Katherine Dunham Research Paper

Influenced primarily by cultural roots and incredibly opportunity, Dunham had the luxury of studying in the West Indies as well as anthropological study of other cultural style dances. The West Indian experience changed forever the focus of Dunham’s life and caused a profound shift in her career. This initial fieldwork began a lifelong involvement with the people and dance of Haiti. And, importantly for the development of modern dance, her fieldwork began her investigations into a vocabulary of movement that would form the core of the Katherine Dunham Technique. Though many of Dunham’s primary influences lies within her multicultural experiences, Mark Turbyfill also seemed to play a large role in her future dance career, giving her private lessons despite his doubt in the opening of her student company (Kaiso! 187). Katherine Dunham has been list as an influence to “everyone from George Balanchine to Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and Twyla Tharp. American dance, including ballet, modern dance, Hollywood and Broadway, would not be the same without her” (Aschenbrenner 226).

His work was very emotional yet spiritual, portraying real life hardships. He was known for his modern dance, smooth jazz and ballet.   Based on his education, his style mirrored a mixture Grahams steps, Dunham’s polyrhythmic dance styles and ballet. His choreography was fast and energetic.   His work demonstrated arm and leg extensions and back arches.

Alvin Ailey was an accomplished dancer and choreographer whose African-American heritage influenced his works in the 20th century. His successful dance career has gained international recognition and acclaim thus rendering a significant legacy. Ailey’s background as a dancer and choreographer had many strong influences from social, cultural, economic and political aspects during his early life. His African-American heritage has greatly influenced his works. Alvin was the founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1958-), galvanized and stabilized an African American presence in theatrical dance. An outstanding performer, choreographer, company director, and mentor to scores of dance artists, Ailey oversaw the growth of his small, pick-up group of seven dancers into a large, carefully managed, internationally-renowned enterprise including several ensembles of dancers and a thriving school in New York City housed in the largest building devoted to dance in the United States. Along the way, Ailey changed the landscape of modern dance by developing new audiences for its performance through a consistent combination of exceptional artistry and wellcoordinated community outreach programs. In all, Ailey invigorated the art of dance with his distinctive creative imagination, his “blood memories” of cultural formations he witnessed as a child-- including the jook joint and the black church --and the strong survivalist ethic he learned as an African American man born in the

Kate Kimball is an award-winning fiction author who has worked hard to be in the position she is in now. Despite currently struggling with her health, she has continued to peruse her English PhD in Creative Writing here at Florida State University. Born in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah Kimball is surprised to find herself over 2,000 miles away now studying in the sunshine state. FSU offers one of the top creative writing programs that currently is ranked top 5 in the nation according to The Atlantic Monthly. Kimball was excited to be accepted into the accredited program after earning her bachelor’s from the University of Utah and masters at Virginia Tech. Kimball has always loved writing and says, “Creative writing allows you to write about

Growing up Katherine Dunham never thought about dance. Dunham was one of the first African-American women to attend the University of Chicago and planned to earn a degree and become a working woman, however while she was attending university Dunham began taking classes with Ludmilla Speranza, a former dancer of the Moscow Theatre, and so her love affair with dance began.

Do you know who the first African American principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre is? She defies physics when you watch her on stage with awe-inspiring routines. Misty Copeland is unlike any other ballerina in the world. While dancing at The American Ballet Theatre, she had the lead role in Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and The Firebird (McCann, 185). She is the face of Dannon, Estée Lauder, and Under Armour. Misty was on the cover of Time magazine as one of The Top Most Influential People of 2015 (McCann, 187). She got her first formal dance training at the age of 13- most dancers begin at the age of three or four. However, despite the late start into the sport, many said she was a “natural” or a “prodigy” (Copeland-

Create - Katherine Dunham was a great dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, social worker, activist, and author. She created many ballet companies, schools for African American people, and she created the Dunham technique. She also created a couple autobiographies in her life such as A Touch of Innocence which describes her life when she was 18 years old. She fought against social injustice because she was outraged when she saw signs such as “colored only.” Katherine Dunham

Modern dance was created as a rebellion against the prevalent dance forms of the time, ballet and Vaudeville. It is a form of theatrical dance, known for its continual fusion of non-western style and ideas, which allows for a fresh source of movement inspiration. Choreographers rejected what they classified as the inflexible and imperialistic nature of ballet, and in order to be taken seriously as artists rather than simple entertainers they created a new art form. Artists Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis are considered to be the pioneers of modern dance in America. Dance is a social institution, recognized as being an important function in civilized life. The following essay will focus on the theory and work of artist Isadora Duncan, while incorporating lecture notes and articles of both authors Sally Bane and Ann Daly to explain the historical situations that culminated in the development of early modern dance. Arising from the 20th century modern dance was a form of cultural collaboration and exploration, as well as a resistance to colonial repression. Modern dance allowed for the experimentation of the new as well as a freer form of dance movement. Choreographers drew on exotic sources, and example of this illustrated in the work of Isadora Duncan with her use of Greek culture as a movement inspiration. Artists act as both the choreographer and performer creating their own conventions, or dance language.

Katherine Dunham not only significantly contributed to the rise of modern dance, but she was also a pioneer in the field of dance anthropology; and a staunch political and social activist. Dunham was born in Chicago, Illinois and primarily raised in nearby Joliet, Illinois. Dunham first became interested in dance when she was a teenager and trained with Ludmilla Speranzeva, formerly of the Moscow Theatre, Vera Mirova, Mark Turbyfill and Ruth Page in Chicago before and during her college education. She even started her own private dance school, Ballet Négre, in 1930, while at the University of Chicago where she first began to cultivate her own technique that would change modern dance.

Although she was primarily trained in modern, her research on dance traditions within the African-American community were an important contribution to jazz dance. She opened several dance schools throughout her career. One of them, the Dunham School of Dance and Theatre, offered classes in not only dance, but also subjects such as eukinetics, dance notation, psychology, languages, and

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton “was born on October 26, 1947, at Edgewater Hospital in Chicago, Illinois”. She was raised in a family that was United Methodist. Rodham's family first lived in Chicago, Illinois in which her father Hugh Rodham made a small successful textile business. As for her mother, she was a homemaker. Her father was of English and Welsh descent while her mother was “from Dutch, English, French Canadian, Scottish and Welsh Descent”.

Martha was fourteen when her parents returned from a trip out West saying they bought a house in Santa Barbara, California. Santa Barbara was for Martha A place of light and sun and air completely different from the heavy darkness of the soot filled air of Pennsylvania. It was in California where Martha discovered Modern Dance. In 1911 Martha was walking down the main street in Santa Barbara with her Mother and Father when she saw a poster advertising a dance performance by Miss Ruth St. Denise. A few weeks later Martha was in Los Angeles with her Father at the Mason Opera House and as the curtains opened and Miss Ruth St. Denis entered the stage and began to dance Martha’s fate was sealed she knew she would be a dancer. 5 years later Martha

Dunham formed a dance company in 1930 called Ballet Negre, Her dance company was formed around modern dance and with that reflecting a wide variety of cultures in her dances. Dunham also received a fellowship to travel the Caribbean and study African based dances. She began touring in the 1940s around the United States and Mexico. Dunham was a leader of ethno choreography. ‘Tropics’ and ‘Le Jazz Hot were supposed to be one night events that Dunham had choreographed, but because of the high demand she continued to show this for up to 13 weeks, it was a hit in the United States and Canada. This made her very well known and she

If Clare Kendry’s original dream of passing as a white woman to climb the social ladder wasn't risky enough, her attempts to revisit the black community and to rekindle old friendships would inevitably place her in mortal peril. Passing as white was risky no matter what the occasion and the conditions in which Clare did it only heightened the risk. Her husband, John Bellew, was a staunch racist who utterly loathed the her secret race. As John tells Irene while at a tea party, “You got me wrong there, Mrs. Redfield. Nothing like that at all. I don’t dislike them, I hate them. And so does Nig, for all she’s trying to turn into one. She wouldn’t have a nigger maid around her for love nor money.” (p. 30) Not only does he John hate black people,

Dance is an ever evolving form of art; in much the same way that one can categorize and differentiate between eras and styles of architecture one can also do so with dance. These eras at times have sharp delineations separating them from their antecedents, other times the distinction is far more subtle. Traditional forms of dance were challenged by choreographers attempting to expand the breadth and increase the depth of performance; preeminent among such visionaries was Seattle born dancer and choreographer Mark Morris. Mark Morris' began as one of the millions of hopeful individuals attempting to simply make a career in dance; he not only succeeded but managed to have a lasting effect on the entire landscape of dance.