Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. Born: June 22, 1909. All rights reserved. As celebrities, their voices can have a profound influence on popular culture. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. Last Name Dunham #5. At an early age, Dunham became interested in dance. Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. [12] 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. [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 Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. As a graduate student in anthropology in the mid-1930s, she conducted dance research in the Caribbean. Alvin Ailey later produced a tribute for her in 198788 at Carnegie Hall with his American Dance Theater, entitled The Magic of Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. Katherine Dunham - Dancing with History Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . 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. 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. "Kaiso! Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. Dunham was both a popular entertainer and a serious artist intent on tracing the roots of Black culture. Dunham's last appearance on Broadway was in 1962 in Bamboche!, which included a few former Dunham dancers in the cast and a contingent of dancers and drummers from the Royal Troupe of Morocco. 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 . Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . It was not a success, closing after only eight performances. Jeff Dunham hails from Dallas, Texas. Katherine Dunham Fused Together Dance and Anthropology 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. [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,. (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. The Dunham troupe toured for two decades, stirring audiences around the globe with their dynamic and highly theatrical performances. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. Dancer Born in Illinois #12. ", 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.". : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Archive - Selkirk Auctioneers "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." Katherine Dunham facts for kids. Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . Actress: Star Spangled Rhythm. [20] She recorded her findings through ethnographic fieldnotes and by learning dance techniques, music and song, alongside her interlocutors. Example. katherine dunham fun factsaiken county sc register of deeds katherine dunham fun facts 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 was a woman far ahead of her time. When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays. From the beginning of their association, around 1938, Pratt designed the sets and every costume Dunham ever wore. 1910-2006. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. 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. Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist During World War II. [26] This work was never produced in Joplin's lifetime, but since the 1970s, it has been successfully produced in many venues. 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. and creative team that lasted. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) - Routledge 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. Katherine Dunham - Author, Career, Childhood - Katherine Dunham Biography "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". 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]. 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. A carriage house on the grounds is to . Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. This initiative drew international publicity to the plight of the Haitian boat-people and U.S. discrimination against them. Katherine Dunham. Choreographer. Katherine Dunham - IMDb 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. [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. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. One recurring theme that I really . Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora - Goodreads 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. 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. [54] Her legacy within Anthropology and Dance Anthropology continues to shine with each new day. This led to a custody battle over Katherine and her brother, brought on by their maternal relatives. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. "[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. Video. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Katherine Dunham | Smithsonian Institution Katherine Dunham, was published in a limited, numbered edition of 130 copies by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. Katherine Dunham Birthday & Fun Facts | Kidadl From the 40s to the 60s, Dunham and her dance troupe toured to 57 countries of the world. Video. Childhood & Early Life. Also Known For : . Katherine Dunham Facts for Kids The Katherine Dunham Museum: Saving the Legacy of a True Renaissance Woman Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . 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. First Name Katherine #37. 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. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Charm Dance from "L'Ag'Ya". Example. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. used throughout the world choros, rite de passage, los Idies, and. There she met John Pratt, an artist and designer and they got married in 1941 until his death in 1986. April 30, 2019. The highly respected Dance magazine did a feature cover story on Dunham in August 2000 entitled "One-Woman Revolution". 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. After running it as a tourist spot, with Vodun dancing as entertainment, in the early 1960s, she sold it to a French entrepreneur in the early 1970s. for the developing one of the the world performed many of her. Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. Katherine Dunham, 1909-2006 - WWP Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir, Melville Herskovits, Lloyd Warner and Bronisaw Malinowski. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. Chin, Elizabeth. [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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) brought African dance aesthetics to the United States, forever influencing modern and jazz dance. 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 . Grow your vocab the fun way! It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. London: Zed Books, 1999. With choreography characterized by exotic sexuality, both became signature works in the Dunham repertory. 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. 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. The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. The company soon embarked on a tour of venues in South America, Europe, and North Africa. Who Was Katherine Dunham??? by Adrianne Hoopes - Prezi She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). ((Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Missouri History Museum Photograph and Prints collection. Some Facts. Transforming Anthropology 20, no. Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. They had particular success in Denmark and France. Genres Novels. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "Today, it is safe to say, there is no American black dancer who has not been influenced by the Dunham Technique, unless he or she works entirely within a classical genre",[2] and the Dunham Technique is still taught to anyone who studies modern dance. Please scroll down to enjoy more supporting materials. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. Kraut, Anthea. She also developed the Dunham Technique, a method of movement to support her dance works. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. 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. The company was located on the property that formerly belonged to the Isadora Duncan Dance in Caravan Hill but subsequently moved to W 43rd Street. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. Katherine Dunham Timeline | Articles and Essays | Selections from the The restructuring of heavy industry had caused the loss of many working-class jobs, and unemployment was high in the city. 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. The recipient of numerous awards, Dunham received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1983 and the National Medal of Arts in 1989. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. A Short Danceography: Katherine Dunham - YouTube Died: May 21, 2006. 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. Katherine Dunham or the "Matriarch of Black Dance'' as many called her, was a revolutionary African American anthropologist and professional dancer. She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. Dunham ended her fast only after exiled Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Jesse Jackson came to her and personally requested that she stop risking her life for this cause. Birth Year: 1956. 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. 8 Katherine Dunham facts - Katherine dunham It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. You dance because you have to. Kantherine Dunham passed away of natural causes on May 21, 2006, one month before her 97th birthday. 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'. The PATC teaching staff was made up of former members of Dunham's touring company, as well as local residents. Question 2. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. Katherine Dunham's Biography - The HistoryMakers Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. 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. . The troupe performed a suite of West Indian dances in the first half of the program and a ballet entitled Tropic Death, with Talley Beatty, in the second half. Birthday : June 22, 1909. Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. However, one key reason was that she knew she would be able to reach a broader public through dance, as opposed to the inaccessible institutions of academia. The school was managed in Dunham's absence by Syvilla Fort, one of her dancers, and thrived for about 10 years. You can't learn about dances until you learn about people. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist | Center for the Humanities 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 introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. 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. 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. She decided to live for a year in relative isolation in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked on writing memoirs of her youth. 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. Dunham, Katherine dnm . 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. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. [28] Strongly founded in her anthropological research in the Caribbean, Dunham technique introduces rhythm as the backbone of various widely known modern dance principles including contraction and release,[29] groundedness, fall and recover,[30] counterbalance, and many more. She established the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities in East St. Louis to preserve Haitian and African instruments and artifacts from her personal collection. Omissions? The following year, she moved to East St. Louis, where she opened the Performing Arts Training Center to help the underserved community. Decolonozing Anthropology: Katherine "the Great" Dunham If Cities Could Dance: East St. Louis. She describes this during an interview in 2002: "My problemmy strong drive at that time was to remain in this academic position that anthropology gave me, and at the same time continue with this strong drive for motionrhythmic motion". [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. [34], According to Dunham, the development of her technique came out of a need for specialized dancers to support her choreographic visions and a greater yearning for technique that "said the things that [she] wanted to say. Among Dunham's closest friends and colleagues was Julie Robinson, formerly a performer with the Katherine Dunham Company, and her husband, singer and later political activist Harry Belafonte. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. She built her own dance empire and was hailed as the queen of black dance. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. Digital Library. 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 . She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. As an African American woman, she broke barriers of race and gender, most notably as the founder of an important dance company that toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. 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's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. 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. 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. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. Intrigued by this theory, Dunham began to study African roots of dance and, in 1935, she traveled to the Caribbean for field research. ", "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. Through much study and time, she eventually became one of the founders of the field of dance anthropology. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". Katherine Dunham - Bio, Age, Wiki, Facts and Family - in4fp.com Katherine Dunham - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family - Sticky Facts Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Book. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/.