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. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. Nationality. Genres Novels. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City. 35 Katherine Dunham Quotes | Kidadl Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. Kraut, Anthea. Barrelhouse. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora - Goodreads Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Katherine Dunham, pseudonym Kaye Dunn, (born June 22, 1909, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, U.S.died May 21, 2006, New York, New York), American dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. Biography. [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. In 1978, an anthology of writings by and about her, also entitled Kaiso! Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. 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. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. 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. Classes are led by Ruby Streate, director of dance and education and artistic director of the Katherine Dunham Children's Workshop. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. Video. 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. 8 Katherine Dunham facts. Katherine Dunham. Omissions? 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. Chin, Elizabeth. Fun Facts. He had been a promising philosophy professor at Howard University and a protg of Alfred North Whitehead. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. 1910-2006. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. Dunham, Katherine | FactMonster 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. She was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Plaque d'Honneur Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce Award, and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Chin, Elizabeth. [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. I Took A Katherine Dunham-Technique Dance Class And Learned - Essence Katherine Dunham - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family - Sticky Facts She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. 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. 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. 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. Digital Library. Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox, adapted by Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler and H.S. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. [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". Katherine Dunham - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". Katherine Dunham : Dance and the African Diaspora - Google Books Katherine Dunham - Dance Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. Search input Search submit button. 4 (December 2010): 640642. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. 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'. 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. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . As I document in my book Katherine Dunham: Dance and the . Luminaries like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Katherine Dunham began to shape and define what this new genre of dance would be. Named Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt, she was their only child. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. [36] Her classes are described as a safe haven for many and some of her students even attribute their success in life to the structure and artistry of her technical institution. April 30, 2019. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. Katherine Mary Dunham (also known as Kaye Dunn, June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, and social activist. [13] Under their tutelage, she showed great promise in her ethnographic studies of dance. 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. Katherine Johnson | Biography, Education, Accomplishments, & Facts 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. Dunham used Habitation Leclerc as a private retreat for many years, frequently bringing members of her dance company to recuperate from the stress of touring and to work on developing new dance productions. Other movies she performed in as a dancer during this period included the Abbott and Costello comedy Pardon My Sarong (1942) and the black musical Stormy Weather (1943), which featured a stellar range of actors, musicians and dancers.[24]. 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. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." It closed after only 38 performances. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. 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. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. 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. [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Facts about Alvin Ailey talk about the famous African-American activist and choreographer. It was a venue for Dunham to teach young black dancers about their African heritage. Katherine Dunham got an early bachelor's degree in anthropology as a student at the University of Chicago. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." About Miss Dunham - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities Katherine Mary Dunham, 22 Jun 1909 - 21 May 2006 Exhibition Label Born Glen Ellyn, Illinois One of the founders of the anthropological dance movement, Katherine Dunham distilled Caribbean and African dance elements into modern American choreography. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . . Dunham, Katherine dnm . While Dunham was recognized as "unofficially" representing American cultural life in her foreign tours, she was given very little assistance of any kind by the U.S. State Department. Died: May 21, 2006. Childhood & Early Life. Biography of Jeff Dunham, Comedian and Ventriloquist Died On : May 21, 2006. The family moved to Joliet, Illinois when her father remarried. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. Intrigued by this theory, Dunham began to study African roots of dance and, in 1935, she traveled to the Caribbean for field research. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . . 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Updates? Birthday : June 22, 1909. Tune in & learn about the inception of. "Kaiso! Kaiso is an Afro-Caribbean term denoting praise. 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. 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. 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. ", 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. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. Katherine Dunham and her Haitian legacy - Dance Australia She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. Leverne Backstrom, president of the board of the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, still does. International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. 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". Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". She is a celebrity dancer. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. ", "Kaiso! 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 . theatrical designers john pratt. Encouraged by Speranzeva to focus on modern dance instead of ballet, Dunham opened her first dance school in 1933, calling it the Negro Dance Group. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). The Met Ballet Company dancers studied Dunham Technique at Dunham's 42nd Street dance studio for the entire summer leading up to the season opening of Aida. Katherine Dunham | Encyclopedia.com Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. 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. 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. [54] Her dance education, while offering cultural resources for dealing with the consequences and realities of living in a racist environment, also brought about feelings of hope and dignity for inspiring her students to contribute positively to their own communities, and spreading essential cultural and spiritual capital within the U.S.[54], Just like her colleague Zora Neale Hurston, Dunham's anthropology inspired the blurring of lines between creative disciplines and anthropology. In 1950, Sol Hurok presented Katherine Dunham and Her Company in a dance revue at the Broadway Theater in New York, with a program composed of some of Dunham's best works. [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. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. American Anthropologist 122, no. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. June 22 Dancer #4. In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. 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. 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. 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. Katherine Dunham PhB'36. Katherine Dunham's Biography - The HistoryMakers Dunhams writings, sometimes published under the pseudonym Kaye Dunn, include Katherine Dunhams Journey to Accompong (1946), an account of her anthropological studies in Jamaica; A Touch of Innocence (1959), an autobiography; Island Possessed (1969); and several articles for popular and scholarly journals. 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. 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. . 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 choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. London: Zed Books, 1999. One recurring theme that I really . Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. 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. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. 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. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . 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. 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 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. Last Name Dunham #5. He continued as her artistic collaborator until his death in 1986. Many of her students, trained in her studios in Chicago and New York City, became prominent in the field of modern 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 . Katherine Dunham - Dancing with History Inspiring dancers: Ms Katherine Dunham - (Un)popular Cultures [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,. [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. 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. Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) - Routledge Video. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, First Pan-African World Festival of Negro Arts, National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, "Katherine Dunham | African American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist", "Timeline: The Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress)", "Special Presentation: Katherine Dunham Timeline". She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. This initiative drew international publicity to the plight of the Haitian boat-people and U.S. discrimination against them. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. 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. . Even in retirement Dunham continued to choreograph: one of her major works was directing the premiere full, posthumous production Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha in 1972, a joint production of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Morehouse College chorus in Atlanta, conducted by Robert Shaw. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. 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). [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. In response, the Afonso Arinos law was passed in 1951 that made racial discrimination in public places a felony in Brazil.[42][43][44][45][46][47]. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Katherine Mary Dunham was born in Chicago in 1909. Katherine Dunham - Trivia, Family, Bio | Famous Birthdays Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. [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. The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. Name: Mae C. Jemison. 30 seconds. Anthropology News 33, no. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. until hia death in the 1986. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. [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. She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. Admission is $10, or $5 for students and seniors, and hours are by appointment; call 618-875-3636, or 618-618-795-5970 three to five days in advance. She did this for many reasons. Known for her many innovations, Dunham developed a dance pedagogy, later named the Dunham Technique, a style of movement and exercises based in traditional African dances, to support her choreography. movement and expression. The incident was widely discussed in the Brazilian press and became a hot political issue. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. Two years later she formed an all-Black company, which began touring extensively by 1943. 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. 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 early became interested in dance. 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". Dancer Born in Illinois #12. Birth date: October 17, 1956. On one of these visits, during the late 1940s, she purchased a large property of more than seven hectares (approximately 17.3 acres) in the Carrefours suburban area of Port-au-Prince, known as Habitation Leclerc. As a dancer and choreographer, Katherine Dunham (1910-2002) wowed audiences in the 1930s and 1940s when she combined classical ballet with African rhythms to create an exciting new dance style. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them.
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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. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. Nationality. Genres Novels. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City.
35 Katherine Dunham Quotes | Kidadl Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. Kraut, Anthea. Barrelhouse. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora - Goodreads Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Katherine Dunham, pseudonym Kaye Dunn, (born June 22, 1909, Glen Ellyn, Illinois, U.S.died May 21, 2006, New York, New York), American dancer and choreographer who was a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. Biography. [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. In 1978, an anthology of writings by and about her, also entitled Kaiso! Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. 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. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. 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. Classes are led by Ruby Streate, director of dance and education and artistic director of the Katherine Dunham Children's Workshop. Katherine Dunham on dance anthropology. Video. 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. 8 Katherine Dunham facts. Katherine Dunham. Omissions? 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. Chin, Elizabeth. Fun Facts. He had been a promising philosophy professor at Howard University and a protg of Alfred North Whitehead. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. 1910-2006. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology.
Dunham, Katherine | FactMonster 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. She was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Plaque d'Honneur Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce Award, and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Chin, Elizabeth. [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.
I Took A Katherine Dunham-Technique Dance Class And Learned - Essence Katherine Dunham - Facts, Bio, Favorites, Info, Family - Sticky Facts She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. Such visitors included ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, Robert Redfield, Bronisaw Malinowski, A.R. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. 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. 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. 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. Digital Library. Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox, adapted by Frederick J. Jackson, Ted Koehler and H.S. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. [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".
Katherine Dunham - Students | Britannica Kids | Homework Help Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions".
Katherine Dunham : Dance and the African Diaspora - Google Books Katherine Dunham - Dance Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Dunham created many all-black dance groups. Search input Search submit button. 4 (December 2010): 640642. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. 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'. 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. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . As I document in my book Katherine Dunham: Dance and the . Luminaries like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Katherine Dunham began to shape and define what this new genre of dance would be. Named Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt, she was their only child. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. [36] Her classes are described as a safe haven for many and some of her students even attribute their success in life to the structure and artistry of her technical institution. April 30, 2019. [3] Dunham was an innovator in African-American modern dance as well as a leader in the field of dance anthropology, or ethnochoreology. Katherine Mary Dunham (also known as Kaye Dunn, June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, and social activist. [13] Under their tutelage, she showed great promise in her ethnographic studies of dance. 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.
Katherine Johnson | Biography, Education, Accomplishments, & Facts 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. Dunham used Habitation Leclerc as a private retreat for many years, frequently bringing members of her dance company to recuperate from the stress of touring and to work on developing new dance productions. Other movies she performed in as a dancer during this period included the Abbott and Costello comedy Pardon My Sarong (1942) and the black musical Stormy Weather (1943), which featured a stellar range of actors, musicians and dancers.[24]. 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. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." It closed after only 38 performances. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. 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. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. 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. [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Facts about Alvin Ailey talk about the famous African-American activist and choreographer. It was a venue for Dunham to teach young black dancers about their African heritage. Katherine Dunham got an early bachelor's degree in anthropology as a student at the University of Chicago. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time."
About Miss Dunham - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities Katherine Mary Dunham, 22 Jun 1909 - 21 May 2006 Exhibition Label Born Glen Ellyn, Illinois One of the founders of the anthropological dance movement, Katherine Dunham distilled Caribbean and African dance elements into modern American choreography. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . . Dunham, Katherine dnm . While Dunham was recognized as "unofficially" representing American cultural life in her foreign tours, she was given very little assistance of any kind by the U.S. State Department. Died: May 21, 2006. Childhood & Early Life.
Biography of Jeff Dunham, Comedian and Ventriloquist Died On : May 21, 2006. The family moved to Joliet, Illinois when her father remarried. Photo provided by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Morris Library Special Collections Research Center. Intrigued by this theory, Dunham began to study African roots of dance and, in 1935, she traveled to the Caribbean for field research. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . . 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Updates? Birthday : June 22, 1909. Tune in & learn about the inception of. "Kaiso! Kaiso is an Afro-Caribbean term denoting praise. 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. 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. 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. ", 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. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist.
Katherine Dunham and her Haitian legacy - Dance Australia She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. Leverne Backstrom, president of the board of the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, still does. International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. He was the founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City.
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". Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". She is a celebrity dancer. Transforming Anthropology 20 (2012): 159168. ", "Kaiso! 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 . theatrical designers john pratt. Encouraged by Speranzeva to focus on modern dance instead of ballet, Dunham opened her first dance school in 1933, calling it the Negro Dance Group. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). The Met Ballet Company dancers studied Dunham Technique at Dunham's 42nd Street dance studio for the entire summer leading up to the season opening of Aida.
Katherine Dunham | Encyclopedia.com Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. 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. 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. [54] Her dance education, while offering cultural resources for dealing with the consequences and realities of living in a racist environment, also brought about feelings of hope and dignity for inspiring her students to contribute positively to their own communities, and spreading essential cultural and spiritual capital within the U.S.[54], Just like her colleague Zora Neale Hurston, Dunham's anthropology inspired the blurring of lines between creative disciplines and anthropology. In 1950, Sol Hurok presented Katherine Dunham and Her Company in a dance revue at the Broadway Theater in New York, with a program composed of some of Dunham's best works. [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. The schools she created helped train such notables as Alvin Ailey and Jerome Robbins in the "Dunham technique." Death . Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. American Anthropologist 122, no. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University.
June 22 Dancer #4. In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. 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. 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. 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. Katherine Dunham PhB'36.
Katherine Dunham's Biography - The HistoryMakers Dunhams writings, sometimes published under the pseudonym Kaye Dunn, include Katherine Dunhams Journey to Accompong (1946), an account of her anthropological studies in Jamaica; A Touch of Innocence (1959), an autobiography; Island Possessed (1969); and several articles for popular and scholarly journals. 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. 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. . 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 choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. London: Zed Books, 1999. One recurring theme that I really . Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. 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. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. 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. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . 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. 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 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. Last Name Dunham #5. He continued as her artistic collaborator until his death in 1986. Many of her students, trained in her studios in Chicago and New York City, became prominent in the field of modern 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 .
Katherine Dunham - Dancing with History Inspiring dancers: Ms Katherine Dunham - (Un)popular Cultures [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,. [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. 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.
Dunham, Katherine Mary (1909-2006) - Routledge Video. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. A fictional work based on her African experiences, Kasamance: A Fantasy, was published in 1974. In 1939, Dunham's company gave additional performances in Chicago and Cincinnati and then returned to New York. International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, First Pan-African World Festival of Negro Arts, National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame, "Katherine Dunham | African American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist", "Timeline: The Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress)", "Special Presentation: Katherine Dunham Timeline". She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. This initiative drew international publicity to the plight of the Haitian boat-people and U.S. discrimination against them. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. 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. . Even in retirement Dunham continued to choreograph: one of her major works was directing the premiere full, posthumous production Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha in 1972, a joint production of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Morehouse College chorus in Atlanta, conducted by Robert Shaw. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. 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). [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. In response, the Afonso Arinos law was passed in 1951 that made racial discrimination in public places a felony in Brazil.[42][43][44][45][46][47]. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Katherine Mary Dunham was born in Chicago in 1909.
Katherine Dunham - Trivia, Family, Bio | Famous Birthdays Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. [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. The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. Name: Mae C. Jemison. 30 seconds. Anthropology News 33, no. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. until hia death in the 1986. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. [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. She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. Admission is $10, or $5 for students and seniors, and hours are by appointment; call 618-875-3636, or 618-618-795-5970 three to five days in advance. She did this for many reasons. Known for her many innovations, Dunham developed a dance pedagogy, later named the Dunham Technique, a style of movement and exercises based in traditional African dances, to support her choreography. movement and expression. The incident was widely discussed in the Brazilian press and became a hot political issue. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. Two years later she formed an all-Black company, which began touring extensively by 1943. 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. 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 early became interested in dance. 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". Dancer Born in Illinois #12. Birth date: October 17, 1956. On one of these visits, during the late 1940s, she purchased a large property of more than seven hectares (approximately 17.3 acres) in the Carrefours suburban area of Port-au-Prince, known as Habitation Leclerc. As a dancer and choreographer, Katherine Dunham (1910-2002) wowed audiences in the 1930s and 1940s when she combined classical ballet with African rhythms to create an exciting new dance style. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. %20
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