11 Katherine Dunham, Dances of Haiti (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies, 1983), 15. Katherine Dunham’s contributions have been felt all across the dance world. This is a dance sequence with Katherine Dunham and her Company in the film Casbah (1948). From 2014-2019, she was co-editor of The International Journal of Screendance with Simon Ellis. It all went back to Ms. Dunham, a force of nature, and her extraordinary path: an African-American woman trained as an anthropologist, who in 1930 founded the first American Black dance company.She opened the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York in 1945 and earned accolades as both a … Katherine Dunham Fused Together Dance and Anthropology. In October 1944, the African-American choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909–2006) stood in front of an audience in Louisville, Kentucky and announced that her dance company would not return to Louisville until the city desegregated its theaters. Katherine Dunham revolutionized American dance in the 1930's by going to the roots of black dance and rituals transforming them into significant artistic choreography that speaks to all. She directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance in New York, and was artist-in-residence at Southern Illinois University. 1910–2006. Article. Katherine Dunham's long and remarkable life spanned the fields of anthropology, dance, theater, and inner city social work.As an anthropologist, Dunham studied and lived among the peoples of Haiti and other Caribbean islands; as a dancer and choreographer she combined "primitive" Caribbean dances … Alumnae include Eartha Kitt, Marlon Brando and Julie Belafonte. JOSEPHINE BAKER AND KATHERINE DUNHAM: DANCES IN LITERATURE AND CINEMA by Hannah Durkin. Dunham choreographs Bahiana, which premieres at a concert at the University of Cincinnati. Ms. Dunham's dance productions were certainly exotic, and sometimes fell into uncomfortable clichés. The company had successful runs on Broadway and in other major American cities. Katherine Dunham: Katherine Dunham’s now-famous Dunham Technique was inspired by the dance cultures of the Caribbean, which she researched in depth. This is a clip of Katherine Dunham as Odette along with her company in Casbah (1948). 2019. $27.95 paper. The Revolution of American Dance Katherine Dunham’s research in the Caribbean laid t he groundwork for her choreography and dance companies. Dunham combines the dances of the African Diaspora with elements from ballet and modern dance, making something totally unique and groundbreaking. The Katherine Dunham Museum houses Miss Dunham’s outstanding collection of symbolic and functional art, including more than 250 African and Caribbean art objects from more than 50 countries. Dunham was born … She made world tours as a dancer, choreographer, and director of her own dance company. Outside the realm of modern dance, Dunham starred … Founded in Chicago, it grew out of Ballet Nègre, a student troupe founded in 1930 by Katherine Dunham (1909–2006), which later became the Negro Dance Group.. Katherine Dunham. ISBN: 978-0-252-08445-4 - Volume 52 Issue 3 Katherine Dunham is revered as one of the great pillars of American 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. Sol Hurok presented Katherine Dunham and Her Company in a dance revue at the Broadway Theater in New York; 1951. December 3, 2013. For three decades she ran the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported African-American dance company of the era. In the 1940s, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company in NYC, and this troupe toured the world for two decades. Early on in her anthropological training, Dunham was essentially forced to choose between being an anthropologist working in the academy and a dancer … Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century and has been called the "Matriarch and Queen Mother of Black Dance". Dance Treasures: 17 Carnival of Rhythm 1941 from Dance Heritage Coalition on Vimeo.. She was a pioneer in the use of folk and ethnic choreography and one of the founders of the anthropological dance … Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology Elizabeth Chin The year 2010 would have been Katherine Dunham's 100th birthday, and it is an apt time to consider the ways in which so much of her work can be understood as pub-lic anthropology. Her world-renowned dance company exposed audiences to the diversity of dance from the 1930s-1960s and her New York school brought dance training to a variety of populations. Although long recognized as a major force in American dance, Katherine Dunham is less a household name than some of her contemporaries such as Martha Graham or George Balanchine. 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. Described as the “matriarch of black dance”, Katherine Dunham pioneered a dance pedagogy fusing classical ballet with African-rooted dance and rituals. She is best known for her Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the first independent black American dance company, which ran from 1939 to 1960. Created by dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, the technique is informed by the traditional dances of the African Diaspora, as well as by modern and ballet. Nonetheless, her creative influence is just as profound. As an anthropologist, her research brought works of performance ethnography to the concert and commercial stage. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. The Katherine Dunham dance company performed for the Quadras Society in 1939. The Katherine Dunham Company, a troupe of dancers, singers, actors and musicians, was the first African-American modern dance company. 272 pp., 20 illustrations. Dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1910, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a small suburb of Chicago, to Fanny June (Guillaume) and Albert Millard Dunham. Katherine Dunham, the dancer, choreographer, teacher and anthropologist whose pioneering work introduced much of the black heritage in dance to the stage, died Sunday at … Although she was not considered a jazz dancer, her fieldwork, choreography and the Dunham technique have greatly influenced jazz dance. Katherine Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an African-American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist.Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in African-American and European theater of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for many years. Dunham and her company toured South America, Europe, and North Africa (1951-1953) Premiered her ballet Southland at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile. Katherine Dunham's technique includes both ballet and modern dance. Dunham’s original dance company, Ballet Nègre (founded in 1930 in Chicago), was one of America’s first African American ballet companies, and in 1933 she founded the Negro Dance Group, a school for young black dancers. Article. She has created and codified a technique that has influenced other techniques, dancers and choreographers. She was also the developer of the “Dunham … At the same time, Dunham struggled to balance these social justice goals with her artistic career, financial needs, and personal desires. She developed the idea of dance as a cultural text. 12 Leopold Senghor, a personal friend of Dunham’s who had witnessed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company while he was a student in Paris, hosted this seminal convocation of black world leaders in arts and culture. Special Workshop – Dunham Technique is a vibrant African American dance form that engages the body, mind and spirit! Dancer, choreographer, composer and songwriter, educated at the University of Chicago. This essay is part of a larger critical mixed methods project on historical dance touring and transmission: Dunham's Data: Katherine Dunham and Digital Methods for Dance Historical Inquiry. 1952. She was instrumental in getting respect for Blacks on the concert dance stage and directed the first self-supported African-American dance company. Over her long career, she choreographed more than 100 dances. Dunham is credited with introducing international audiences to African aesthetics and establishing African dance as a true art form. Katherine Dunham is credited for developing one of the most important pedagogues for teaching dance that is still used throughout the world. She was a remarkable anthropologist, choreographer, and founder of the first self-supported African American dance company in the 1940s. Dunham conducted research in Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Martinique. Dunham was an innovator of African-American Modern Dance, plus a pioneer in the study of Ethnochoreology, a special kind of movement anthropology. Katherine Dunham, Actress: Star Spangled Rhythm. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. In 1940, she formed the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which became the premier facility for training dancers. Tapestries, paintings, sculpture, musical instruments and ceremonial costumes from around the world celebrate the human spirit of the Museum. Katherine Dunham and Dance Company perform Tropics and Le Jazz "Hot" in the College Inn Panther Room at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago. The Dunham School in New York renamed the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts ; A photograph of Dunham appeared … The Oxford Handbook of Dance and the Popular Screen, Choreographies of 21st Century War, and Dance on Its Own Terms, as ... Katherine Dunham and Digital Methods for Dance Historical Inquiry (Ref: AH/R012989/1). Her style of dance is described as, "a style of dance that involved a loose torso and spine, articulated pelvis and isolation of the limbs." Katherine Dunham (1909–2006) brought African dance aesthetics to the United States, forever influencing modern and jazz dance. 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