Katherine Mary Dunham (also known as Kaye Dunn, June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, and social activist. 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 . Two years later she formed an all-Black company, which began touring extensively by 1943. [60], However, this decision did not keep her from engaging with and highly influencing the discipline for the rest of her life and beyond. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Later Dunham established a second home in Senegal, and she occasionally returned there to scout for talented African musicians and dancers. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. [37] One historian noted that "during the course of the tour, Dunham and the troupe had recurrent problems with racial discrimination, leading her to a posture of militancy which was to characterize her subsequent career."[38]. Dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1910, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small suburb of . She made world tours as a dancer, choreographer, and director of her own dance company. In 1947 it was expanded and granted a charter as the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. 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. Birth date: October 17, 1956. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. She was also consulted on costuming for the Egyptian and Ethiopian dress. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. [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]. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist During World War II. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. 7 Katherine Dunham facts. [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]. With choreography characterized by exotic sexuality, both became signature works in the Dunham repertory. Regarding her impact and effect he wrote: "The rise of American Negro dance commenced when Katherine Dunham and her company skyrocketed into the Windsor Theater in New York, from Chicago in 1940, and made an indelible stamp on the dance world Miss Dunham opened the doors that made possible the rapid upswing of this dance for the present generation." 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. After the national tour of Cabin in the Sky, the Dunham company stayed in Los Angeles, where they appeared in the Warner Brothers short film Carnival of Rhythm (1941). Dunham and her company appeared in the Hollywood movie Casbah (1948) with Tony Martin, Yvonne De Carlo, and Peter Lorre, and in the Italian film Botta e Risposta, produced by Dino de Laurentiis. Born in Glen Ellyn, IL #6. 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. 1. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. In 1935, Dunham received grants to conduct fieldwork in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti to study Afro-Caribbean dance and other rituals. . Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. In 1992, at age 83, Dunham went on a highly publicized hunger strike to protest the discriminatory U.S. foreign policy against Haitian boat-people. All rights reserved. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Time reported that, "she went on a 47-day hunger strike to protest the U.S.'s forced repatriation of Haitian refugees. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. Ruth Page had written a scenario and choreographed La Guiablesse ("The Devil Woman"), based on a Martinican folk tale in Lafcadio Hearn's Two Years in the French West Indies. Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! If Cities Could Dance: East St. Louis. 113 views, 2 likes, 4 loves, 0 comments, 6 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Institute for Dunham Technique Certification: Fun facts about Julie Belafonte brought to you by IDTC! 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. Artists are necessary to social justice movements; they are the ones who possess a gift to see beyond the bleak present and imagine a better future. The following year, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Dunham to be technical cultural advisera sort of cultural ambassadorto the government of Senegal in West Africa. London: Zed Books, 1999. In 19341936, Dunham performed as a guest artist with the ballet company of the Chicago Opera. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. - Pic Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Katherine Dunham. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. [50] Both Dunham and the prince denied the suggestion. 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. See "Selected Bibliography of Writings by Katherine Dunham" in Clark and Johnson. ", "Kaiso! She had one of the most successful dance careers in Western dance theatre in the 20th century and directed her own dance company for many years. Throughout her career, Dunham occasionally published articles about her anthropological research (sometimes under the pseudonym of Kaye Dunn) and sometimes lectured on anthropological topics at universities and scholarly societies.[27]. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Corrections? The highly respected Dance magazine did a feature cover story on Dunham in August 2000 entitled "One-Woman Revolution". By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. "Kaiso! In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. 6 Katherine Dunham facts. 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. informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. "[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. Receiving a post graduate academic fellowship, she went to the Caribbean to study the African diaspora, ethnography and local dance. After this well-received performance in 1931, the group was disbanded. The original two-week engagement was extended by popular demand into a three-month run, after which the company embarked on an extensive tour of the United States and Canada. Text:. First Name Katherine #37. [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. 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. While in Haiti, she hasn't only studied Vodun rituals, but also participated and became a mambo, female high priest in the Vodun religion. "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." He lived on 5 January 1931 and passed away on 1 December 1989. USA. until hia death in the 1986. Katherine was also an activist, author, educator, and anthropologist. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. Radcliffe-Brown, Fred Eggan, and many others that she met in and around the University of Chicago. 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. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. "My job", she said, "is to create a useful legacy. Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. [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. 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. 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. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. Based on this success, the entire company was engaged for the 1940 Broadway production Cabin in the Sky, staged by George Balanchine and starring Ethel Waters. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. There she was able to bring anthropologists, sociologists, educational specialists, scientists, writers, musicians, and theater people together to create a liberal arts curriculum that would be a foundation for further college work. theatrical designers john pratt. Video. The company returned to New York. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. Short Biography. Admission is $10, or $5 for students and seniors, and hours are by appointment; call 618-875-3636, or 618-618-795-5970 three to five days in advance. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." [15] It was in a lecture by Redfield that she learned about the relationship between dance and culture, pointing out that Black Americans had retained much of their African heritage in dances. [1] She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US. However, it has now became a common practice within the discipline. [52], On May 21, 2006, Dunham died in her sleep from natural causes in New York City. It was not a success, closing after only eight performances. She was instrumental in getting respect for Black dancers on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported Black dance company. In 1937 she traveled with them to New York to take part in A Negro Dance Evening, organized by Edna Guy at the 92nd Street YMHA. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. From the 40s to the 60s, Dunham and her dance troupe toured to 57 countries of the world. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? 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. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. Katherine Dunham. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. In 1963, Dunham became the first African-American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. [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. Name: Mae C. Jemison. "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' Birth City: Decatur. After the 1968 riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Dunham encouraged gang members in the ghetto to come to the center to use drumming and dance to vent their frustrations. [22] A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! Katherine Dunham, was published in a limited, numbered edition of 130 copies by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. Her technique was "a way of life". June 22 Dancer #4. The group performed Dunham's Negro Rhapsody at the Chicago Beaux Arts Ball. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. [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. Jeff Dunham hails from Dallas, Texas. 47 Copy quote. Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. 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 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. As this show continued its run at the Windsor Theater, Dunham booked her own company in the theater for a Sunday performance. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. Having completed her undergraduate work at the University of Chicago and decided to pursue a performing career rather than academic studies, Dunham revived her dance ensemble. . She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). Dunham early became interested in dance. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. 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. Katherine Dunham was a rebel among rebels. Most Popular #73650. As a graduate student in anthropology in the mid-1930s, she conducted dance research in the Caribbean. Gender: Female. When you have faith in something, it's your reason to be alive and to fight for it. Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. 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. Occupation(s): After he became her artistic collaborator, they became romantically involved. 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. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." The family moved to Joliet, Illinois when her father remarried. [14] For example, she was highly influenced both by Sapir's viewpoint on culture being made up of rituals, beliefs, customs and artforms, and by Herkovits' and Redfield's studies highlighting links between African and African American cultural expression. All You Need to Know About Dunham Technique. Video. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. Last Name Dunham #5. At the age of 82, Dunham went on a hunger strike in . Biography. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. 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. Nationality. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. Others who attended her school included James Dean, Gregory Peck, Jose Ferrer, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poitier, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. She did this for many reasons. "The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn: Sociocultural Anthropology in 2019." 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. Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. 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. One recurring theme that I really . 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. These experiences provided ample material for the numerous books, articles and short stories Dunham authored. [20] She recorded her findings through ethnographic fieldnotes and by learning dance techniques, music and song, alongside her interlocutors. 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. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. A continuation based on her experiences in Haiti, Island Possessed, was published in 1969. Her work inspired many. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . movement and expression. In 1976, Dunham was guest artist-in-residence and lecturer for Afro-American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Many of her students, trained in her studios in Chicago and New York City, became prominent in the field of modern dance. 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. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. Katherine Dunham facts for kids. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. Her legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. Dunham Company member Dana McBroom-Manno was selected as a featured artist in the show, which played on the Music Fair Circuit. ", 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 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. In 1987 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and was also inducted into the. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. With Dunham in the sultry role of temptress Georgia Brown, the show ran for 20 weeks in New York. VV A. Clark and Sara E. Johnson, editors, Joliet Central High School Yearbook, 1928. 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. 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. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. This is where, in the late 1960s, global dance legend Katherine Dunham put down roots and taught the arts of the African diaspora to local children and teenagers. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. Although it was well received by the audience, local censors feared that the revealing costumes and provocative dances might compromise public morals. Birth Country: United States. Facts about Alvin Ailey talk about the famous African-American activist and choreographer. 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 . This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katherine-Dunham, The Kennedy Center - Biography of Katherine Dunham, Katherine Dunham - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. In 1963, she became the first African American to choreograph for the Met since Hemsley Winfield set the dances for The Emperor Jones in 1933. Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! Dunhams writings, sometimes published under the pseudonym Kaye Dunn, include Katherine Dunhams Journey to Accompong (1946), an account of her anthropological studies in Jamaica; A Touch of Innocence (1959), an autobiography; Island Possessed (1969); and several articles for popular and scholarly journals. Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. About that time Dunham met and began to work with John Thomas Pratt, a Canadian who had become one of America's most renowned costume and theatrical set designers. 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. Alvin Ailey, who stated that he first became interested in dance as a professional career after having seen a performance of the Katherine Dunham Company as a young teenager of 14 in Los Angeles, called the Dunham Technique "the closest thing to a unified Afro-American dance existing.".
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