Katherine Dunham

choreographer, actress, writer, and anthropologist.

They would take Katherine to shows at local theaters, where she would see black

vaudeville performers who could sing and dance. Her formal training in dance did not begin until her late teens. In 1935, she was awarded a fellowship to do field research in

anthropology and dance. While at the university she

began to study and research African culture. Dunham stayed with her two

cousins who were actresses and lived in an apartment that was used for rehearsal space. Combining her two interest, she linked the function and form of

Caribbean dance and ritual to their African heritage.

Katherine Dunham was born June 22, 1909 near Chicago, Illinois. She began

taking private lessons in college at the University of Chicago. Dunham became fascinated with the

importance and the survival of African culture and ritual in understanding African

American culture. This is where Dunhams love for the

stage began. Her passion led her to the islands of

Jamaica Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti, and Martinique. k companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance

Theater and Dance Theater of Harlem. Her mother died

shortly after and her father was a traveling salesman.