katherine dunham fun facts

Writings by and about Katherine Dunham" , Katherine Dunham, 2005. 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. 7 Katherine Dunham facts. Never completing her required coursework for her graduate degree, she departed for Broadway and Hollywood. You dance because you have to. One recurring theme that I really . The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. Dunham early became interested in dance. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. [20] She also became friends with, among others, Dumarsais Estim, then a high-level politician, who became president of Haiti in 1949. [6][10] While still a high school student, she opened a private dance school for young black children. 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. She was one of the first researchers in anthropology to use her research of Afro-Haitian dance and culture for remedying racist misrepresentation of African culture in the miseducation of Black Americans. [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 decided to live for a year in relative isolation in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked on writing memoirs of her youth. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 - May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Her the best movie is Casbah. However, after her father remarried, Albert Sr. and his new wife, Annette Poindexter Dunham, took in Katherine and her brother. Transforming Anthropology 20, no. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . She is best known for bringing African and Caribbean dance styles to the US [1]. 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). Then she traveled to Martinique and to Trinidad and Tobago for short stays, primarily to do an investigation of Shango, the African god who was still considered an important presence in West Indian religious culture. Pas de Deux from "L'Ag'Ya". Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. One example of this was studying how dance manifests within Haitian Vodou. 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). A carriage house on the grounds is to . From the solar system to the world economy to educational games, Fact Monster has the info kids are seeking. This was the beginning of more than 20 years during which Dunham performed with her company almost exclusively outside the United States. Gender: Female. By 1957, Dunham was under severe personal strain, which was affecting her health. "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, and Katherine Dunham". 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. 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. In 1935, Dunham received grants to conduct fieldwork in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti to study Afro-Caribbean dance and other rituals. 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. Occupation(s): [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]. In 1963, Dunham became the first African-American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. The first work, entitled A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, was published in 1959. Short Biography. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Facts About Katherine Dunham. 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. ", Kraut, Anthea, "Between Primitivism and Diaspora: The Dance Performances of, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:48. Facts about Alvin Ailey talk about the famous African-American activist and choreographer. Later Dunham established a second home in Senegal, and she occasionally returned there to scout for talented African musicians and dancers. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. Dunham created Rara Tonga and Woman with a Cigar at this time, which became well known. Dancer. As a choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of dance in the twentieth century. This led to a custody battle over Katherine and her brother, brought on by their maternal relatives. In 1946, Dunham returned to Broadway for a revue entitled Bal Ngre, which received glowing notices from theater and dance critics. What are some fun facts about Katherine Dunham? [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. For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. Throughout her career, Dunham occasionally published articles about her anthropological research (sometimes under the pseudonym of Kaye Dunn) and sometimes lectured on anthropological topics at universities and scholarly societies.[27]. Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. 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 1966, she served as a State Department representative for the United States to the first ever World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] [2] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist. Dunham married Jordis McCoo, a black postal worker, in 1931, but he did not share her interests and they gradually drifted apart, finally divorcing in 1938. [1] The Dunham Technique is still taught today. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . The group performed Dunham's Negro Rhapsody at the Chicago Beaux Arts Ball. Nationality. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology through African American Dance Pedagogy." from the University of Chicago, she had acquired a vast knowledge of the dances and rituals of the Black peoples of tropical America. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy." 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. Most Popular #73650. It was not a success, closing after only eight performances. Genres Novels. teaches us about the impact Katherine Dunham left on the dance community & on the world. 47 Copy quote. Her many original works include Lagya, Shango and Bal Negre. Dunham accepted a position at Southern Illinois University in East St. Louis in the 1960s. Dunham became interested in both writing and dance at a young age. Katherine Dunham, it includes photographs highlighting the many dimensions of Dunham's life and work. Katherine Dunham (born June 22, 1909) [1] was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist [1]. [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. Katherine Dunham in a photograph from around 1945. 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. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. Video. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City. She did this for many reasons. Born: June 22, 1909. Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. This initiative drew international publicity to the plight of the Haitian boat-people and U.S. discrimination against them. [59] She ultimately chose to continue her career in dance without her master's degree in anthropology. Birth Country: United States. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. Dunham refused to hold a show in one theater after finding out that the city's black residents had not been allowed to buy tickets for the performance. 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]. In the summer of 1941, after the national tour of Cabin in the Sky ended, they went to Mexico, where inter-racial marriages were less controversial than in the United States, and engaged in a commitment ceremony on 20 July, which thereafter they gave as the date of their wedding. She also choreographed and appeared in Broadway musicals, operas and the film Cabin in the Sky. 3 (1992): 24. Episode 5 of Break the FACTS! The school was managed in Dunham's absence by Syvilla Fort, one of her dancers, and thrived for about 10 years. [13], Dunham officially joined the department in 1929 as an anthropology major,[13] while studying dances of the African diaspora. 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Here are 10 facts about her fascinating life. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. When you have faith in something, it's your reason to be alive and to fight for it. Katherine was also an activist, author, educator, and anthropologist. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. 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. She did not complete the other requirements for that degree, however, as she realized that her professional calling was performance and choreography. [14] For example, she was highly influenced both by Sapir's viewpoint on culture being made up of rituals, beliefs, customs and artforms, and by Herkovits' and Redfield's studies highlighting links between African and African American cultural expression. Katherine Dunham Facts that are Fun!!! Based on this success, the entire company was engaged for the 1940 Broadway production Cabin in the Sky, staged by George Balanchine and starring Ethel Waters. [4], Katherine Mary Dunham was born on 22 June 1909 in a Chicago hospital. She majored in anthropology at the University of Chicago, and after learning that much of Black . [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. 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. 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. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. Cruz Banks, Ojeya. [51] The couple had officially adopted their foster daughter, a 14-month-old girl they had found as an infant in a Roman Catholic convent nursery in Fresnes, France. 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]. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance Dunham also created the well-known Dunham Technique [1]. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. Text:. Regarding her impact and effect he wrote: "The rise of American Negro dance commenced when Katherine Dunham and her company skyrocketed into the Windsor Theater in New York, from Chicago in 1940, and made an indelible stamp on the dance world Miss Dunham opened the doors that made possible the rapid upswing of this dance for the present generation." 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. . Died: May 21, 2006. Members of Dunham's last New York Company auditioned to become members of the Met Ballet Company. [2] Most of Dunham's works previewed many questions essential to anthropology's postmodern turn, such as critiquing understandings of modernity, interpretation, ethnocentrism, and cultural relativism. [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. 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. Dunham early became interested in dance. "[48] During her protest, Dick Gregory led a non-stop vigil at her home, where many disparate personalities came to show their respect, such Debbie Allen, Jonathan Demme, and Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. American Anthropologist 122, no. katherine dunham fun factsaiken county sc register of deeds katherine dunham fun facts 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. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. In 1967, Dunham opened the Performing Arts Training Center (PATC) in East St. Louis in an effort to use the arts to combat poverty and urban unrest. Birth date: October 17, 1956. In the 1970s, scholars of Anthropology such as Dell Hymes and William S. Willis began to discuss Anthropology's participation in scientific colonialism. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. ", 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. This meant neither of the children were able to settle into a home for a few years. [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. At an early age, Dunham became interested in dance. 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. ", Examples include: The Ballet in film "Stormy Weather" (Stone 1943) and "Mambo" (Rossen 1954). (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) In her biography, Joyce Aschenbrenner (2002), credits Ms Dunham as the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance", and describes her work as: "fundamentally . Katherine Dunham, a world-renowned dancer and choreographer, had big plans for East St. Louis in 1977. Katherine Dunham was an African-American dancer and choreographer, producer, author, scholar, anthropologist and Civil Rights activist. 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. Each procession builds on the last and focuses on conditioning the body to prepare for specific exercises that come later. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. [12] 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. Born in 1909 #28. In 1964, Dunham settled in East St. Louis, and took up the post of artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University in nearby Edwardsville. Based on her research in Martinique, this three-part performance integrated elements of a Martinique fighting dance into American ballet. Digital Library. Dunham technique is also inviting to the influence of cultural movement languages outside of dance including karate and capoeira.[36]. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . Chin, Elizabeth. In 1987 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and was also inducted into the. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th . Katherine Dunham PhB'36. He has released six stand-up specials and one album of Christmas songs. Barrelhouse. Dunham was born in Chicago on June 22, 1909. 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. Died On : May 21, 2006. Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 May 21, 2006)[1] was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. In 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. Jobson, Ryan Cecil. First Name Katherine #37. [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 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. The program included courses in dance, drama, performing arts, applied skills, humanities, cultural studies, and Caribbean research. 2 (2012): 159168. Radcliffe-Brown, Edward Sapir, Melville Herskovits, Lloyd Warner and Bronisaw Malinowski. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. As I document in my book Katherine Dunham: Dance and the . Beda Schmid. Dancer Born in Illinois #12. As celebrities, their voices can have a profound influence on popular culture. 1910-2006. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . 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. She had incurred the displeasure of departmental officials when her company performed Southland, a ballet that dramatized the lynching of a black man in the racist American South. 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's Dance as Public Anthropology. Dancer, choreographer, composer and songwriter, educated at the University of Chicago. ..American Anthropologist.. 112, no. [4] In 1938, using materials collected ethnographic fieldwork, Dunham submitted a thesis, The Dances of Haiti: A Study of Their Material Aspect, Organization, Form, and Function,. Example. 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 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. Katherine Dunham died on May 21 2006. 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. Katherine Dunham was an American dancer and choreographer, credited to have brought the influence of Africa and the Caribbean into American dance . Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. She was born on June 22, 1909 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small . She graduated from Joliet Central High School in 1928, where she played baseball, tennis, basketball, and track; served as vice-president of the French Club, and was on the yearbook staff. [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. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from, In 2005, she was awarded "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" by the. 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. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. She describes this during an interview in 2002: "My problemmy strong drive at that time was to remain in this academic position that anthropology gave me, and at the same time continue with this strong drive for motionrhythmic motion". She also danced professionally, owned a dance company, and operated a dance studio. [5] Along with the Great Migration, came White flight and her aunt Lulu's business suffered and ultimately closed as a result.

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