[14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. At the height of her career in the 1940s and 1950s, Dunham was renowned throughout Europe and Latin America and was widely popular in the United States. 47 Copy quote. In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. Barrelhouse. [12] Katherine Dunham. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. Marlon Brando frequently dropped in to play the bongo drums, and jazz musician Charles Mingus held regular jam sessions with the drummers. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . In 1937 she traveled with them to New York to take part in A Negro Dance Evening, organized by Edna Guy at the 92nd Street YMHA. [28] Strongly founded in her anthropological research in the Caribbean, Dunham technique introduces rhythm as the backbone of various widely known modern dance principles including contraction and release,[29] groundedness, fall and recover,[30] counterbalance, and many more. A actor. Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. Two years later she formed an all-Black company, which began touring extensively by 1943. Digital Library. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". USA. Dunham early became interested in dance. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Banks, Ojeya Cruz. She wrote that he "opened the floodgates of anthropology" for her. 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. 1910-2006. (She later wrote Journey to Accompong, a book describing her experiences there.) Video. 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 Johnson graduated from college at age 18. The company was located on the property that formerly belonged to the Isadora Duncan Dance in Caravan Hill but subsequently moved to W 43rd Street. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . It opened in Chicago in 1933, with a black cast and with Page dancing the title role. By the time she received an M.A. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. Katherine Dunham predated, pioneered, and demonstrated new ways of doing and envisioning Anthropology six decades ahead of the discipline. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. It closed after only 38 performances. 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. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) London: Zed Books, 1999. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . [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. Keep reading for more such interesting quotes at Kidadl!) 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. 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. 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. As Wendy Perron wrote, "Jazz dance, 'fusion,' and the search for our cultural identity all have their antecedents in Dunham's work as a dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Video footage of Dunham technique classes show a strong emphasis on anatomical alignment, breath, and fluidity. [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]. It was considered one of the best learning centers of its type at the time. 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. [41] The State Department was dismayed by the negative view of American society that the ballet presented to foreign audiences. This is where, in the late 1960s, global dance legend Katherine Dunham put down roots and taught the arts of the African diaspora to local children and teenagers. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. It was a venue for Dunham to teach young black dancers about their African heritage. Dunham's dance career first began in Chicago when she joined the Little Theater Company of Harper Avenue. After the national tour of Cabin in the Sky, the Dunham company stayed in Los Angeles, where they appeared in the Warner Brothers short film Carnival of Rhythm (1941). [6] At the age of 15, she organized "The Blue Moon Caf", a fundraising cabaret to raise money for Brown's Methodist Church in Joliet, where she gave her first public performance. Question 2. This led to a custody battle over Katherine and her brother, brought on by their maternal relatives. See "Selected Bibliography of Writings by Katherine Dunham" in Clark and Johnson. Fun facts. In 1978, an anthology of writings by and about her, also entitled Kaiso! 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. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. 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. Radcliffe-Brown, Fred Eggan, and many others that she met in and around the University of Chicago. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. She decided to live for a year in relative isolation in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked on writing memoirs of her youth. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. ", While in Europe, she also influenced hat styles on the continent as well as spring fashion collections, featuring the Dunham line and Caribbean Rhapsody, and the Chiroteque Franaise made a bronze cast of her feet for a museum of important personalities.". 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. Although it was well received by the audience, local censors feared that the revealing costumes and provocative dances might compromise public morals. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. 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 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]. Additionally, she worked closely with Vera Mirova who specialized in "Oriental" dance. Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." In 1987 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and was also inducted into the. Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir, Melville Herskovits, Lloyd Warner and Bronisaw Malinowski. Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. One of the most important dance artists of the twentieth century, dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) created works that thrilled audiences the world over. Tropics (choreographed 1937) and Le Jazz Hot (1938) were among the earliest of many works based on her research. As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. Dunham technique is also inviting to the influence of cultural movement languages outside of dance including karate and capoeira.[36]. ", Black writer Arthur Todd described her as "one of our national treasures". Example. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! 3 (1992): 24. Schools inspired by it were later opened in Stockholm, Paris, and Rome by dancers who had been trained by Dunham. Over the years Katherine Dunham has received scores of special awards, including more than a dozen honorary doctorates from various American universities. With choreography characterized by exotic sexuality, both became signature works in the Dunham repertory. Dunham passed away on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at the age of 96. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso!