article about Katherine Dunham

This is an article about Katherine Dunham. The article talks about her life, Dance Anthropology, Dunham Technique, and her career. Also, the website contains some video about describing several Haitian Dances. Such as Demonstration of traditional Haitian "Mahi" and Demonstration of traditional Haitian "Pétro".

here is the link to the website

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200152685/default.html

this is an video about her Dunham and HaiTi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag_oPScqjuo

Although Katherine Dunham is less famous as other dancer and choreographer like Martha Graham. However, she is the best known for combining African American, Caribbean, African movement styles and culture into her ballets.

here is another link about How Katherine Dunham Revealed Black Dance to the World

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/23/arts/dance/23appr.html

dance career

While at the University, Dunham met choreographer Ruth Page and ballet dancer Mark Turbyfill at the playhouse, both of them are the member of the Chicago Opera Company. They opened a dance studio together, calling their students the "Ballet Negre,” as black dancers.

Dunham returned to Chicago and organized a black dance by black artists specifically for African-American dance companies. Dunham moved to New York City in 1939, she became director of the New York labor stage. Katherine Dunham Dance Company appeared on Broadway, beginning a successful tour. Dunham ran her dance company with no government funding, so she earned extra money by appeared in Hollywood movies.

In 1945, Dunham opened the Dunham School of Dance and Theater in Manhattan. Her dance school offer dance, drama, performing arts, humanities, cultural studies and Caribbean studies etc. 

Katherine Dunham and Her Company Town Square Dance Sequence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJVWEY_UqU0

dance in Martissant,Haiti(1962)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyfGJMr4bX8

Katherine Dunham Technique

Dunham technique includes in continuous motion polyrhythmic dance style integration. Katherine Dunham was the first to combine the Caribbean and African culture individualistic dance moves with European-style ballet. Her unique social and cultural rituals including access to public performances further integration anthropological study of dance realm of art.

more information about Dunham technique:

http://www.dancespirit.com/uncategorized/All_You_Need_to_Know_About_Dunham_Technique/



short video for Dunham technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH5MayOVo4s

Anthropologist

A principle of cultural anthropologists is to study, eat their food, speak their language, and experience their lifestyle. They realize that they cannot simply observe it completely understand another culture; they have to go through it.

Katherine Dunham received a bachelor's and master's degree in social anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1936, she received a Rosenwald travel scholarships, which provide an opportunity for her to visits and further African ritual dance of her nine-month study in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique Nick and Haiti. During her visit to Haiti, she found a connection to the people and cultures of the region. Dunham became so fascinated with this area, in 1937, she made the focus of her master's thesis indigenous dance movements and the people, "Haiti's dance: their social organization, classification, form and function," the thesis It was first published and translated into Spanish in 1947, France in 1950, and finally published in the United States in 1983. Dunham published a second book in 1969, Island Possessed, a more detailed anthropological view of her association with Haiti.

http://collections.mohistory.org/search/?text=dunham&q=custom_search

https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/photo.asp

KATHERINE DUNHAM BIOGRAPHY (1909–2006)

Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006), American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Dunham has changed the status of black dancers, sublimate them from mere performer for artists.

Dunham was born in Chicago. In high school, she suddenly had a keen interest dance more. In 1931, she founded a dance school to do her qualifications have to pay tuition at the University of Chicago. In school, she has received master and doctor degree in anthropology. In 1936, she traveled to the Caribbean, began the 18-month study of ethnic dances. In 1940, she organized the first all-black ensembles composed of actors, performing "tropical and jazz hot", the program is basically her academic research as the basis for creating a small dance. Dunham combined the Caribbean Islands’ black dance with Ballet to form her unique stage style, its artistic achievements highly praised critics. In 1943, she led the dance troupe performed a successful tour. In 1945, Dunham dance school was established in New York, and later, many of the school's students have become a famous actor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W23MYjH92co

http://kdcah.org/katherine-dunham-biography/