Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . As an African American woman, she broke barriers of race and gender, most notably as the founder of an important dance company that toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. Fighting for Katherine Dunham's Dream in East St. Louis [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. "Kaiso! As a teenager, she won a scholarship to the Dunham school and later became a dancer with the company, before beginning her successful singing career. Her many original works include Lagya, Shango and Bal Negre. [6] At the age of 15, she organized "The Blue Moon Caf", a fundraising cabaret to raise money for Brown's Methodist Church in Joliet, where she gave her first public performance. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. Example. After he became her artistic collaborator, they became romantically involved. ", 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.". The show created a minor controversy in the press. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. During her tenure, she secured funding for the Performing Arts Training Center, where she introduced a program designed to channel the energy of the communitys youth away from gangs and into dance. Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir, Melville Herskovits, Lloyd Warner and Bronisaw Malinowski. A short biography on the legendary Katherine Dunham.All information found at: kdcah.org Enjoy the short history lesson and visit dancingindarkskin.com for mo. 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]. In 1966, she served as a State Department representative for the United States to the first ever World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. [22] from the University of Chicago, she had acquired a vast knowledge of the dances and rituals of the Black peoples of tropical America. 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 technique was "a way of life". She was the first American dancer to present indigenous forms on a concert stage, the first to sustain a black dance company. She created and performed in works for stage, clubs, and Hollywood films; she started a school and a technique that continue to flourish; she fought unstintingly for racial justice. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. Jeff Dunham hails from Dallas, Texas. While a student at the University of Chicago, she formed a dance group that performed in concert at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1934 and with the Chicago Civic Opera company in 193536. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Katherine was also an activist, author, educator, and anthropologist. 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. Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. As this show continued its run at the Windsor Theater, Dunham booked her own company in the theater for a Sunday performance. Katherine Dunham. Her work helped send astronauts to the . Time reported that, "she went on a 47-day hunger strike to protest the U.S.'s forced repatriation of Haitian refugees. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. [5] Along with the Great Migration, came White flight and her aunt Lulu's business suffered and ultimately closed as a result. 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. [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. Inspiring dancers: Ms Katherine Dunham - (Un)popular Cultures ", 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. 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. In 1978, an anthology of writings by and about her, also entitled Kaiso! 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. Katherine Dunham, was published in a limited, numbered edition of 130 copies by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. Long, Richard A, and Joe Nash. 2023 The HistoryMakers. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. 52 Copy quote. Her work inspired many. The company soon embarked on a tour of venues in South America, Europe, and North Africa. 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. Katherine Dunham died on May 21 2006. 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. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? Dunham technique is also inviting to the influence of cultural movement languages outside of dance including karate and capoeira.[36]. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology through African American Dance Pedagogy." Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. Radcliffe-Brown, Fred Eggan, and many others that she met in and around the University of Chicago. The result of this trip was Dunham's Master's thesis entitled "The Dances of Haiti". She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. [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. From the beginning of their association, around 1938, Pratt designed the sets and every costume Dunham ever wore. At the time, the South Side of Chicago was experiencing the effects of the Great Migration were Black southerners attempted to escape the Jim Crow South and poverty. Birth State: Alabama. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Fun facts about Julie Belafonte brought to you by IDTC! Text: Julie Katherine Dunham - Dancing with History Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham or the "Matriarch of - Medium Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. Katherine Dunham. theatrical designers john pratt. Died On : May 21, 2006. Gender: Female. Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. [1] Dunham also created the Dunham Technique. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Katherine Dunham Biography for Kids - lottie.com Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. 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. 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Katherine Dunham | Smithsonian Institution It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. Her world-renowned modern dance company exposed audiences to the diversity of dance, and her schools brought dance training and education to a variety of populations sharing her passion and commitment to dance as a medium of cultural communication. Example. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. Dancer. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. Childhood & Early Life. 4 (December 2010): 640642. In 1948, she opened A Caribbean Rhapsody, first at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, and then took it to the Thtre des Champs-lyses in Paris. She was likely named after Catherine of Aragon. Katherine Dunham, was mounted at the Women's Center on the campus. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. [54] Her dance education, while offering cultural resources for dealing with the consequences and realities of living in a racist environment, also brought about feelings of hope and dignity for inspiring her students to contribute positively to their own communities, and spreading essential cultural and spiritual capital within the U.S.[54], Just like her colleague Zora Neale Hurston, Dunham's anthropology inspired the blurring of lines between creative disciplines and anthropology. Dunham passed away on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at the age of 96. Featuring lively Latin American and Caribbean dances, plantation dances, and American social dances, the show was an immediate success. The Katherine Dunham Company toured throughout North America in the mid-1940s, performing as well in the racially segregated South. About Miss Dunham - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities In Boston, then a bastion of conservatism, the show was banned in 1944 after only one performance. [17] She was one of the first African-American women to attend this college and to earn these degrees. She did this for many reasons. The Katherine Dunham Museum: Saving the Legacy of a True Renaissance Woman and creative team that lasted. Fun Facts. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. "[35] Dunham explains that while she admired the narrative quality of ballet technique, she wanted to develop a movement vocabulary that captured the essence of the Afro-Caribbean dancers she worked with during her travels. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. She was instrumental in getting respect for Black dancers on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported Black dance company. [1] The Dunham Technique is still taught today. Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. On another occasion, in October 1944, after getting a rousing standing ovation in Louisville, Kentucky, she told the all-white audience that she and her company would not return because "your management will not allow people like you to sit next to people like us." In the summer of 1941, after the national tour of Cabin in the Sky ended, they went to Mexico, where inter-racial marriages were less controversial than in the United States, and engaged in a commitment ceremony on 20 July, which thereafter they gave as the date of their wedding. Through much study and time, she eventually became one of the founders of the field of dance anthropology. Dunham was both a popular entertainer and a serious artist intent on tracing the roots of Black culture. Katherine Dunham, pseudonym Kaye Dunn, (born June 22, 1909, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, U.S.died May 21, 2006, New York, New York), American dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. 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. 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. She also continued refining and teaching the Dunham Technique to transmit that knowledge to succeeding generations of dance students. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . 2 (2012): 159168. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. 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. Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. Biography.
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