Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. 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 . This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . [22] Grow your vocab the fun way! It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. The company soon embarked on a tour of venues in South America, Europe, and North Africa. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." 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. [13] The Anthropology department at Chicago in the 1930s and 40s has been described as holistic, interdisciplinary, with a philosophy of liberal humanism, and principles of racial equality and cultural relativity. Katherine Dunham was a rebel among rebels. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". Her work inspired many. 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. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. Katherine Dunham - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family - Sticky Facts 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. When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays. Katherine Dunham. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. 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 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. One of the most important dance artists of the twentieth century, dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) created works that thrilled audiences the world over. . It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. Her many original works include Lagya, Shango and Bal Negre. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. Katherine Dunham in 1956. THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). Example. 1. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. Katherine Dunham on Break the FACTS! - YouTube 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. [26] This work was never produced in Joplin's lifetime, but since the 1970s, it has been successfully produced in many venues. Gender: Female. I Took A Katherine Dunham-Technique Dance Class And Learned - Essence The PATC teaching staff was made up of former members of Dunham's touring company, as well as local residents. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology through African American Dance Pedagogy." [50] Both Dunham and the prince denied the suggestion. 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. Katherine Dunham - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Long, Richard A, and Joe Nash. 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". 5 Katherine Dunham facts - Katherine dunham There she met John Pratt, an artist and designer and they got married in 1941 until his death in 1986. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. ", 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.". Mae C. Jemison: First African American Female Astronaut - Biography Through much study and time, she eventually became one of the founders of the field of dance anthropology. Katherine Dunham, was mounted at the Women's Center on the campus. ", Richard Buckle, ballet historian and critic, wrote: "Her company of magnificent dancers and musicians met with the success it has and that herself as explorer, thinker, inventor, organizer, and dancer should have reached a place in the estimation of the world, has done more than a million pamphlets could for the service of her people. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. In 1967 she officially retired, after presenting a final show at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. 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. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. "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." But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . They had particular success in Denmark and France. until hia death in the 1986. Two Avant-Garde Women Who Took Big Risks in Chicago's Art Scene Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. 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 . [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. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . Biography of Jeff Dunham, Comedian and Ventriloquist 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. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. 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. ", "Kaiso! 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. [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. Kaiso is an Afro-Caribbean term denoting praise. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Fun Facts. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Although Dunham was offered another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue her academic studies, she chose dance. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. American Anthropologist 122, no. 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. It closed after only 38 performances. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. The Dunham troupe toured for two decades, stirring audiences around the globe with their dynamic and highly theatrical performances. Lyndon B. Johnson was in the audience for opening night. In 1963, she became the first African American to choreograph for the Met since Hemsley Winfield set the dances for The Emperor Jones in 1933. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. Receiving a post graduate academic fellowship, she went to the Caribbean to study the African diaspora, ethnography and local dance. She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." 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. Example. Katherine Dunham - IMDb Katherine Dunham: legendary dancer who founded the 1st American black She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. 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. 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. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. Katherine Dunham | Biography, Dance, Technique, Dance - Britannica Tune in & learn about the inception of. Here are 10 facts about her fascinating life. [3] She created many all-black dance groups. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. London: Zed Books, 1999. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) By Das, Joanna Dee. [1] Dunham also created the Dunham Technique. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. 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. Barrelhouse. 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. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. Having completed her undergraduate work at the University of Chicago and decided to pursue a performing career rather than academic studies, Dunham revived her dance ensemble. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. Black Joy, Black Power: Dancing the Legacy of Katherine Dunham Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. 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. The Katherine Dunham Company toured throughout North America in the mid-1940s, performing as well in the racially segregated South. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. [9] In high school she joined the Terpsichorean Club and began to learn a kind of modern dance based on the ideas of Europeans [mile Jaques-Dalcroze] and [Rudolf von Laban]. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance Dunham technique is also inviting to the influence of cultural movement languages outside of dance including karate and capoeira.[36]. She taught dance lessons to help pay for her education at the University of Chicago. . [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. 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. In 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. 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 Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. Katherine returnedto to the usa in 1931 miss Dunham met one of. for the developing one of the the world performed many of her. [35] In a different interview, Dunham describes her technique "as a way of life,[36]" a sentiment that seems to be shared by many of her admiring students. 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's Dance as Public Anthropology. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. 8 Katherine Dunham facts - Katherine dunham These experiences provided ample material for the numerous books, articles and short stories Dunham authored. Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Born in 1909 #28. 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. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. Dunham refused to hold a show in one theater after finding out that the city's black residents had not been allowed to buy tickets for the performance. She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. [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. Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . She was also consulted on costuming for the Egyptian and Ethiopian dress. 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. [5] Along with the Great Migration, came White flight and her aunt Lulu's business suffered and ultimately closed as a result. 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. 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. This was followed by television spectaculars filmed in London, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Sydney, and Mexico City. (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) New York City, U.S. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. movement and expression. 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. "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. 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". Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. 8 Katherine Dunham facts. Katherine Dunham and the dances of the African diaspora 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. 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. Born in Glen Ellyn, IL #6. Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. A dance choreographer. 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 Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. Dunham is still taught at widely recognized dance institutions such as The American Dance Festival and The Ailey School. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. Katherine Dunham. 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. 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 also developed the Dunham Technique, a method of movement to support her dance works. Katherine Johnson | Biography, Education, Accomplishments, & Facts Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. Video. Katherine Dunham Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com She also continued refining and teaching the Dunham Technique to transmit that knowledge to succeeding generations of dance students. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. "Kaiso! Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. However, it has now became a common practice within the discipline. 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. 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. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) You can't learn about dances until you learn about people. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. 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. Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". Dancer Born in Illinois #12. 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
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