[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. 8 Katherine Dunham facts. 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. 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. She died a month before her 97th birthday.[53]. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. Katherine Dunham | YourDictionary ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. 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. She wanted to know not only how people danced but why they dance. [37] One historian noted that "during the course of the tour, Dunham and the troupe had recurrent problems with racial discrimination, leading her to a posture of militancy which was to characterize her subsequent career."[38]. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. She and her company frequently had difficulties finding adequate accommodations while on tour because in many regions of the country, black Americans were not allowed to stay at hotels. Dunham herself was quietly involved in both the Voodoo and Orisa communities of the Caribbean and the United States, in particular with the Lucumi tradition. Katherine Dunham Biography, Life, Interesting Facts Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora - Goodreads 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". 10 Facts About Katherine Johnson - Mental Floss Jobson, Ryan Cecil. All You Need to Know About Dunham Technique - Dance Spirit 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. 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. 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. Her mission was to help train the Senegalese National Ballet and to assist President Leopold Senghor with arrangements for the First Pan-African World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar (196566). Chin, Elizabeth. She made national headlines by staging a hunger strike to protest the U.S. governments repatriation policy for Haitian immigrants. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. Despite 13 knee surgeries, Ms. Dunham danced professionally for more than . [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. [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. 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 popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! Dunham, Katherine | FactMonster teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. Katherine Dunham - Author, Career, Childhood - Katherine Dunham Biography Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! Katherine Dunham - Trivia, Family, Bio | Famous Birthdays He needn't have bothered. Dunham's mother, Fanny June Dunham (ne Taylor), who was of mixed French-Canadian and Native American heritage. Katherine Dunham was an American dancer and choreographer, credited to have brought the influence of Africa and the Caribbean into American dance . 4 (December 2010): 640642. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. A actor. In 1986 the American Anthropological Association gave her a Distinguished Service Award. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. The next year, after the US entered World War II, Dunham appeared in the Paramount musical film Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) in a specialty number, "Sharp as a Tack," with Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. She established the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities in East St. Louis to preserve Haitian and African instruments and artifacts from her personal collection. 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. 30 seconds. First Name Katherine #37. However, one key reason was that she knew she would be able to reach a broader public through dance, as opposed to the inaccessible institutions of academia. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. Katherine Johnson graduated from college at age 18. 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. "Her mastery of body movement was considered 'phenomenal.' It was a venue for Dunham to teach young black dancers about their African heritage. June 22 Dancer #4. 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. In 19341936, Dunham performed as a guest artist with the ballet company of the Chicago Opera. The program she created runs to this day at the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, revolutionizing lives with dance and culture. Her legacy was far-reaching, both in dance and her cultural and social work. 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". 10 Facts about Alvin Ailey - Fact File Her technique was "a way of life". Born: June 22, 1909. 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. From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. After Mexico, Dunham began touring in Europe, where she was an immediate sensation. While a student at the University of Chicago, Dunham also performed as a dancer, ran a dance school, and earned an early bachelor's degree in anthropology. 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. . Marlon Brando frequently dropped in to play the bongo drums, and jazz musician Charles Mingus held regular jam sessions with the drummers. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. Katherine Dunham Timeline | Articles and Essays | Selections from the [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. Initially scheduled for a single performance, the show was so popular that the troupe repeated it for another ten Sundays. [54] After recovering crucial dance epistemologies relevant to people of the African diaspora during her ethnographic research, she applied anthropological knowledge toward developing her own dance pedagogy (Dunham Technique) that worked to reconcile with the legacy of colonization and racism and correct sociocultural injustices. Actress: Star Spangled Rhythm. Beda Schmid. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from, In 2005, she was awarded "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" by the. He was only one of a number of international celebrities who were Dunham's friends. [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]. Dunham passed away on Sunday, May 21, 2006 at the age of 96. Artists are necessary to social justice movements; they are the ones who possess a gift to see beyond the bleak present and imagine a better future. 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]. A key reason for this choice was because she knew that through dance, her work would be able to be accessed by a wider array of audiences; more so than if she continued to limit her work within academia. Her dance career was interrupted in 1935 when she received funding from the Rosenwald Foundation which allowed her to travel to Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti for eighteen months to explore each country's respective dance cultures. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. In 1978, an anthology of writings by and about her, also entitled Kaiso! 5 Katherine Dunham facts - Katherine dunham London: Zed Books, 1999. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology. She returned to graduate school and submitted a master's thesis to the anthropology faculty. and creative team that lasted. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. A photographic exhibit honoring her achievements, entitled Kaiso! New York: Rizzoli, 1989. informed by new methods of america's most highly regarded. 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. 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. 288 pages, Hardcover. Fun facts about Julie Belafonte brought to you by IDTC! Text: Julie 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. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Subsequently, Dunham undertook various choreographic commissions at several venues in the United States and in Europe. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. [50] Both Dunham and the prince denied the suggestion. Time reported that, "she went on a 47-day hunger strike to protest the U.S.'s forced repatriation of Haitian refugees. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." One of the most significant dancers, artists, and anthropologic figures of the 20th century, Katherine Dunham defied racial and gender boundaries during a . 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. Back in the United States she formed an all-black dance troupe, which in 1940 performed her Tropics and Le Jazz . In 1967 she officially retired, after presenting a final show at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. Example. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. Dunham Company member Dana McBroom-Manno was selected as a featured artist in the show, which played on the Music Fair Circuit. 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. 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. You dance because you have to. [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. She had one of the most successful dance careers in Western dance theatre in the 20th century and directed her own dance company for many years. A Short Danceography: Katherine Dunham - YouTube 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. 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. Johnson 's gift for numbers allowed her to accelerate through her education. There she met John Pratt, an artist and designer and they got married in 1941 until his death in 1986. used throughout the world choros, rite de passage, los Idies, and. Not only did Dunham shed light on the cultural value of black dance, but she clearly contributed to changing perceptions of blacks in America by showing society that as a black woman, she could be an intelligent scholar, a beautiful dancer, and a skilled choreographer. Mae C. Jemison: First African American Female Astronaut - Biography When she was not performing, Dunham and Pratt often visited Haiti for extended stays. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . 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 was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. Born Katherine Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia . Katherine Dunham predated, pioneered, and demonstrated new ways of doing and envisioning Anthropology six decades ahead of the discipline. 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. She arranged a fundraising cabaret for a Methodist Church, where she did her first public performance when she was 15 years old. During her studies, Dunham attended a lecture on anthropology, where she was introduced to the concept of dance as a cultural symbol. Using some ballet vernacular, Dunham incorporates these principles into a set of class exercises she labeled as "processions". Jeff Dunham hails from Dallas, Texas. Katherine Dunham Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life & Achievements In 1946, Dunham returned to Broadway for a revue entitled Bal Ngre, which received glowing notices from theater and dance critics. At the recommendation of her mentor Melville Herskovits, PhB'20a Northwestern University anthropologist and African studies expertDunham's calling cards read both "dancer" and . Katherine Dunham got an early bachelor's degree in anthropology as a student at the University of Chicago. Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist | Center for the Humanities 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). Katherine Dunham. Fun facts. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. Fighting for Katherine Dunham's Dream in East St. Louis She was instrumental in getting respect for Black dancers on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported Black dance company. In 1950, while visiting Brazil, Dunham and her group were refused rooms at a first-class hotel in So Paulo, the Hotel Esplanada, frequented by many American businessmen. Numerous scholars describe Dunham as pivotal to the fields of Dance Education, Applied Anthropology, Humanistic Anthropology, African Diasporic Anthropology and Liberatory Anthropology. 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. Birth Country: United States. He started doing stand-up comedy in the late 1980s. 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. Educate, entertain, and engage with Factmonster. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. (Below are 10 Katherine Dunham quotes on positivity. most important pedagogues original work which includes :Batuada. April 30, 2019. 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. Katherine Dunham facts for kids. 1. [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". He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. The highly respected Dance magazine did a feature cover story on Dunham in August 2000 entitled "One-Woman Revolution".
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