at Carnegie Hall with his American Dance Theater, entitled The Magic of Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist [1]. Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. Somewhat later, she assisted him, at considerable risk to her life, when he was persecuted for his progressive policies and sent in exile to Jamaica after a coup d'tat. The critics acknowledged the historical research she did on dance in ancient Egypt, but they were not appreciative of her choreography as staged for this production.[25]. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. "[48] During her protest, Dick Gregory led a non-stop vigil at her home, where many disparate personalities came to show their respect, such Debbie Allen, Jonathan Demme, and Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. By Renata Sago. Katherine Dunham. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. 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. Dunham saved the day by arranging for the company to be paid to appear in a German television special, Karibische Rhythmen, after which they returned to the United States. All You Need to Know About Dunham Technique. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. Charm Dance from "L'Ag'Ya". Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . Anthropology News 33, no. 47 Copy quote. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. 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]. teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. At the age of 82, Dunham went on a hunger strike in . [54] Her legacy within Anthropology and Dance Anthropology continues to shine with each new day. Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! 3 (1992): 24. She was a pioneer of Dance Anthropology, established methodologies of ethnochoreology, and her work gives essential historical context to current conversations and practices of decolonization within and outside of the discipline of anthropology. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. 2 (2020): 259271. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. As a dancer and choreographer, Katherine Dunham (1910-2002) wowed audiences in the 1930s and 1940s when she combined classical ballet with African rhythms to create an exciting new dance style. The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. [22] "Hoy programa extraordinario y el sbado dos estamos nos ofrece Katherine Dunham,", Constance Valis Hill, "Katherine Dunham's, Anna Kisselgoff, "Katherine Dunham's Legacy, Visible in Youth and Age,". He had been a promising philosophy professor at Howard University and a protg of Alfred North Whitehead. There is also a strong emphasis on training dancers in the practices of engaging with polyrhythms by simultaneously moving their upper and lower bodies according to different rhythmic patterns. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays. As celebrities, their voices can have a profound influence on popular culture. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. This concert, billed as Tropics and Le Hot Jazz, included not only her favorite partners Archie Savage and Talley Beatty, but her principal Haitian drummer, Papa Augustin. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. This was followed by television spectaculars filmed in London, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Sydney, and Mexico City. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Childhood & Early Life. 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. As Wendy Perron wrote, "Jazz dance, 'fusion,' and the search for our cultural identity all have their antecedents in Dunham's work as a dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Dunham was exposed to sacred ritual dances performed by people on the islands of Haiti and Jamaica. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. [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. Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . [13] The Anthropology department at Chicago in the 1930s and 40s has been described as holistic, interdisciplinary, with a philosophy of liberal humanism, and principles of racial equality and cultural relativity. [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,. Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. One of her fellow professors, with whom she collaborated, was architect Buckminster Fuller. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. Kraut, Anthea. [12] Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) brought African dance aesthetics to the United States, forever influencing modern and jazz dance. In 1967, Dunham opened the Performing Arts Training Center (PATC) in East St. Louis in an effort to use the arts to combat poverty and urban unrest. Katherine Dunham's long and remarkable life spanned the fields of anthropology, dance, theater, and inner city social work.As an anthropologist, Dunham studied and lived among the peoples of Haiti and other Caribbean islands; as a dancer and choreographer she combined "primitive" Caribbean dances with . Dunham had been invited to stage a new number for the popular, long-running musical revue Pins and Needles 1940, produced by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. American Anthropologist 122, no. He needn't have bothered. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. She is a celebrity dancer. She also developed the Dunham Technique, a method of movement to support her dance works. VV A. Clark and Sara E. Johnson, editors, Joliet Central High School Yearbook, 1928. She built her own dance empire and was hailed as the queen of black dance. She also continued refining and teaching the Dunham Technique to transmit that knowledge to succeeding generations of dance students. and creative team that lasted. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. forming a powerful personal. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) By Das, Joanna Dee. A key reason for this choice was because she knew that through dance, her work would be able to be accessed by a wider array of audiences; more so than if she continued to limit her work within academia. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Dancer Born in Illinois #12. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." She decided to live for a year in relative isolation in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked on writing memoirs of her youth. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. After Mexico, Dunham began touring in Europe, where she was an immediate sensation. In 1946, Dunham returned to Broadway for a revue entitled Bal Ngre, which received glowing notices from theater and dance critics. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. They were stranded without money because of bad management by their impresario. 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. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Born: June 22, 1909. They had particular success in Denmark and France. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. June 22 Dancer #4. "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." [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. [4], Katherine Mary Dunham was born on 22 June 1909 in a Chicago hospital. This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. Katherine Dunham was born on the 22nd of June, 1909 in Chicago before she was taken by her parents to their hometown at Glen Ellyn in Illinois. She had incurred the displeasure of departmental officials when her company performed Southland, a ballet that dramatized the lynching of a black man in the racist American South. 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Barrelhouse. Radcliffe-Brown, Fred Eggan, and many others that she met in and around the University of Chicago. 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. The recipient of numerous awards, Dunham received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1983 and the National Medal of Arts in 1989. Question 2. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. 1910-2006. Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. Katherine returnedto to the usa in 1931 miss Dunham met one of. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Dunham's last appearance on Broadway was in 1962 in Bamboche!, which included a few former Dunham dancers in the cast and a contingent of dancers and drummers from the Royal Troupe of Morocco. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. 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. Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". - Pic Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. 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. 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. [15], In 1935, Dunham was awarded travel fellowships from the Julius Rosenwald and Guggenheim foundations to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, and Trinidad studying the dance forms of the Caribbean. ", "Kaiso! [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, was mounted at the Women's Center on the campus. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. [2] Most of Dunham's works previewed many questions essential to anthropology's postmodern turn, such as critiquing understandings of modernity, interpretation, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. A highlight of Dunham's later career was the invitation from New York's Metropolitan Opera to stage dances for a new production of Aida, starring soprano Leontyne Price. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . Tropics (choreographed 1937) and Le Jazz Hot (1938) were among the earliest of many works based on her research. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Example. Born in 1909 #28. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. By the time she received an M.A. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. Katherine was also an activist, author, educator, and anthropologist. All rights reserved. Dunham married Jordis McCoo, a black postal worker, in 1931, but he did not share her interests and they gradually drifted apart, finally divorcing in 1938. [35] In a different interview, Dunham describes her technique "as a way of life,[36]" a sentiment that seems to be shared by many of her admiring students. Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. USA. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. In Boston, then a bastion of conservatism, the show was banned in 1944 after only one performance. With Dunham in the sultry role of temptress Georgia Brown, the show ran for 20 weeks in New York. 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. (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) Interesting facts. In 1950, Sol Hurok presented Katherine Dunham and Her Company in a dance revue at the Broadway Theater in New York, with a program composed of some of Dunham's best works. Dunham also received a grant to work with Professor Melville Herskovits of Northwestern University, whose ideas about retention of African culture among African Americans served as a base for her research in the Caribbean. She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . Other Interesting Katherine Dunham Facts And Trivia 'Come Back To Arizona', a short story Katherine Dunham penned when she was 12 years old, was published in 1921 in volume two of 'The Brownies' Book'. She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. 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. 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 Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. The highly respected Dance magazine did a feature cover story on Dunham in August 2000 entitled "One-Woman Revolution". Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. [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. Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. As I document in my book Katherine Dunham: Dance and the . Dunham considered some really important and interesting issues, like how class and race issues translate internationally, being accepted into new communities, different types of being black, etc. Legendary dancer, choreographer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham was born June 22, 1909, to an African American father and French-Canadian mother who died when she was young. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. 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. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. A dance choreographer. informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. [58] Early on into graduate school, Dunham was forced to choose between finishing her master's degree in anthropology and pursuing her career in dance. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. Keep reading for more such interesting quotes at Kidadl!) The result of this trip was Dunham's Master's thesis entitled "The Dances of Haiti". Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. In this post, she choreographed the Chicago production of Run Li'l Chil'lun, performed at the Goodman Theater. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In 1978 Dunham was featured in the PBS special, Divine Drumbeats: Katherine Dunham and Her People, narrated by James Earl Jones, as part of the Dance in America series. 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. The following year, she moved to East St. Louis, where she opened the Performing Arts Training Center to help the underserved community. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. Digital Library. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. . Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. In 1947 it was expanded and granted a charter as the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts. One of the most important dance artists of the twentieth century, dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) created works that thrilled audiences the world over. Katherine Dunham predated, pioneered, and demonstrated new ways of doing and envisioning Anthropology six decades ahead of the discipline. In Hollywood, Dunham refused to sign a lucrative studio contract when the producer said she would have to replace some of her darker-skinned company members. 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. 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. Through much study and time, she eventually became one of the founders of the field of dance anthropology. [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, .