"[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. Her father was of black ancestry, a descendant of slaves from West Africa and Madagascar, while her mother belonged to mixed French-Canadian and Native . In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. [49] In fact, that ceremony was not recognized as a legal marriage in the United States, a point of law that would come to trouble them some years later. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. She felt it was necessary to use the knowledge she gained in her research to acknowledge that Africanist esthetics are significant to the cultural equation in American dance. Kaiso is an Afro-Caribbean term denoting praise. [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]. After noticing that Katherine enjoyed working and socializing with people, her brother suggested that she study Anthropology. Dun ham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance 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. She expressed a hope that time and the "war for tolerance and democracy" (this was during World War II) would bring a change. 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. Another fact is that it was the sometime home of the pioneering black American dancer Katherine Dunham. One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. Through her ballet teachers, she was also exposed to Spanish, East Indian, Javanese, and Balinese dance forms.[23]. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. Born in 1909 #28. While a student at the University of Chicago, she formed a dance group that performed in concert at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1934 and with the Chicago Civic Opera company in 193536. for the developing one of the the world performed many of her. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". The show created a minor controversy in the press. Book. Video. 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. 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. Her work inspired many. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. However, fully aware of her passion for both dance performance, as well as anthropological research, she felt she had to choose between the two. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . Our site is COPPA and kidSAFE-certified, so you can rest assured it's a safe place for kids . Named Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt, she was their only child. Early in 1947 Dunham choreographed the musical play Windy City, which premiered at the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. 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. As an African American woman, she broke barriers of race and gender, most notably as the founder of an important dance company that toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. In 1963, Dunham became the first African-American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. She was instrumental in getting respect for Black dancers on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported Black dance company. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. The family moved to Joliet, Illinois when her father remarried. In 1966, she served as a State Department representative for the United States to the first ever World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. All rights reserved. Some Facts. 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. He needn't have bothered. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. Her the best movie is Casbah. 52 Copy quote. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. 4 (December 2010): 640642. 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. 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. 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. Dunham considered some really important and interesting issues, like how class and race issues translate internationally, being accepted into new communities, different types of being black, etc. Others who attended her school included James Dean, Gregory Peck, Jose Ferrer, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters, Sidney Poitier, Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty. [60], However, this decision did not keep her from engaging with and highly influencing the discipline for the rest of her life and beyond. Fun Facts. Called the Matriarch of Black Dance, her groundbreaking repertoire combined innovative interpretations of Caribbean dances, traditional ballet, African rituals and African American rhythms to create the Dunham Technique, which she performed with her dance troupe in venues around the world. At the age of 82, Dunham went on a hunger strike in . Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. Birth date: October 17, 1956. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. [4], Katherine Mary Dunham was born on 22 June 1909 in a Chicago hospital. : Writings by and About Katherine Dunham. Early in 1936, she arrived in Haiti, where she remained for several months, the first of her many extended stays in that country through her life. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. Facts About Katherine Dunham. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. Dunham technique is also inviting to the influence of cultural movement languages outside of dance including karate and capoeira.[36]. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. 7 Katherine Dunham facts. Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. Katherine Dunham. 47 Copy quote. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). 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. 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". 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. ", 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. 6 Katherine Dunham facts. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Katherine Dunham got an early bachelor's degree in anthropology as a student at the University of Chicago. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. 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." Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. Pratt, who was white, shared Dunham's interests in African-Caribbean cultures and was happy to put his talents in her service. You can't learn about dances until you learn about people. 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. Over her long career, she choreographed more than ninety individual dances. 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. [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". [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. It was a huge collection of writings by and about Katherine Dunham, so it naturally covered a lot of area. From the beginning of their association, around 1938, Pratt designed the sets and every costume Dunham ever wore. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. 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. 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. The Dunham troupe toured for two decades, stirring audiences around the globe with their dynamic and highly theatrical performances. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." 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. 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. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." 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. Question 2. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. Birth Country: United States. [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. The PATC teaching staff was made up of former members of Dunham's touring company, as well as local residents. Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. New York City, U.S. During these years, the Dunham company appeared in some 33 countries in Europe, North Africa, South America, Australia, and East Asia. She . [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago, to Albert Millard Dunham, a tailor and dry cleaner, and his wife, Fanny June Dunham. Her work helped send astronauts to the . Barrelhouse. Dunham early became interested in dance. 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]. Tropics (choreographed 1937) and Le Jazz Hot (1938) were among the earliest of many works based on her research. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. Died On : May 21, 2006. The troupe performed a suite of West Indian dances in the first half of the program and a ballet entitled Tropic Death, with Talley Beatty, in the second half. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. [20] She recorded her findings through ethnographic fieldnotes and by learning dance techniques, music and song, alongside her interlocutors. 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). American Anthropologist 122, no. Dunham is a ventriloquist comedian and uses seven different puppets in his act, known by his fans as the "suitcase posse." His first Comedy Central Presents special premiered in 2003.
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