07/23/2020
Katherine Dunham revolutionized American dance in the 1930's by going to the roots of Black dance and rituals and incorporating them into new forms of choreography that speak to all. She studied African dance and ethnography in the Caribbean, and from her experiences there, she grew to be a pioneer in the use of folk and culturally-informed choreography and one of the founders of the anthropological dance movement.
At the age of 21, Dunham formed a group called Ballets Négres, one of the first Black ballet companies in the United States. After a single, well-received performance in 1931, the group was disbanded. Encouraged to focus on modern dance instead of ballet, Dunham opened her first dance school in 1933, calling it the Negro Dance Group. It was a venue for Dunham to teach young Black dancers about their African heritage through dance.
Later on, the Katherine Dunham Company toured throughout North America in the mid 1940s, also performing in the racially segregated south. Dunham refused to hold a show in one theater after finding out that the city's Black residents had not been allowed to buy tickets for the performance.
Katherine Dunham was a major pioneer in Black theatrical dance. By introducing authentic African dance movements to her company and audiences, Dunham, perhaps more than any other choreographer of the time, exploded the possibilities of modern dance expression to make room for Blackness.
Not only did Dunham shed light on the cultural value of Black dance, but she also brought vital change to American society’s perspective of what dance and dancers could be.
