|
Katherine Dunham
(1910-)
|
|
Is an African-American choreographer
and anthropologist who studied Afro-Caribbean ritual and social dancing
and developed respect for a style of modern dance that played one part
of the body against the other. Katherine Dunham has been called the "Matriarch
of black dance." Her unprecedented blend of cultural anthropology
with the artistic genre of dance in the early 1930's, produced groundbreaking
forms of movement, and in the United States, established black dance as
an art form in its own right Her professional troupe, formed in the early
1940's, was a first for African Americans, and led the way for future
notables of dance the likes of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre,
and Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Select your favorite player below to see a clip about Dunham's contribution
to modern dance.
|
| |
|
|
| It is especially
fitting that Katherine Dunham embarked on her professional theatrical career
as a performer and choreographer at the Chicago World's Fair. For the world
has served as her educational and theatrical venue for the 52 years that
have followed. Ms. Dunham did graduate studies in social anthropology at
the University of Chicago in the 1930's, then traveled to the West Indies
to do field work on the cultural significance of ritual dances. Between
that initial educational pursuit and her academic appointment at Southern
Illinois University (SIU) in 1967. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Ms. Dunham did ground
breaking work in every aspect of dance, theater, music, and education. She
danced with Les Ballets Negre, the first black ballet company in the United
States, and appeared in the films "Stormy Weather" and "Cabin in the Sky"
which she CO-choreographed with George Balanchine. Dunham chose to leave
Hollywood soon after that to create a more culturally comfortable place
for American black people to perform. She then formed the Katherine Dunham
Dance Company with which she toured more than 60 countries, amassing cultural
and theatrical experiences which would be recounted in the eight books,
numerous articles and short stories she has authored. Throughout these years,
Ms. Dunham continued to fight for racial equality, prompting her decision
to focus her energy and attention in that direction. |
| |
|
|
| During her artist-in-residence
tenure at SIU, she began a decade of redirecting the energy of violent street
gangs through the performing arts, overcoming all the obstacles inherent
in such radical action. Her work resulted in the formation of the Performing
Arts Training Center for the community's youth. She also founded the Katherine
Dunham Museum and Children's School which are still main attractions in
East St. Louis, Illinois. Ms. Dunham is the recipient of ten honorary doctorates,
numerous awards and honors including the S.I.U. Distinguished Service Award,
the Rosenwald and Guggenheim Foundations, the Albert Schweitzer Music Award,
the Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Dance Magazine Award, the plaque d'Honneur
Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce Award, and was inducted into the Black
Filmmakers Hall of Fame. |
|
|
| |
|
|
