Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham (* June 24, 1909 in Joliet (Illinois ), † 21 May, 2006 New York) was an American dancer, anthropologist, choreographer, civil rights activist and author.

Life

Katherine Dunham studied dance and anthropology at the University of Chicago, where she was one of the first African-American students. She completed her studies with a PhD in anthropology and dropped their seminal work, the foundations for the academic discipline of Brazilian and Caribbean dance anthropology.

1931 Dunham founded her first dance school in Chicago. A successful career as a dancer, with important roles in musicals, cabarets and operas led to important theater in America and Europe. From 1936 she spent some time in Haiti, where her dance was enriched by Caribbean influences on.

Dunham was an important pioneer of Black Dance. 1937 Dunham founded the dance group Negro Dance Group, which included only "blacks". With their performances in the 1930s and 1940s, she took a stand against racial segregation in American life. Later, the dance group in Katherine Dunham Dance Company has been renamed.

1945 Dunham opened the Dunham School of Dance and Theatre. One of her most famous pupils was Eartha Kitt. In 1963 she became the first African-American choreographer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Among her students as a dance teacher included James Dean and Marlon Brando.

For her work, Dunham has received numerous awards, including ten honorary doctorates. In 1974 she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Your solidarity with the Haitian people and their dedication to civil rights, she documented the beginning of the 1990s, when it began opted for the rights of Haitian refugees. As a 82 -year-old she struggled with a 47 days -long hunger strike to draw attention to the fate of Haiti.