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. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . One recurring theme that I really . Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. 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. In her biography, Joyce Aschenbrenner (2002), credits Ms Dunham as the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance", and describes her work as: "fundamentally . This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. Gender: Female. 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. Video. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. 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. until hia death in the 1986. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". Transforming Anthropology 20, no. It closed after only 38 performances. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. The Met Ballet Company dancers studied Dunham Technique at Dunham's 42nd Street dance studio for the entire summer leading up to the season opening of Aida. [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. Example. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. Dunham and Kitt collaborated again in the 1970s in an Equity Production of the musical Peg, based on the Irish play, Peg O' My Heart. 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. Birth State: Alabama. They had particular success in Denmark and France. Video. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. In my mind, it's the most fascinating thing in the world to learn".[19]. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. Nationality. After noticing that Katherine enjoyed working and socializing with people, her brother suggested that she study Anthropology. Born in 1909 during the turn of the century Victorian era in the small town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, she became one of the first dance anthropologists, started the first internationally-touring pre-dominantly black dance company . Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." Her dance career was interrupted in 1935 when she received funding from the Rosenwald Foundation which allowed her to travel to Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti for eighteen months to explore each country's respective dance cultures. Through much study and time, she eventually became one of the founders of the field of dance anthropology. Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. 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. The company returned to New York. Dunham used Habitation Leclerc as a private retreat for many years, frequently bringing members of her dance company to recuperate from the stress of touring and to work on developing new dance productions. theatrical designers john pratt. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. "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 Born in Illinois #12. Katherine Dunham. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. Birth Country: United States. Died On : May 21, 2006. 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. The result of this trip was Dunham's Master's thesis entitled "The Dances of Haiti". You dance because you have to. At the age of 82, Dunham went on a hunger strike in . She arranged a fundraising cabaret for a Methodist Church, where she did her first public performance when she was 15 years old. 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. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. He lived on 5 January 1931 and passed away on 1 December 1989. 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. [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. Genres Novels. "The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn: Sociocultural Anthropology in 2019." Upon returning to Chicago, the company performed at the Goodman Theater and at the Abraham Lincoln Center. 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. Fun Facts. While in Haiti, she hasn't only studied Vodun rituals, but also participated and became a mambo, female high priest in the Vodun religion. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. "My job", she said, "is to create a useful legacy. The 1940s and 1950s saw the successors to the pioneers, give rise to such new stylistic variations through the work of artistic giants such as Jos Limn and Merce Cunningham. After this well-received performance in 1931, the group was disbanded. 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. [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. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. Dunham early became interested in dance. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. Dunham, Katherine dnm . "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology through African American Dance Pedagogy." This was followed by television spectaculars filmed in London, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Sydney, and Mexico City. Receiving a post graduate academic fellowship, she went to the Caribbean to study the African diaspora, ethnography and local dance. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. 288 pages, Hardcover. She is a celebrity dancer. 4 (December 2010): 640642. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. Katherine Dunham PhB'36. Dana McBroom-Manno still teaches Dunham Technique in New York City and is a Master of Dunham Technique. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. She choreographed for Broadway stage productions and operaincluding Aida (1963) for the New York Metropolitan Opera. 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. . Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. Fun facts. This meant neither of the children were able to settle into a home for a few years. 1910-2006. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. 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. In 1967 she officially retired, after presenting a final show at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. 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. 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. [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. 2 (2012): 159168. [22] He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. Born in Glen Ellyn, IL #6. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. As celebrities, their voices can have a profound influence on popular culture. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." She was likely named after Catherine of Aragon. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. ", 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. 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. 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: The Artist as Activist During World War II. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. Video. Katherine Dunham in 1956. Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . A continuation based on her experiences in Haiti, Island Possessed, was published in 1969. 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. One of her fellow professors, with whom she collaborated, was architect Buckminster Fuller. At an early age, Dunham became interested in dance. Later Dunham established a second home in Senegal, and she occasionally returned there to scout for talented African musicians and dancers. In 19341936, Dunham performed as a guest artist with the ballet company of the Chicago Opera. 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 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. 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. Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. Beda Schmid. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. She also developed the Dunham Technique, a method of movement to support her dance works. 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. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. Katherine Dunham, was published in a limited, numbered edition of 130 copies by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) brought African dance aesthetics to the United States, forever influencing modern and jazz dance. Actress: Star Spangled Rhythm. She was also consulted on costuming for the Egyptian and Ethiopian dress. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . In 1976, Dunham was guest artist-in-residence and lecturer for Afro-American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. While Dunham was recognized as "unofficially" representing American cultural life in her foreign tours, she was given very little assistance of any kind by the U.S. State Department. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. 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. Occupation(s): Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. . 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. [26] This work was never produced in Joplin's lifetime, but since the 1970s, it has been successfully produced in many venues. In 1950, while visiting Brazil, Dunham and her group were refused rooms at a first-class hotel in So Paulo, the Hotel Esplanada, frequented by many American businessmen. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. Lyndon B. Johnson was in the audience for opening night. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. While in Haiti, Dunham investigated Vodun rituals and made extensive research notes, particularly on the dance movements of the participants. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. 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." 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. Together, they produced the first version of her dance composition L'Ag'Ya, which premiered on January 27, 1938, as a part of the Federal Theater Project in Chicago. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190264871.003.0001, "Dunham Technique: Fall and recovery with body roll", "Katherine Dunham on need for Dunham Technique", "The Negro Problem in a Class Society: 19511960 Brazil", "Katherine Dunham, Dance Icon, Dies at 96", "Candace Award Recipients 19821990, Page 1", "Katherine the Great: 2004 Lifetime Achievement Awardee Katherine Dunham", Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology, Katherine Dunham on her anthropological films, Guide to the Photograph Collection on Katherine Dunham, Katherine Dunham's oral history video excerpts, "Katherine Dunham on Overcoming 1940s Racism", Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, Recalling Choreographer and Activist Dunham, "How Katherine Dunham Revealed Black Dance to the World", Katherine Dunham, Dance Pioneer, Dies at 96, "On Stage and Backstage withTalented Katherine Dunham, Master Dance Designer", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Katherine_Dunham&oldid=1139015494, American people of French-Canadian descent, 20th-century African-American politicians, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, In 1971 she received the Heritage Award from the, In 1983 she was a recipient of one of the highest artistic awards in the United States, the. Radcliffe-Brown, Fred Eggan, and many others that she met in and around the University of Chicago. Choreographer. There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . Katherine Dunham, June 22, Katherine Dunham was born to a French -Canadian woman and an African American man in the state of Chicago in America, Her birthday was 22nd June in the year 1909. . Barrelhouse. She . 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. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. Dancers are frequently instructed to place weight on the balls of their feet, lengthen their lumbar and cervical spines, and breathe from the abdomen and not the chest. By the time she received an M.A. The show created a minor controversy in the press. Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. Digital Library. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . 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. 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. She also continued refining and teaching the Dunham Technique to transmit that knowledge to succeeding generations of dance students. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." These exercises prepare the dancers for African social and spiritual dances[31] that are practiced later in the class including the Mahi,[32] Yonvalou,[33] and Congo Paillette. Biography. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. American Anthropologist 122, no. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. He had been a promising philosophy professor at Howard University and a protg of Alfred North Whitehead. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. Katherine Dunham facts for kids. 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. 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. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE. She was hailed for her smooth and fluent choreography and dominated a stage with what has been described as 'an unmitigating radiant force providing beauty with a feminine touch full of variety and nuance. 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. Intrigued by this theory, Dunham began to study African roots of dance and, in 1935, she traveled to the Caribbean for field research. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. Katherine Dunham died on May 21 2006. [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. 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. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. 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. - Pic Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. By drawing on a vast, never-utilized trove of archival materials along with oral histories, choreographic analysis, and embodied research, Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora offers new insight about how this remarkable woman built political solidarity through the arts. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. [54], Six decades before this new wave of anthropological discourse began, Katherine Dunham's work demonstrated anthropology being used as a force for challenging racist and colonial ideologies. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. 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'. [52], On May 21, 2006, Dunham died in her sleep from natural causes in New York City. From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. In 1935, Dunham received grants to conduct fieldwork in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti to study Afro-Caribbean dance and other rituals. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . "[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. Book. As a graduate student in anthropology in the mid-1930s, she conducted dance research in the Caribbean.