Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006) was a dancer, choreographer, company director, and educator. She was also one of the earliest dance anthropologists and a social activist. She grew up in Chicago and planned to be a teacher like her older brother. Dunham attended the University of Chicago, where she not only became one of the first African-American women to attend, but also earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and eventually a doctoral degree in anthropology. While earning her initial degrees, she also studied dance under Ruth Page, Mark Turbyfill, and Ludmilla Speranzeva.

In 1931, Dunham founded her first company, the all-Black Ballet Nègre, which disbanded that same year due to a lack of performance opportunities. Two years later, she opened her first school, the Negro Dance Group. In 1934, after several successful guest artist performances with the Chicago Opera, Dunham revived the Ballet Nègre, this time with students from her school. A member of the Rosenwald Foundation attended one the group’s performances and was so impressed that she helped secure funding for Katherine Dunham to pursue any research and study that would help her develop her dance career even further. This allowed her to work with Haitian scholars and with the Maroon people of Jamaica. Dunham would remain abroad from 1935 to 1936, when she received her PhD. She wrote her thesis, “The Dances of Haiti: Their Social Organization, Classification, Form, and Function,” based on her fieldwork in the country.

Dunham in Tropical Review at Martin Beck Theater/ Image by Alfredo Valente

Dunham first became well-known outside of academia in 1939 when she was the opening act for a performance at the Windsor Theater. That performance was so successful that it turned from a one-night event into a 13 weeks run, and then led to her having her own Tropical Revue, with which she toured the US and Canada. Around this time, her company became the Dunham Company.

In 1946, Katherine Dunham established the Katherine Dunham School of Arts and Research, located in New York City. Six years later, she expanded it into the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts. While directing the school, Dunham used the knowledge she gained abroad, as well as her study of ballet and modern dance, to create the now-famous Dunham Technique. It is recognizable by its combination of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and isolations with ballet lines. 

Dunham with Vanoye Aikens/ Image via the New York Public Library Digital Collections

The Dunham Company toured for about 20 years, with performances spanning six continents.  Katherine Dunham continued to impact the arts by being the first African-American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera, writing several books, developing arts centers focused on cultural appreciation and social change, and taking a stand by refusing to perform at segregated venues in the US. She also worked in film and on Broadway. Additionally, her humanitarian work lasted until her late years, and she even staged a 47-day hunger strike in support of Haitian refugees. She was 83 at the time. In addition to the Dunham Technique and the over 100 works Dunham created, her legacy includes a multitude of creative and scholarly publications.

Her awards and honors include multiple honorary doctorates, a Haitian Legion d’Honneur et Mérite, a Dance Division Heritage Award from the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Anthropological Association, and many more.

Sources:

Katherine Dunham Centers for the Arts and Humanities. “About Miss Dunham.” The Katherine Dunham Centers. Accessed May 10, 2023. https://www.kdcah.org/about-miss-dunham.

Osumare, Halifu. “Katherine Dunham Bio.” Institute for Dunham Technique Certification. Accessed May 10, 2023. https://www.dunhamcertification.org/katherine-dunham-bio.

Risner, Vicky J. “Katherine Dunham: A Life in Dance.” The Library of Congress, 2015. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152685/.

The Library of Congress. “Katherine Dunham Timeline  | Articles and Essays  | Selections from the Katherine Dunham Collection  | Digital Collections  | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, 2015. https://www.loc.gov/collections/katherine-dunham/articles-and-essays/katherine-dunham-timeline/.