katherine dunham fun facts

katherine dunham fun facts

In particular, Dunham is a model for the artist as activist. Birthday : June 22, 1909. In 1963 Dunham was commissioned to choreograph Aida at New York's Metropolitan Opera Company, with Leontyne Price in the title role. Grow your vocab the fun way! 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. The living Dunham tradition has persisted. Born in 1909 during the turn of the century Victorian era in the small town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, she became one of the first dance anthropologists, started the first internationally-touring pre-dominantly black dance company . While trying to help the young people in the community, Dunham was arrested. Some Facts. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) By Halifu Osumare Katherine Dunham was a world famous dancer, choreographer, author, anthropologist, social activist, and humanitarian. 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. Dunham is credited with introducing international audiences to African aesthetics and establishing African dance as a true art form. [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. There, he ran a dry cleaning business in a place mostly occupied by white people. Beda Schmid. While in Haiti, she hasn't only studied Vodun rituals, but also participated and became a mambo, female high priest in the Vodun religion. 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. Unlike other modern dance creators who eschewed classical ballet, Dunham embraced it as a foundation for her technique. Katherine Dunham always had an interest in dance and anthropology so her main goal in life was to combine them. "What Dunham gave modern dance was a coherent lexicon of African and Caribbean styles of movementa flexible torso and spine, articulated pelvis and isolation of the limbs, a polyrhythmic strategy of movingwhich she integrated with techniques of ballet and modern dance." ", Richard Buckle, ballet historian and critic, wrote: "Her company of magnificent dancers and musicians met with the success it has and that herself as explorer, thinker, inventor, organizer, and dancer should have reached a place in the estimation of the world, has done more than a million pamphlets could for the service of her people. Years later, after extensive studies and initiations in Haiti,[21] she became a mambo in the Vodun religion. In 1987 she received the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award, and was also inducted into the. ZURICH Othella Dallas lay on the hardwood . [ ] Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 (age 96) in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, United States. theatrical designers john pratt. [12] 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 2000 Katherine Dunham was named America's irreplaceable Dance Treasure. As a student, she studied under anthropologists such as A.R. In recognition of her stance, President Aristide later awarded her a medal of Haiti's highest honor. Glory Van Scott and Jean-Lon Destin were among other former Dunham dancers who remained her lifelong friends. The recipient of numerous awards, Dunham received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1983 and the National Medal of Arts in 1989. The Dunham company's international tours ended in Vienna in 1960. Dunham and Kitt collaborated again in the 1970s in an Equity Production of the musical Peg, based on the Irish play, Peg O' My Heart. But Dunham, who was Black and held a doctorate in anthropology, had hoped to spur a "cultural awakening on the East Side," she told . 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. She has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."[2]. She is known for her many innovations, one of her most known . . 288 pages, Hardcover. Additionally, she was named one of the most influential African American anthropologists. In 1945, Dunham opened and directed the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre near Times Square in New York City. In the mid-1930s she conducted anthropological research on dance and incorporated her findings into her choreography, blending the rhythms and movements of . Katherine Dunham. Facts About Katherine Dunham. The Katherine Dunham Museum is located at 1005 Pennsylvania Avenue, East St. Louis, Illinois. [18] to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master's degree. Although it was well received by the audience, local censors feared that the revealing costumes and provocative dances might compromise public morals. Dunham's dance career first began in Chicago when she joined the Little Theater Company of Harper Avenue. 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. [5] She had an older brother, Albert Jr., with whom she had a close relationship. In 19341936, Dunham performed as a guest artist with the ballet company of the Chicago Opera. Dancer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, author. She lectured every summer until her death at annual Masters' Seminars in St. Louis, which attracted dance students from around the world. [15] Dunham's relationship with Redfield in particular was highly influential. Here are some interesting facts about Alvin Ailey for you: Facts about Alvin Ailey 1: the popular modern dance Katherine Dunham is the inventor of the Dunham technique and a renowned dancer and choreographer of African-American descent. For almost 30 years she maintained the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, the only self-supported American black dance troupe at that time. Nationality. Name: Mae C. Jemison. The finale to the first act of this show was Shango, a staged interpretation of a Vodun ritual, which became a permanent part of the company's repertory. The incident was widely discussed in the Brazilian press and became a hot political issue. [6] After her mother died, her father left the children with their aunt Lulu on Chicago's South Side. She did this for many reasons. In 1935, Dunham received grants to conduct fieldwork in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Haiti to study Afro-Caribbean dance and other rituals. Her alumni included many future celebrities, such as Eartha Kitt. (She later took a Ph.D. in anthropology.) Katherine Dunham Quotes On Positivity. London: Zed Books, 1999. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200003840/. 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". Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family life, achievements and fun facts about him. "Katherine Dunham: Decolonizing Anthropology Through African American Dance Pedagogy. Katherine Dunham and John Pratt married in 1949 to adopt Marie-Christine, a French 14-month-old baby. Katherine Dunham is credited Her dance troupe in venues around. 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. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student at the University of Chicago. Dunham's background as an anthropologist gave the dances of the opera a new authenticity. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . [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. She did not complete the other requirements for that degree, however, as she realized that her professional calling was performance and choreography. Occupation(s): In 1950, Sol Hurok presented Katherine Dunham and Her Company in a dance revue at the Broadway Theater in New York, with a program composed of some of Dunham's best works. Receiving a post graduate academic fellowship, she went to the Caribbean to study the African diaspora, ethnography and local dance. [36] Her classes are described as a safe haven for many and some of her students even attribute their success in life to the structure and artistry of her technical institution. [14] Redfield, Herskovits, and Sapir's contributions to cultural anthropology, exposed Dunham to topics and ideas that inspired her creatively and professionally. The show created a minor controversy in the press. About that time Dunham met and began to work with John Thomas Pratt, a Canadian who had become one of America's most renowned costume and theatrical set designers. Dunham was active in human rights causes, and in 1992 she staged a 47-day hunger strike to highlight the plight of Haitian refugees. From the beginning of their association, around 1938, Pratt designed the sets and every costume Dunham ever wore. 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). Deren is now considered to be a pioneer of independent American filmmaking. Dunham was exposed to sacred ritual dances performed by people on the islands of Haiti and Jamaica. The Washington Post called her "dancer Katherine the Great." Actress: Star Spangled Rhythm. Much of the literature calls upon researchers to go beyond bureaucratic protocols to protect communities from harm, but rather use their research to benefit communities that they work with. Example. 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. [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. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Katherine Dunham. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [1] The Dunham Technique is still taught today. 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. On graduating with a bachelors degree in anthropology she undertook field studies in the Caribbean and in Brazil. "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology." Her popular books are Island Possessed (1969), Touch of Innocence (1959), Dances of Haiti (1983), Kaiso! She arranged a fundraising cabaret for a Methodist Church, where she did her first public performance when she was 15 years old. However, she did not seriously pursue a career in the profession until she was a student . "Katherine Dunham's Dance as Public Anthropology. THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE. 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. Anthropology News 33, no. 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. Her father was a descendant of slaves from West Africa, and her mother was a mix of French-Canadian and Native-American heritage. 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. 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. As one of her biographers, Joyce Aschenbrenner, wrote: "anthropology became a life-way"[2] for Dunham. [21] This style of participant observation research was not yet common within the discipline of anthropology. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) is revered as one of the great pillars of American dance history. In the 1930s, she did fieldwork in the Caribbean and infused her choreography with the cultures . [16], After her research tour of the Caribbean in 1935, Dunham returned to Chicago in the late spring of 1936. Dunham continued to develop dozens of new productions during this period, and the company met with enthusiastic audiences in every city. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, . [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]. The Black Tradition in American Modern Dance. In 1938 she joined the Federal Theatre Project in Chicago and composed a ballet, LAgYa, based on Caribbean dance. Text:. . Her mother, Fanny June Dunham, who, according to Dunham's memoir, possessed Indian, French Canadian, English and probably African ancestry, died when Dunham was four years old. Fighting, Alive, Have Faith. The committee voted unanimously to award $2,400 (more than $40,000 in today's money) to support her fieldwork in the Caribbean. 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.

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