In 1987 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and was also inducted into the. [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. Others who attended her school included James Dean, Gregory Peck, Jose Ferrer, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poitier, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) [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]. Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. Dancer. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. 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. [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". She . Dunham was exposed to sacred ritual dances performed by people on the islands of Haiti and Jamaica. - Pic Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Fighting for Katherine Dunham's Dream in East St. Louis In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City. 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. Barrelhouse. However, fully aware of her passion for both dance performance, as well as anthropological research, she felt she had to choose between the two. She graduated from Joliet Central High School in 1928, where she played baseball, tennis, basketball, and track; served as vice-president of the French Club, and was on the yearbook staff. [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 PATC teaching staff was made up of former members of Dunham's touring company, as well as local residents. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Upon returning to Chicago, the company performed at the Goodman Theater and at the Abraham Lincoln Center. from the University of Chicago, she had acquired a vast knowledge of the dances and rituals of the Black peoples of tropical America. 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. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. Later in the year she opened a cabaret show in Las Vegas, during the first year that the city became a popular entertainment as well as gambling destination. 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. Dunham Company member Dana McBroom-Manno was selected as a featured artist in the show, which played on the Music Fair Circuit. Occupation(s): Interesting facts. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. Kantherine Dunham passed away of natural causes on May 21, 2006, one month before her 97th birthday. She also continued refining and teaching the Dunham Technique to transmit that knowledge to succeeding generations of dance students. 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. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . In my mind, it's the most fascinating thing in the world to learn".[19]. As Julia Foulkes pointed out, "Dunham's path to success lay in making high art in the United States from African and Caribbean sources, capitalizing on a heritage of dance within the African Diaspora, and raising perceptions of African American capabilities."[65]. 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 (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th . 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. [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. See "Selected Bibliography of Writings by Katherine Dunham" in Clark and Johnson. [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. 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. 2023 The HistoryMakers. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. Dunham was both a popular entertainer and a serious artist intent on tracing the roots of Black culture. Example. American Anthropologist 122, no. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. 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 Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Some Facts. A actor. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. 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! Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. ", 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. Dunham is credited with introducing international audiences to African aesthetics and establishing African dance as a true art form. Katherine Dunham, 1909-2006 - WWP Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . Katherine Dunham - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family - Sticky Facts New York City, U.S. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . 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 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. 1910-2006. Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. You can't learn about dances until you learn about people. 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. Katherine Dunham: legendary dancer who founded the 1st American black ", "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. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. Her work inspired many. 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. 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. 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. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. 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. [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from, In 2005, she was awarded "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" by the. Time reported that, "she went on a 47-day hunger strike to protest the U.S.'s forced repatriation of Haitian refugees. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. Birth City: Decatur. [59] She ultimately chose to continue her career in dance without her master's degree in anthropology. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him. They were stranded without money because of bad management by their impresario. 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]. Decolonozing Anthropology: Katherine "the Great" Dunham 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. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) - Routledge 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. Childhood & Early Life. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. 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. Katherine Dunham was born on the 22nd of June, 1909 in Chicago before she was taken by her parents to their hometown at Glen Ellyn in Illinois. Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." She decided to live for a year in relative isolation in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked on writing memoirs of her youth. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. 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. It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. If Cities Could Dance: East St. Louis. 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. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". 4 (December 2010): 640642. She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. London: Zed Books, 1999. Updates? 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. 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). Dancer Born in Illinois #12. This was followed by television spectaculars filmed in London, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Sydney, and Mexico City. Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . 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. Even in retirement Dunham continued to choreograph: one of her major works was directing the premiere full, posthumous production Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha in 1972, a joint production of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Morehouse College chorus in Atlanta, conducted by Robert Shaw. Beautiful, Justice, Black. Fun facts about Julie Belafonte brought to you by IDTC! Text: Julie Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The company soon embarked on a tour of venues in South America, Europe, and North Africa. 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. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. Katherine Dunham or the "Matriarch of Black Dance'' as many called her, was a revolutionary African American anthropologist and professional dancer. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. In the mid-1930s she conducted anthropological research on dance and incorporated her findings into her choreography, blending the rhythms and movements of . She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. Katherine Dunham. About Miss Dunham - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). In 1976, Dunham was guest artist-in-residence and lecturer for Afro-American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. It was a venue for Dunham to teach young black dancers about their African heritage. Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. Digital Library. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. [52], On May 21, 2006, Dunham died in her sleep from natural causes in New York City. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. 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 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. She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. The recipient of numerous awards, Dunham received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1983 and the National Medal of Arts in 1989. The restructuring of heavy industry had caused the loss of many working-class jobs, and unemployment was high in the city. 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. 5 Katherine Dunham facts - Katherine dunham [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. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. Facts about Alvin Ailey talk about the famous African-American activist and choreographer. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. [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. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts 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. She had incurred the displeasure of departmental officials when her company performed Southland, a ballet that dramatized the lynching of a black man in the racist American South. Receiving a post graduate academic fellowship, she went to the Caribbean to study the African diaspora, ethnography and local dance. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. Her the best movie is Casbah. 288 pages, Hardcover. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. Please scroll down to enjoy more supporting materials. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' Inspiring dancers: Ms Katherine Dunham - (Un)popular Cultures Katherine Dunham in 1956. Tropics (choreographed 1937) and Le Jazz Hot (1938) were among the earliest of many works based on her research. 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'. Katherine Dunham - Dance From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. 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. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". 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. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). Lyndon B. Johnson was in the audience for opening night. Her work helped send astronauts to the . Fun Facts. One of her fellow professors, with whom she collaborated, was architect Buckminster Fuller. teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. "My job", she said, "is to create a useful legacy. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. He needn't have bothered. Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. Katherine Dunham predated, pioneered, and demonstrated new ways of doing and envisioning Anthropology six decades ahead of the discipline. 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. Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham - Wikipedia Died: May 21, 2006. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. By the time she received an M.A. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. . . Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". 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. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. 52 Copy quote. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. 10 Facts About Katherine Johnson - Mental Floss The school was managed in Dunham's absence by Syvilla Fort, one of her dancers, and thrived for about 10 years. Then she traveled to Martinique and to Trinidad and Tobago for short stays, primarily to do an investigation of Shango, the African god who was still considered an important presence in West Indian religious culture. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "anthropology became a life-way"[2] for Dunham. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. 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. Dunham married Jordis McCoo, a black postal worker, in 1931, but he did not share her interests and they gradually drifted apart, finally divorcing in 1938. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. Katherine Dunham | Smithsonian Institution Katherine Dunham | YourDictionary This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. [13] University of Chicago's anthropology department was fairly new and the students were still encouraged to learn aspects of sociology, distinguishing it from other anthropology departments in the US that focused almost exclusively on non-Western peoples. 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. It closed after only 38 performances. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." Katherine Dunham. One recurring theme that I really . TOP 25 QUOTES BY KATHERINE DUNHAM | A-Z Quotes 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 . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Childhood & Early Life. Short Biography. 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. Although Dunham was offered another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue her academic studies, she chose dance. When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays.
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