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. [12] [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Video. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. She was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Plaque d'Honneur Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce Award, and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. Name: Mae C. Jemison. They were stranded without money because of bad management by their impresario. Birth State: Alabama. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. 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]. [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. Birth date: October 17, 1956. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. 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 show created a minor controversy in the press. Also Known For : . The State Department regularly subsidized other less well-known groups, but it consistently refused to support her company (even when it was entertaining U.S. Army troops), although at the same time it did not hesitate to take credit for them as "unofficial artistic and cultural representatives". 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. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, First Pan-African World Festival of Negro Arts, National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, "Katherine Dunham | African American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist", "Timeline: The Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress)", "Special Presentation: Katherine Dunham Timeline". Never completing her required coursework for her graduate degree, she departed for Broadway and Hollywood. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Cruz Banks, Ojeya. 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). [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. 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. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. When you have faith in something, it's your reason to be alive and to fight for it. Grow your vocab the fun way! The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. USA. Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. ", "Dunham's European success led to considerable imitation of her work in European revues it is safe to say that the perspectives of concert-theatrical dance in Europe were profoundly affected by the performances of the Dunham troupe. Example. See "Selected Bibliography of Writings by Katherine Dunham" in Clark and Johnson. 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. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. He had been a promising philosophy professor at Howard University and a protg of Alfred North Whitehead. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. 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. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. 1910-2006. 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. Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. 2 (2012): 159168. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. [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. Birth City: Decatur. Biography. In the mid-1950s, Dunham and her company appeared in three films: Mambo (1954), made in Italy; Die Grosse Starparade (1954), made in Germany; and Msica en la Noche (1955), made in Mexico City. [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. 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'. American Anthropologist 122, no. According to the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, Dunham never thought she'd have a career in dance, although she did study with ballerina and choreographer Ruth Page, among others. Katherine Dunham. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. April 30, 2019. She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. Keep reading for more such interesting quotes at Kidadl!) Although Dunham was offered another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue her academic studies, she chose dance. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. 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. Upon returning to Chicago, the company performed at the Goodman Theater and at the Abraham Lincoln Center. Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. After he became her artistic collaborator, they became romantically involved. Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . [60], However, this decision did not keep her from engaging with and highly influencing the discipline for the rest of her life and beyond. Dunham, who died at the age of 96 [in 2006], was an anthropologist and political activist, especially on behalf of the rights of black people. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . [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. Kraft from the story by Jerry Horwin and Seymour B. Robinson, directed by Andrew L. Stone, produced by William LeBaron and starring Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Cab Calloway.The film is one of two Hollywood musicals with an African . Updates? Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. [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. Barrelhouse. ", "Kaiso! Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. There she met John Pratt, an artist and designer and they got married in 1941 until his death in 1986. Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir, Melville Herskovits, Lloyd Warner and Bronisaw Malinowski. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. [1] The Dunham Technique is still taught today. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Last Name Dunham #5. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. [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,. The company returned to New York. Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. Interesting facts. [54] After recovering crucial dance epistemologies relevant to people of the African diaspora during her ethnographic research, she applied anthropological knowledge toward developing her own dance pedagogy (Dunham Technique) that worked to reconcile with the legacy of colonization and racism and correct sociocultural injustices. 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. Dunham was both a popular entertainer and a serious artist intent on tracing the roots of Black culture. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. 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. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. 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. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. While in Haiti, she hasn't only studied Vodun rituals, but also participated and became a mambo, female high priest in the Vodun religion. Jeff Dunham hails from Dallas, Texas. The result of this trip was Dunham's Master's thesis entitled "The Dances of Haiti". However, fully aware of her passion for both dance performance, as well as anthropological research, she felt she had to choose between the two. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from, In 2005, she was awarded "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" by the. Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. 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. She choreographed for Broadway stage productions and operaincluding Aida (1963) for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Katherine Dunham PhB'36. 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. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) was a world-renowned choreographer who broke many barriers of race and gender, most notably as an African American woman whose dance company toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. Her mother, Fanny June Dunham, who, according to Dunham's memoir, possessed Indian, French Canadian, English and probably African ancestry, died when Dunham was four years old. 2 (2020): 259271. He needn't have bothered. until hia death in the 1986. [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. Featuring lively Latin American and Caribbean dances, plantation dances, and American social dances, the show was an immediate success. Childhood & Early Life. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". "[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. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. 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. Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. 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. . "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology through African American Dance Pedagogy." 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. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. 7 Katherine Dunham facts. teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. . In 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. The next year, after the US entered World War II, Dunham appeared in the Paramount musical film Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) in a specialty number, "Sharp as a Tack," with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. Charm Dance from "L'Ag'Ya". Example. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! In 1946, Dunham returned to Broadway for a revue entitled Bal Ngre, which received glowing notices from theater and dance critics. The Katherine Dunham Company became an incubator for many well known performers, including Archie Savage, Talley Beatty, Janet Collins, Lenwood Morris, Vanoye Aikens, Lucille Ellis, Pearl Reynolds, Camille Yarbrough, Lavinia Williams, and Tommy Gomez. [52], On May 21, 2006, Dunham died in her sleep from natural causes in New York City. Katherine returnedto to the usa in 1931 miss Dunham met one of. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. 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 . [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. 4 (December 2010): 640642. After her company performed successfully, Dunham was chosen as dance director of the Chicago Negro Theater Unit of the Federal Theatre Project. While in Haiti, Dunham investigated Vodun rituals and made extensive research notes, particularly on the dance movements of the participants. Other movies she performed in as a dancer during this period included the Abbott and Costello comedy Pardon My Sarong (1942) and the black musical Stormy Weather (1943), which featured a stellar range of actors, musicians and dancers.[24]. [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. 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. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. By Renata Sago. After the tour, in 1945, the Dunham company appeared in the short-lived Blue Holiday at the Belasco Theater in New York, and in the more successful Carib Song at the Adelphi Theatre. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. 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. 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. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. First Name Katherine #37. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . 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. 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. from the University of Chicago, she had acquired a vast knowledge of the dances and rituals of the Black peoples of tropical America. 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. Dunham, Katherine dnm . "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". Much of the literature calls upon researchers to go beyond bureaucratic protocols to protect communities from harm, but rather use their research to benefit communities that they work with. 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 . 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. ", 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. It closed after only 38 performances. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. . 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. [1] She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US. 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. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. Katherine Dunham in a photograph from around 1945. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". Katherine Dunham got an early bachelor's degree in anthropology as a student at the University of Chicago. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. A dance choreographer. 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. Short Biography. 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. Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist During World War II. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. Leverne Backstrom, president of the board of the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, still does. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. A continuation based on her experiences in Haiti, Island Possessed, was published in 1969. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. 8 Katherine Dunham facts. Her the best movie is Casbah. 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. [15] He showed her the connection between dance and social life giving her the momentum to explore a new area of anthropology, which she later termed "Dance Anthropology". Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. Her legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. Some Facts. 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. [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. [54] This wave continued throughout the 1990s with scholars publishing works (such as Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further in Anthropology for Liberation,[55] Decolonizing Methodologies,[56] and more recently, The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn[57]) that critique anthropology and the discipline's roles in colonial knowledge production and power structures. This won international acclaim and is now taught as a modern dance style in many dance schools. 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]. 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. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. 1. Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". By the time she received an M.A. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. 3 (1992): 24. The PATC teaching staff was made up of former members of Dunham's touring company, as well as local residents. "[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. Katherine Dunham facts for kids. ((Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Missouri History Museum Photograph and Prints collection. Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. 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. 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. Text:. She was likely named after Catherine of Aragon. 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. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. Dun ham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. In 1928, while still an undergraduate, Dunham began to study ballet with Ludmilla Speranzeva, a Russian dancer who had settled in Chicago, after having come to the United States with the Franco-Russian vaudeville troupe Le Thtre de la Chauve-Souris, directed by impresario Nikita Balieff. [26] This work was never produced in Joplin's lifetime, but since the 1970s, it has been successfully produced in many venues. For several years, Dunham's personal assistant and press promoter was Maya Deren, who later also became interested in Vodun and wrote The Divine Horseman: The Voodoo Gods of Haiti (1953). (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) theatrical designers john pratt. 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.

Joe Thomas Baker Iii Tennessee, Texas Medical Board Disciplinary Actions, Articles K