katherine dunham fun facts katherine dunham fun facts

As a result, Dunham would later experience some diplomatic "difficulties" on her tours. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. Katherine Dunham introduced African and Caribbean rhythms to modern dance. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Her father was given a number of important positions at court . [17] She was one of the first African-American women to attend this college and to earn these degrees. Dunham Technique was created by Katherine Dunham, a legend in the worlds of dance and anthropology. ", "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. American dancer and choreographer (19092006). Anna Kisselgoff, a dance critic for The New York Times, called Dunham "a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance ahead of her time." Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. Omissions? The following year, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Dunham to be technical cultural advisera sort of cultural ambassadorto the government of Senegal in West Africa. Her legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. On February 22, 2022, Selkirk will offer a unique, one-lot auction titled, Divine Technique: Katherine Dunham Ephemera And Documents. [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. Search input Search submit button. Among Dunham's closest friends and colleagues was Julie Robinson, formerly a performer with the Katherine Dunham Company, and her husband, singer and later political activist Harry Belafonte. They had particular success in Denmark and France. Book. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. Harrison, Faye V. "Decolonizing Anthropology Moving Further Toward and Anthropology for Liberation." 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. Video. In 2000 she was named one of the first one hundred of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. 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). 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. It next moved to the West Coast for an extended run of performances there. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. ((Photographer unknown, Courtesy of Missouri History Museum Photograph and Prints collection. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. 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]. Commonly grouped into the realm of modern dance techniques, Dunham is a technical dance form developed from elements of indigenous African and Afro-Caribbean dances. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. [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. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. There is also a strong emphasis on training dancers in the practices of engaging with polyrhythms by simultaneously moving their upper and lower bodies according to different rhythmic patterns. Two years later she formed an all-Black company, which began touring extensively by 1943. In Boston, then a bastion of conservatism, the show was banned in 1944 after only one performance. 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. Dance is an essential part of life that has always been with me. Tune in & learn about the inception of. Birth Country: United States. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. 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. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. Please scroll down to enjoy more supporting materials. 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. In September 1943, under the management of the impresario Sol Hurok, her troupe opened in Tropical Review at the Martin Beck Theater. 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. 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. This meant neither of the children were able to settle into a home for a few years. "The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn: Sociocultural Anthropology in 2019." 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. Fun facts. 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. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. In this post, she choreographed the Chicago production of Run Li'l Chil'lun, performed at the Goodman Theater. At the age of 82, Dunham went on a hunger strike in . Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . 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. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. 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 . The Dunham Technique Ballet African Dancing Her favorite color was platinum Caribbean Dancing Her favorite food was Filet of Sole How she started out Ballet African Dance Caribbean Dance The Dunham Technique wasn't so much as a technique so New York: Rizzoli, 1989. 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. Her choreography and performances made use of a concept within Dance Anthropology called "research-to-performance". These experiences provided ample material for the numerous books, articles and short stories Dunham authored. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. She also appeared in the Broadway musicals "Bal . At an early age, Dunham became interested in dance. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. Some Facts. The company returned to New York. Her world-renowned modern dance company exposed audiences to the diversity of dance, and her schools brought dance training and education to a variety of populations sharing her passion and commitment to dance as a medium of cultural communication. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . [9] In high school she joined the Terpsichorean Club and began to learn a kind of modern dance based on the ideas of Europeans [mile Jaques-Dalcroze] and [Rudolf von Laban]. 3 (1992): 24. [7] The family moved to a predominantly white neighborhood in Joliet, Illinois. Named Marie-Christine Dunham Pratt, she was their only child. Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. [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. Corrections? Her work inspired many. [22] [59] She ultimately chose to continue her career in dance without her master's degree in anthropology. A actor. Claude Conyers, "Film Choreography by Katherine Dunham, 19391964," in Clark and Johnson. [58] Early on into graduate school, Dunham was forced to choose between finishing her master's degree in anthropology and pursuing her career in dance. "In introducing authentic African dance-movements to her company and audiences, Dunhamperhaps more than any other choreographer of the timeexploded the possibilities of modern dance expression.".