Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. 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.". She majored in anthropology at the University of Chicago, and after learning that much of Black . [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. 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. Katherine Dunham. Also that year they appeared in the first ever, hour-long American spectacular televised by NBC, when television was first beginning to spread across America. This won international acclaim and is now taught as a modern dance style in many dance schools. Last Name Dunham #5. 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. and creative team that lasted. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. With Dunham in the sultry role of temptress Georgia Brown, the show ran for 20 weeks in New York. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. However, it has now became a common practice within the discipline. [1] The Dunham Technique is still taught today. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). 1910-2006. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . [1] She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US. Dancer Born in Illinois #12. 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. Video. From the 40s to the 60s, Dunham and her dance troupe toured to 57 countries of the world. Dunham early became interested in dance. A carriage house on the grounds is to . 47 Copy quote. 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. Anthropology News 33, no. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. 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. Her fieldwork inspired her innovative interpretations of dance in the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. 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. After noticing that Katherine enjoyed working and socializing with people, her brother suggested that she study Anthropology. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. 52 Copy quote. Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist During World War II. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. Example. Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Her technique was "a way of life". In Boston, then a bastion of conservatism, the show was banned in 1944 after only one performance. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. She was a pioneer of Dance Anthropology, established methodologies of ethnochoreology, and her work gives essential historical context to current conversations and practices of decolonization within and outside of the discipline of anthropology. Birth date: October 17, 1956. Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. He lived on 5 January 1931 and passed away on 1 December 1989. Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. She is a celebrity dancer. A continuation based on her experiences in Haiti, Island Possessed, was published in 1969. In 1976, Dunham was guest artist-in-residence and lecturer for Afro-American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. 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 . Regarding her impact and effect he wrote: "The rise of American Negro dance commenced when Katherine Dunham and her company skyrocketed into the Windsor Theater in New York, from Chicago in 1940, and made an indelible stamp on the dance world Miss Dunham opened the doors that made possible the rapid upswing of this dance for the present generation." Died: May 21, 2006. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. She was a woman far ahead of her time. By the time she received an M.A. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. Dunham's dance career first began in Chicago when she joined the Little Theater Company of Harper Avenue. 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. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. 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. . Corrections? Over her long career, she choreographed more than ninety individual dances. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. She taught dance lessons to help pay for her education at the University of Chicago. She choreographed for Broadway stage productions and operaincluding Aida (1963) for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her mother passed away when Katherine was only 3 years old. [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]. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. [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,. At this time Dunham first became associated with designer John Pratt, whom she later married. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. Transforming Anthropology 20, no. [50] Both Dunham and the prince denied the suggestion. This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. She built her own dance empire and was hailed as the queen of black dance. 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. The family moved to Joliet, Illinois when her father remarried. ", 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. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. At an early age, Dunham became interested in 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. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. Her father, Albert Millard Dunham, was a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. 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. [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". Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. American Anthropologist 122, no. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. In 1931, at the age of 21, Dunham formed a group called Ballets Ngres, one of the first black ballet companies in the United States.
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