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 . ", "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. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. 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. 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. Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. She taught dance lessons to help pay for her education at the University of Chicago. She majored in anthropology at the University of Chicago, and after learning that much of Black . Birth date: October 17, 1956. 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. Her work inspired many. Born in 1512 to Sir Thomas Parr, lord of the manor of Kendal in Westmorland, and Maud Green, an heiress and courtier, Catherine belonged to a family of substantial influence in the north. 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. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. Her dance company was provided with rent-free studio space for three years by an admirer and patron, Lee Shubert; it had an initial enrollment of 350 students. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. "My job", she said, "is to create a useful legacy. Her the best movie is Casbah. In addition, Dunham conducted special projects for African American high school students in Chicago; was artistic and technical director (196667) to the president of Senegal; and served as artist-in-residence, and later professor, at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and director of Southern Illinoiss Performing Arts Training Centre and Dynamic Museum in East St. Louis, Illinois. Omissions? Dunham Company member Dana McBroom-Manno was selected as a featured artist in the show, which played on the Music Fair Circuit. 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. 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. She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. At an early age, Dunham became interested in dance. It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. "What Dunham gave modern dance was a coherent lexicon of African and Caribbean styles of movementa flexible torso and spine, articulated pelvis and isolation of the limbs, a polyrhythmic strategy of movingwhich she integrated with techniques of ballet and modern dance." Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. 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. 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). Katherine Dunham in 1956. 2023 The HistoryMakers. By the time she received an M.A. movement and expression. 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, who died at the age of 96 [in 2006], was an anthropologist and political activist, especially on behalf of the rights of black people. In 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. 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. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. 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. 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. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. 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. Chin, Elizabeth. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. [50] Both Dunham and the prince denied the suggestion. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". . [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. 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. 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 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 has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. Katherine Johnson, ne Katherine Coleman, also known as (1939-56) Katherine Goble, (born August 26, 1918, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, U.S.died February 24, 2020, Newport News, Virginia), American mathematician who calculated and analyzed the flight paths of many spacecraft during her more than three decades with the U.S. space program. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. from the University of Chicago, she had acquired a vast knowledge of the dances and rituals of the Black peoples of tropical America. Video. 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. The following year, she moved to East St. Louis, where she opened the Performing Arts Training Center to help the underserved community. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. All You Need to Know About Dunham Technique. Digital Library. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. In this post, she choreographed the Chicago production of Run Li'l Chil'lun, performed at the Goodman Theater. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology. Dance is an essential part of life that has always been with me. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. 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". Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "anthropology became a life-way"[2] for Dunham. Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist [1]. Featuring lively Latin American and Caribbean dances, plantation dances, and American social dances, the show was an immediate success. 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. Dunham early became interested in dance. Katherine Dunham. Book. In 1978 Dunham was featured in the PBS special, Divine Drumbeats: Katherine Dunham and Her People, narrated by James Earl Jones, as part of the Dance in America series. [60], However, this decision did not keep her from engaging with and highly influencing the discipline for the rest of her life and beyond. Katherine Dunham was a rebel among rebels. After Mexico, Dunham began touring in Europe, where she was an immediate sensation. Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. "Hoy programa extraordinario y el sbado dos estamos nos ofrece Katherine Dunham,", Constance Valis Hill, "Katherine Dunham's, Anna Kisselgoff, "Katherine Dunham's Legacy, Visible in Youth and Age,". With choreography characterized by exotic sexuality, both became signature works in the Dunham repertory. Katherine Mary Dunham was born in Chicago in 1909. Also Known For : . "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' 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. 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]. Katherine Dunham died on May 21 2006. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. She was also consulted on costuming for the Egyptian and Ethiopian dress. Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. Dunham technique is a codified dance training technique developed by Katherine Dunham in the mid 20th century. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. [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. In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. and creative team that lasted. All rights reserved. 4 (December 2010): 640642. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. Dancer. 2 (2012): 159168. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. [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. [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. One example of this was studying how dance manifests within Haitian Vodou. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. 52 Copy quote. 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. There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. Katherine Dunham. [5] Along with the Great Migration, came White flight and her aunt Lulu's business suffered and ultimately closed as a result. At the height of her career in the 1940s and 1950s, Dunham was renowned throughout Europe and Latin America and was widely popular in the United States. for the developing one of the the world performed many of her. She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . Choreographer. 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. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). 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. [22] Question 2. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." She arranged a fundraising cabaret for a Methodist Church, where she did her first public performance when she was 15 years old. Dunham, Katherine dnm . As this show continued its run at the Windsor Theater, Dunham booked her own company in the theater for a Sunday performance. 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. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? Dunham is still taught at widely recognized dance institutions such as The American Dance Festival and The Ailey School. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". 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. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. [12] "[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. The show created a minor controversy in the press. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. [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]. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. Dunham was both a popular entertainer and a serious artist intent on tracing the roots of Black culture. 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. . : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. In 1947 it was expanded and granted a charter as the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts. 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. Updates? Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. Classes are led by Ruby Streate, director of dance and education and artistic director of the Katherine Dunham Children's Workshop. Fun facts. Most Popular #73650. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Birthday : June 22, 1909. 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. Text:. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Example. 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. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Many of Dunham students who attended free public classes in East St. Louis Illinois speak highly about the influence of her open technique classes and artistic presence in the city.