Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham is known as of the most influential African American individuals, when it come down to the art of African Dance. Her unprecedented blend of cultural anthropology with the artistic genre of dance in the eartly 1930's produced ground breaking forms of movement in the United states. Dunham established African-American dance as an art in its own. Her professionalism lead the way for many other notable African dancers like Alivin Ailey and Aurthur Mitchell (Beckford, 76). Dunham lived a middle class life in Glen Ellyn, Illionois, when later a tradject event tore the family apart; her mother died and left her brother Albert Jr. and herself to their father Albert Dunham Sr.. Later fiancial obligations lead Albert Sr. to sell the family's home and accept a job as a travelling salesman. Dunham and her older brother Albert lived with their aunt Lulu, and then later stayed with their first cousin Clara Dunham, and her seventeen year old daughter. Both of the were actresses, who lived in an apartment that was also used as a rehearsal studio for black vaudeville shows, which they were producing. At that young age she was influenced by these talented women in her family and becam
(Dominy, 46) The Caribbean nations of Haiti and Jamica provided Dunham with a new insight for new dance moves. Most importantly, "Katherine Dunham is a true humanist who takes seriously the inherent worth of the individual, no matter what class or culture that individual comes from. Later she expanded the programs to include senior citizens (Beckford, 77). Her interest in dance arose more, started when she began taking dance classes and performed in several productions at the Cube Theathere. Louis, an area she knew from her visiting professorships at Southern Illinois University in the 1960s, Dunham decided to take action. (Beckford 30) Dunham didn't give up She continued to enjoy her profession, and continued to study with her teachers; Madame Ludmilla Speranzeva whose mentoring led Dunham to dance her first leading part in Page's "La Guiablesse" in 1933. Then in 1977 she opened the Katherine Dunham Museum and Children's Workshop to house her collections of artifacts from her travels and research, as well as archival material from her personal life and professional career. They were supplemented by courses in humanities, philosophy, languages, aesthetics, drama, and speech. That same year Dunham directed the reconstruction of several of her works by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Another thing she did that she contributed that had a strong impact in the community was that she helped the people who were struggling in poverty. (Dunham, 60) Dunham later returned to the States in 1936, bringing with her many ideas for exciting chereography from the islands which she used in her new appointments as dance director for the Negro Federal Theatre Project in 1938 and the NY Labor Stage in 1939. Dunham presents the fact that her life's work is most dedicated to helping people understand and know each other and know themselves. In recent years, Dunham has received numerous awards acknowledging her contributions. When short of money between engagements, Dunham and her troupe played in elegant nightclubs, such as Ciro's in Los Angeles. She found the lecture facinating because the lecturer mentioed that the dancing styles of today had originated in Africa.
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Acceptance Essays
