Katherine Dunham previous page
Katherine Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist noted for her innovative interpretations of ritualistic and ethnic dances.
Often considered the grande dame of African American dance, Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She began her formal study of dance in Chicago at age nineteen, where she trained with Mark Turbyfill, Ruth Page, and Ludmilla Speranzeva while also studying anthropology at the University of Chicago.
In 1935-1936, with support from the Rosenwald Foundation, she spent ten months investigating the dance cultures of the Caribbean. Based on the rhythms and movements she learned during her research, Dunham developed a groundbreaking new aesthetic and technique that also incorporated elements of ballet and modern dance. Her 1940 show at the Windsor Theatre in New York, Tropics and Le Jazz “Hot”, led to a featured role in the 1940 Broadway hit Cabin in the Sky, for which she also contributed choreography. From the 1940s to the 1960s, her company toured the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Australia, introducing global audiences to her creative interpretation of African diasporic culture.
In the meantime, she established a school in New York City, where the dissemination of her Dunham Technique greatly influenced modern and jazz dance, and a permanent residence in Haiti. Always committed to education and activism, she did not rest when the company finished touring in the early 1960s. Instead, she founded the Performing Arts Training Center (affiliated with Southern Illinois University) in East St. Louis and spent much of the next forty years of her life dedicated to the youth of that city.
