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This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katherine-Dunham, The Kennedy Center - Biography of Katherine Dunham, Katherine Dunham - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Name: Mae C. Jemison. [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. Kantherine Dunham passed away of natural causes on May 21, 2006, one month before her 97th birthday. He continued as her artistic collaborator until his death in 1986. She was instrumental in getting respect for Black dancers on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported Black dance company. Dancer. Katherine Dunham. 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 | Biography, Dance, Technique, Dance - Britannica Birth date: October 17, 1956. There, her father ran a dry-cleaning business.[8]. 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] 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. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. Fun Facts. She taught dance lessons to help pay for her education at the University of Chicago. 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. You dance because you have to. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . Example. She also created several other works of choreography, including The Emperor Jones (a response to the play by Eugene O'Neill) and Barrelhouse. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in such films as Carnival of Rhythm (1942), Stormy Weather (1943), and Casbah (1947). [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". [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. Dunham early became interested in dance. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. Long, Richard A, and Joe Nash. About Miss Dunham - Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. Katherine Dunham's Biography - The HistoryMakers "My job", she said, "is to create a useful legacy. Dunham technique is a codified dance training technique developed by Katherine Dunham in the mid 20th century. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. Dancer Born in Illinois #12. Katherine Dunham, 1909-2006 - WWP 2023 The HistoryMakers. Last Name Dunham #5. Example. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. Dana McBroom-Manno still teaches Dunham Technique in New York City and is a Master of Dunham Technique. Over her long career, she choreographed more than ninety individual dances. Katherine Mary Dunham (also known as Kaye Dunn, June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, and social activist. 35 Katherine Dunham Quotes | Kidadl Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. 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. 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 . [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. 1. Katherine Dunham. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. In 1963, Dunham became the first African-American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. Katherine Dunham was born on the 22nd of June, 1909 in Chicago before she was taken by her parents to their hometown at Glen Ellyn in Illinois. 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. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. Died On : May 21, 2006. Katherine Dunham | Smithsonian Institution Intrigued by this theory, Dunham began to study African roots of dance and, in 1935, she traveled to the Caribbean for field research. Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. 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. The following year, she moved to East St. Louis, where she opened the Performing Arts Training Center to help the underserved community. In 1921, a short story she wrote when she was 12 years old, called "Come Back to Arizona", was published in volume 2 of The Brownies' Book. Facts About Katherine Dunham. Lyndon B. Johnson was in the audience for opening night. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. 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 . 10 Facts About Catherine Parr | History Hit Best Known For: Mae C. Jemison is the . 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 legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. The critics acknowledged the historical research she did on dance in ancient Egypt, but they were not appreciative of her choreography as staged for this production.[25]. (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. While in Haiti, she hasn't only studied Vodun rituals, but also participated and became a mambo, female high priest in the Vodun religion. Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . Dunham's dance career first began in Chicago when she joined the Little Theater Company of Harper Avenue. 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. "[35] Dunham explains that while she admired the narrative quality of ballet technique, she wanted to develop a movement vocabulary that captured the essence of the Afro-Caribbean dancers she worked with during her travels. 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. 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". Video. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. This led to a custody battle over Katherine and her brother, brought on by their maternal relatives. Katherine returnedto to the usa in 1931 miss Dunham met one of. In 1946, Dunham returned to Broadway for a revue entitled Bal Ngre, which received glowing notices from theater and dance critics. Katherine Dunham Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! The program she created runs to this day at the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, revolutionizing lives with dance and culture. 47 Copy quote. Many of her students, trained in her studios in Chicago and New York City, became prominent in the field of modern dance. 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. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. "Kaiso! They had particular success in Denmark and France. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . Charm Dance from "L'Ag'Ya". Chin, Elizabeth. teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. In August she was awarded a bachelor's degree, a Ph.B., bachelor of philosophy, with her principal area of study being social anthropology. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". Katherine Dunham - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Katherine Dunham Facts for Kids Dunham ended her fast only after exiled Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Jesse Jackson came to her and personally requested that she stop risking her life for this cause. International dance icon Katherine Dunham (right,) also an anthropologist, founded an art museum in East St. Louis, IL. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting 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. He lived on 5 January 1931 and passed away on 1 December 1989. According to the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, Dunham never thought she'd have a career in dance, although she did study with ballerina and choreographer Ruth Page, among others. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. While in Haiti, Dunham investigated Vodun rituals and made extensive research notes, particularly on the dance movements of the participants. for teaching dance that is still la'ag'ya , Shange , Veraruzana, nanigo. Later that year she took her troupe to Mexico, where their performances were so popular that they stayed and performed for more than two months. Dunham also received a grant to work with Professor Melville Herskovits of Northwestern University, whose ideas about retention of African culture among African Americans served as a base for her research in the Caribbean. ", "Dunham's European success led to considerable imitation of her work in European revues it is safe to say that the perspectives of concert-theatrical dance in Europe were profoundly affected by the performances of the Dunham troupe. 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. Understanding that the fact was due to racial discrimination, she made sure the incident was publicized. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . At the recommendation of her mentor Melville Herskovits, PhB'20a Northwestern University anthropologist and African studies expertDunham's calling cards read both "dancer" and . Tropics (choreographed 1937) and Le Jazz Hot (1938) were among the earliest of many works based on her research. 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. One example of this was studying how dance manifests within Haitian Vodou. 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. This gained international headlines and the embarrassed local police officials quickly released her. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. 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 . However, it has now became a common practice within the discipline. Search input Search submit button. Dunham had been invited to stage a new number for the popular, long-running musical revue Pins and Needles 1940, produced by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. In this post, she choreographed the Chicago production of Run Li'l Chil'lun, performed at the Goodman Theater. She choreographed for Broadway stage productions and operaincluding Aida (1963) for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th . She did this for many reasons. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. [59] She ultimately chose to continue her career in dance without her master's degree in anthropology. Katherine Johnson | Biography, Education, Accomplishments, & Facts Othella Dallas, 93, still teaches Katherine Dunham technique, which she learned from Dunham herself. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. But what set her work even further apart from Martha Graham and Jos Limn was her fusion of that foundation with Afro-Caribbean styles. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. theatrical designers john pratt. Text:. The restructuring of heavy industry had caused the loss of many working-class jobs, and unemployment was high in the city. Stormy Weather (1943 film) - Wikipedia 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. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. [54], Six decades before this new wave of anthropological discourse began, Katherine Dunham's work demonstrated anthropology being used as a force for challenging racist and colonial ideologies. Ruth Page had written a scenario and choreographed La Guiablesse ("The Devil Woman"), based on a Martinican folk tale in Lafcadio Hearn's Two Years in the French West Indies. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "anthropology became a life-way"[2] for Dunham. 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. If Cities Could Dance: East St. Louis. The 1940s and 1950s saw the successors to the pioneers, give rise to such new stylistic variations through the work of artistic giants such as Jos Limn and Merce Cunningham. Katherine Dunham, was mounted at the Women's Center on the campus. Q. Katherine Mary Dun ham was an African-American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. [15] It was in a lecture by Redfield that she learned about the relationship between dance and culture, pointing out that Black Americans had retained much of their African heritage in dances. Video. The next year the production was repeated with Katherine Dunham in the lead and with students from Dunham's Negro Dance Group in the ensemble. 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. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. Gender: Female. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. 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. The Katherine Dunham Museum: Saving the Legacy of a True Renaissance Woman 30 seconds. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. 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. ", "Kaiso! [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. There she was able to bring anthropologists, sociologists, educational specialists, scientists, writers, musicians, and theater people together to create a liberal arts curriculum that would be a foundation for further college work. USA. [4], Katherine Mary Dunham was born on 22 June 1909 in a Chicago hospital. informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Cruz Banks, Ojeya. Dancer, choreographer, composer and songwriter, educated at the University of Chicago. Birthday : June 22, 1909. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. After he became her artistic collaborator, they became romantically involved. In the mid-1930s she conducted anthropological research on dance and incorporated her findings into her choreography, blending the rhythms and movements of . She died a month before her 97th birthday.[53]. Chin, Elizabeth. 288 pages, Hardcover. Katherine Dunham. Katherine Dunham or the "Matriarch of - Medium [11], During her time in Chicago, Dunham enjoyed holding social gatherings and inviting visitors to her apartment. Who Is Katherine Dunham? | GCU Blogs VV A. Clark and Sara E. Johnson, editors, Joliet Central High School Yearbook, 1928. One of her fellow professors, with whom she collaborated, was architect Buckminster Fuller. In 1967 she officially retired, after presenting a final show at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. Keep reading for more such interesting quotes at Kidadl!) 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. . June 22 Dancer #4. Dunham also studied ballet with Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page, who became prima ballerina of the Chicago Opera. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) brought African dance aesthetics to the United States, forever influencing modern and jazz 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Luminaries like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Katherine Dunham began to shape and define what this new genre of dance would be. He needn't have bothered. 10 Facts About Katherine Johnson - Mental Floss Childhood & Early Life. Katherine Dunham on Break the FACTS! - YouTube Dancers are frequently instructed to place weight on the balls of their feet, lengthen their lumbar and cervical spines, and breathe from the abdomen and not the chest. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." Barrelhouse. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. Video. Katherine Dunham, was published in a limited, numbered edition of 130 copies by the Institute for the Study of Social Change. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. Upon returning to Chicago, the company performed at the Goodman Theater and at the Abraham Lincoln Center. [61][62][63][64] During this time, in addition to Dunham, numerous Black women such as Zora Neal Hurston, Caroline Bond Day, Irene Diggs, and Erna Brodber were also working to transform the discipline into an anthropology of liberation: employing critical and creative cultural production.[54]. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." On another occasion, in October 1944, after getting a rousing standing ovation in Louisville, Kentucky, she told the all-white audience that she and her company would not return because "your management will not allow people like you to sit next to people like us."