African American Dance: Katherine Dunham School Of Dance

Katherine Dunham, born on June 22, 1909 was an African American dancer. Her mother Fanny June Dunham died when she became sick and her father Albert Dunham Sr., left to work as a salesman. Dunham and her older brother Albert Jr., were raised by their loving aunt Lulu on the ghetto side of Chicago. At four years old, Dunham would go to the salon, her aunt’s workplace, and would always remember how much her mother loved music. It was not long before that when Katherine noticed how people would look at her aunt because of the color of her skin. It was why Lulu lost her job and had to move in with other relatives as her aunt could not afford their little apartment anymore. They moved several times with Dunham family members, where Katherine discovered

The school was opened to everyone; race did not matter. The school taught different types of dances and classes. The name of the school was changed to the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts. This is also where she taught what became to be known as the Dunham technique. (O’Conner 62-3) “…She is widely considered the founder of black concert dance in the United States and also a major influence on the idioms of both modern and jazz dance” (Das 1). There were Dunham Technique seminars where for example she taught her dance students how to move their body like a snake. While the dancers would warm up, Dunham would teach them the cultural history behind her technique such as the isolation technique as well as the difference behind techniques and dance movements. (Dunham

She never lost her touch with Haiti, where she was most inspired by to follow her dreams. Katherine explored and brought African dance to life and left her legacy behind. The Katherine Dunham Centers for the Arts and Humanities preserved “…Katherine Dunham’s legacy and fulfill her dream of showing the people of East St. Louis that “there is a larger world out there’” (O’Conner 99). Dunham’s dream came true because the “PATC has produced outstanding actors, dancers, percussionists, and a traveling company from among the native youngsters of East Saint Louis” (Dunham 558). Dunham’s Dynamic Museum also located in East Saint Louis was built most importantly to continue fighting racism by showing the importance and dignity of dark skinned people, as her entire life she saw the difference in treatment between her, a light skin, and a dark skinned person. (Dunham 559) “In comprehending Miss Dunham, then, one has to think not just of dance, not just of drums, not just of primitive rhythms, but of a totem-woman of African spirituality and cultural wealth” (Dunham 559). Katherine Dunham died on May 21, 2006. (Katherine) “As artist, educator, anthropologist, and activist, Katherine Dunham transformed the field of the twentieth-century dance” (Das