Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham — Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Discover the life of Katherine Dunham — American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and activist. Explore her groundbreaking contributions to modern dance, her Dunham Technique, her legacy, and inspiring quotes.

Introduction

Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an extraordinary American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, educator, and social activist.

She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th-century dance, known for bridging African, Caribbean, and African American movement traditions with modern dance, and for founding the Dunham Technique, a codified training method.

Beyond dance, Dunham was an anthropologist who conducted fieldwork in the Caribbean, especially in Haiti, Martinique, Trinidad, and Jamaica, studying African diasporic dance, ritual, and cultural retention.

Her life and work remain deeply inspiring for dancers, scholars, and those committed to social justice, culture, and creative expression.

Early Life and Family

Katherine Dunham was born on June 22, 1909 in a Chicago hospital, though her family lived in nearby Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

Her father, Albert Millard Dunham Sr., was African American; her mother, Fanny June Dunham, had French Canadian, Indian, and possibly African ancestry.

Tragically, her mother died when Katherine was about four years old. After her mother’s death, Katherine and her brother Albert Jr. were cared for by relatives before their father remarried and reestablished the household.

During her youth, Dunham showed both intellectual curiosity and artistic leanings. She published a short story titled “Come Back to Arizona” when she was 12.

In high school, she was active in sports and student life, and she began exploring dance.

She graduated from Joliet Central High School in 1928.

Youth and Education / Anthropology

After high school, Dunham enrolled in Joliet Junior College (for a short period) before moving to Chicago to join her brother.

She entered the University of Chicago around 1929, majoring in anthropology while also studying dance.

At Chicago, she studied under prominent anthropologists (such as Melville Herskovits) and engaged in interdisciplinary work combining culture, ritual, dance, and movement.

As part of her academic ambition, she secured a fellowship (from e.g. Rosenwald Foundation) to conduct fieldwork in the Caribbean.

Her master’s thesis (submitted to the University of Chicago) was titled The Dances of Haiti: A Study of Their Material Aspect, Organization, Form, and Function.

However, she never completed all the academic requirements for her master’s degree; she chose to focus on her creative and performance work instead.

In Dunham’s own words, anthropology remained a foundational influence:

“In anthropology I learned how to feel about myself in relation to other people … You can’t learn about dances until you learn about people.”

Her anthropological insight allowed her to approach dance not just as performance, but as cultural embodiment, ritual, and expression.

Career and Achievements

Dance, Choreography & Company

From her early years, Dunham trained in ballet and modern dance. She studied under Ludmilla Speranzeva, Ruth Page, and others in Chicago.

In 1931, she founded Ballets Nègres, one of the first all-Black ballet companies in the U.S.

Later she began Negro Dance Group (around 1933), teaching young Black dancers about movement rooted in African and Caribbean traditions.

Between 1934 and 1936, Dunham spent months in the Caribbean doing ethnographic fieldwork (Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti), studying ritual, dance, music, and cultural practices.

This research strongly influenced her choreographic vocabulary: she integrated African-derived movement, isolations, polyrhythms, groundedness, and Caribbean dance idioms into modern dance.

In 1939, her company staged Tropics and Le Hot Jazz, initially for one Sunday performance, but it ran for multiple weeks due to success.

She also worked on Broadway: Cabin in the Sky (with Balanchine) in 1940 featured Dunham’s company and Dunham herself in a role.

Over the years, she choreographed over 90 dances.

She led the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which for almost 30 years toured domestically and internationally.

Her company appeared in films (e.g. Casbah, 1948) and in television specials.

In 1963, she was the first African American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera (for Aida) in New York.

Her international tours often faced racial and logistical challenges.

By 1967, Dunham officially retired her company’s touring operations.

Beyond performance, she choreographed works such as Treemonisha (Scott Joplin’s opera) posthumously in collaboration with institutions like Morehouse College.

Educator, School & Technique

In 1945, she founded the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre in New York City, later chartered as the Katherine Dunham School of Cultural Arts.

Her curriculum combined dance, theatre, cultural studies, Caribbean research, and performance training.

Many of her students became notable artists (e.g. Eartha Kitt).

She developed the Dunham Technique, a codified method that draws from African and Afro-Caribbean dance, emphasizing rhythm, torso articulation, isolations, grounded movement, and fluid integration with ballet/modern forms.

Her technique influenced generations of dancers; many consider it foundational to Afro-Caribbean modern dance in the U.S.

In East St. Louis, Illinois, Dunham later opened the Performing Arts Training Center (PATC) to use art as a tool for community uplift, especially in times of urban distress and racial inequality.

She also established the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities to preserve Haitian and African instruments, artifacts, and her personal collection.

Even after her formal retirement, she continued teaching summer seminars worldwide and retained influence in dance education.

Social Activism & Cultural Principles

Dunham was not only an artist but a staunch advocate for racial justice, cultural dignity, and representation:

• On tour in the segregated United States, she refused to perform in theaters that barred Black patrons. She once told an all-white audience in Louisville she would not return under segregated seating.

• She declined a lucrative Hollywood contract when asked to dismiss darker-skinned company members.

• In 1957, she spent a year in Kyoto, Japan to recover and write her memoirs.

• She was appointed a cultural advisor to Senegal by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, helping develop the Senegalese National Ballet and support the first Pan-African World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar.

• During the civil rights era and periods of social unrest, she engaged in community work, arts outreach, and activism tying culture and social progress together.

Her activism, like her art, was deeply rooted in the belief that cultural heritage and self-respect empower communities.

Historical & Cultural Context

Dunham’s career spanned eras of segregation, Jim Crow, the Great Depression, the civil rights movement, and postcolonial transitions in the Caribbean and Africa. She emerged at a moment when African American culture was striving for recognition and respect amid widespread racial discrimination.

Her integration of anthropology and dance came at a time when Western scholarship often exoticized or marginalized African and Caribbean traditions. Dunham sought to reclaim those traditions on her own terms—respectfully and with dignity—rather than through outsider gaze.

Her work also prefigured ideas of cultural hybridity, diaspora studies, and decolonizing arts practice. In doing so, she challenged dominant narratives about "high art" versus "folk/ethnic dance," asserting that African diasporic movement forms were worthy of concert stage expression.

In the context of American modern dance (with figures like Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Lester Horton), Dunham added a powerful voice of African-inspired movement. Her company was one of the rare Black-owned and operated dance troupes in that era.

Her educational and community-oriented institutions also came at times of racial inequity in urban America—her PATC in East St. Louis, for instance, addressed the social dislocation caused by deindustrialization and racial segregation.

Legacy and Influence

Katherine Dunham’s legacy is vast and enduring:

• Foundational influence in modern dance: Many scholars argue that no American Black dancer has escaped the influence of Dunham Technique unless working strictly in classical ballet.

• Pioneer of dance anthropology (ethnochoreology): She is often credited with helping create or popularize the idea that dance can be studied as culture, movement as ritual, and that performers can be researchers.

• Cultural bridge-builder: She brought awareness of African diasporic aesthetics to mainstream audiences, integrating tradition with modernity.

• Role model for Black women artists and scholars: She demonstrated that one could be both rigorous in scholarship and fearless in artistic innovation.

• Institution-builder: Her schools, centers, and outreach projects continue in various forms to preserve her methods and cultural archives.

• Recognition and Honors: Over her lifetime, she received many awards and honors:

  • More than a dozen honorary doctorates

  • Kennedy Center Honors (1983)

  • National Medal of Arts

  • Heritage Award from the National Dance Association, American Anthropological Association Distinguished Service Award, and other major dance honors.

Her published writings include A Touch of Innocence: Memoirs of Childhood, Island Possessed, Kasamance: A Fantasy, and various anthropological essays.

Personality and Qualities

From interviews, memoirs, and observations, the following traits emerge:

• Curious and interdisciplinary — She did not confine herself solely to performance; her anthropological mind infused her choreography.

• Courageous and principled — She resisted racism, refused to compromise her company members, and used her art for social justice.

• Innovative — She crafted new movement vocabularies, techniques, and forms rooted in lived cultural traditions.

• Committed to community — She invested in community arts, youth programs, and outreach in struggling neighborhoods.

• Resilient and enduring — Her work remained relevant even late in life; she continued teaching, preserving, and advocating.

• Dignified and culturally grounded — Her identity and her art affirmed her heritage; she carried cultural memory into performance.

Her life shows how art, scholarship, activism, and identity can be powerfully interwoven.

Famous Quotes of Katherine Dunham

Here are several notable quotes, reflecting her views on dance, identity, creativity, and purpose:

“Black people should have recognition for themselves and their backgrounds and their relationships with other people in the world and thus lose some of their alienation.” “Without my husband's costumes I wouldn't have known how to accomplish what I saw in my own mind's eyes for choreography.” “In dance, we find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” “Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out.” “I used to want the words ‘She tried’ on my tombstone. Now I want ‘She did it.’”

These lines resonate with her conviction that art is inseparable from purpose, identity, and self-expression.

Lessons from Katherine Dunham

From Dunham’s life and legacy, here are some key lessons:

1. Integrate scholarship and creativity — Her work shows that research can deepen art, and artistry can enrich ethnography.

2. Honor cultural roots while innovating — She revitalized African diasporic movement in new, concert-stage forms.

3. Stand firm on principles — She refused to compromise dignity or inclusion, even when faced with commercial pressure.

4. Use art for social impact — She believed in uplifting communities, embedding arts in social justice.

5. Build institutions, not just performances — Her schools, techniques, and archives ensured continuity beyond her lifetime.

6. Keep evolving — Even in later years, she continued learning, teaching, and creating.

Conclusion

Katherine Dunham’s life is a powerful testament to what it means to be an artist-scholar-activist. She transformed modern dance by rooting it in Afro-Caribbean cultural memory, pioneered dance anthropology, and used her art as a vehicle for justice, dignity, and community uplift.

Her influence lives on—in studios that teach Dunham Technique, in dancers citing her as inspiration, and in the ongoing conversation about culture, identity, and artistic integrity.