The incident was widely discussed in the Brazilian press and became a hot political issue. VV A. Clark and Sara E. Johnson, editors, Joliet Central High School Yearbook, 1928. Dunham saved the day by arranging for the company to be paid to appear in a German television special, Karibische Rhythmen, after which they returned to the United States. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . 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. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. American dancer and choreographer (19092006). 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. Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. "Kaiso! In 1950, while visiting Brazil, Dunham and her group were refused rooms at a first-class hotel in So Paulo, the Hotel Esplanada, frequented by many American businessmen. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Katherine Dunham. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. The restructuring of heavy industry had caused the loss of many working-class jobs, and unemployment was high in the city. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. By Renata Sago. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. 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. Her work helped send astronauts to the . In 1949, Dunham returned from international touring with her company for a brief stay in the United States, where she suffered a temporary nervous breakdown after the premature death of her beloved brother Albert. ", 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. Chin, Elizabeth. [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. In 1948, she opened A Caribbean Rhapsody, first at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, and then took it to the Thtre des Champs-lyses in Paris. 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. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance 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. "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. 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. ", 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. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. 1910-2006. 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. Her mother, Fanny June Dunham, who, according to Dunham's memoir, possessed Indian, French Canadian, English and probably African ancestry, died when Dunham was four years old. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) By Das, Joanna Dee. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
. He continued as her artistic collaborator until his death in 1986. 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. Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. Facts About Katherine Dunham. When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays. 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. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. 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. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. Dunham early became interested in dance. You dance because you have to. It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. theatrical designers john pratt. After this well-received performance in 1931, the group was disbanded. Dancer. 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 . It was not a success, closing after only eight performances. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Updates? Although it was well received by the audience, local censors feared that the revealing costumes and provocative dances might compromise public morals. Dunham's mother, Fanny June Dunham (ne Taylor), who was of mixed French-Canadian and Native American heritage. [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 dance career was interrupted in 1935 when she received funding from the Rosenwald Foundation which allowed her to travel to Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti for eighteen months to explore each country's respective dance cultures. . teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. 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. 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. Time reported that, "she went on a 47-day hunger strike to protest the U.S.'s forced repatriation of Haitian refugees. [51] The couple had officially adopted their foster daughter, a 14-month-old girl they had found as an infant in a Roman Catholic convent nursery in Fresnes, France. 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 . London: Zed Books, 1999. This concert, billed as Tropics and Le Hot Jazz, included not only her favorite partners Archie Savage and Talley Beatty, but her principal Haitian drummer, Papa Augustin. [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]. Dancer, choreographer, composer and songwriter, educated at the University of Chicago. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. In Boston, then a bastion of conservatism, the show was banned in 1944 after only one performance. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The Dunham troupe toured for two decades, stirring audiences around the globe with their dynamic and highly theatrical performances. Some Facts. 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. 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. [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. One of her fellow professors, with whom she collaborated, was architect Buckminster Fuller. Here are 10 facts about her fascinating life. At the time, the South Side of Chicago was experiencing the effects of the Great Migration were Black southerners attempted to escape the Jim Crow South and poverty. Beautiful, Justice, Black. 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 . [12] Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. 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. Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! Born in Glen Ellyn, IL #6. This meant neither of the children were able to settle into a home for a few years. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). If Cities Could Dance: East St. Louis. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. 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. 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. Although Dunham was offered another grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to pursue her academic studies, she chose dance. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. Chin, Elizabeth. In her biography, Joyce Aschenbrenner (2002), credits Ms Dunham as the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance", and describes her work as: "fundamentally . The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." The school was managed in Dunham's absence by Syvilla Fort, one of her dancers, and thrived for about 10 years. [10], After completing her studies at Joliet Junior College in 1928, Dunham moved to Chicago to join her brother Albert at the University of Chicago. New York City, U.S. You can't learn about dances until you learn about people. The company soon embarked on a tour of venues in South America, Europe, and North Africa. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [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". Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. A carriage house on the grounds is to . 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. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts. After noticing that Katherine enjoyed working and socializing with people, her brother suggested that she study Anthropology. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. [17] She was one of the first African-American women to attend this college and to earn these degrees. [54] This wave continued throughout the 1990s with scholars publishing works (such as Decolonizing Anthropology: Moving Further in Anthropology for Liberation,[55] Decolonizing Methodologies,[56] and more recently, The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn[57]) that critique anthropology and the discipline's roles in colonial knowledge production and power structures. This won international acclaim and is now taught as a modern dance style in many dance schools. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. 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. katherine dunham fun factsaiken county sc register of deeds katherine dunham fun 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. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Despite these successes, the company frequently ran into periods of financial difficulties, as Dunham was required to support all of the 30 to 40 dancers and musicians. 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. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. Her the best movie is Casbah. 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 . Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. She had one of the most successful dance careers in Western dance theatre in the 20th century and directed her own dance company for many years. In 1935, Dunham received grants to conduct fieldwork in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti to study Afro-Caribbean dance and other rituals. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Katherine Dunham in 1956. 2 (2012): 159168. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. 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. 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. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th . In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. [15], In 1935, Dunham was awarded travel fellowships from the Julius Rosenwald and Guggenheim foundations to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, and Trinidad studying the dance forms of the Caribbean. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. 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. She was also consulted on costuming for the Egyptian and Ethiopian dress. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. Example. 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. International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. Among her dancers selected were Marcia McBroom, Dana McBroom, Jean Kelly, and Jesse Oliver. She was likely named after Catherine of Aragon. They had particular success in Denmark and France. 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. She . Katherine Dunham facts for kids. Birth Country: United States. A short biography on the legendary Katherine Dunham.All information found at: kdcah.org Enjoy the short history lesson and visit dancingindarkskin.com for mo. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. 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. There she met John Pratt, an artist and designer and they got married in 1941 until his death in 1986. Katherine Dunham was a rebel among rebels. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. The show created a minor controversy in the press. These experiences provided ample material for the numerous books, articles and short stories Dunham authored. Keep reading for more such interesting quotes at Kidadl!) Kaiso is an Afro-Caribbean term denoting praise. 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. Her legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. 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. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . There is also a strong emphasis on training dancers in the practices of engaging with polyrhythms by simultaneously moving their upper and lower bodies according to different rhythmic patterns. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. 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. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. From the 40s to the 60s, Dunham and her dance troupe toured to 57 countries of the world. By the time she received an M.A. Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . "The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn: Sociocultural Anthropology in 2019." Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. ", "Kaiso! 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". Born in 1909 #28. In the mid-1930s she conducted anthropological research on dance and incorporated her findings into her choreography, blending the rhythms and movements of . Kraut, Anthea. movement and expression. Alvin Ailey, who stated that he first became interested in dance as a professional career after having seen a performance of the Katherine Dunham Company as a young teenager of 14 in Los Angeles, called the Dunham Technique "the closest thing to a unified Afro-American dance existing.". 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]. 4 (December 2010): 640642. Childhood & Early Life. In 1967 she officially retired, after presenting a final show at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. Dunham was exposed to sacred ritual dances performed by people on the islands of Haiti and Jamaica.
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