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Dance - Introduction Article By Meechi
As a professional dancer, I find it
sometimes disturbing to view television programs and music
videos that present dance to the world in a mediocre and
arbitrary manner. How many times must we be contented to watch
the same movements set to a different beat or a host of
half-naked women abasing themselves around a bunch of men with
no regard to the art form? Don’t get me wrong, dance is
sexual, but it’s also purposeful. If any one knew that well
enough, it would be Josephine Baker, La Baker as she was
affectionately called by her beloved France. Dance isn’t only a “shake ya
money maker” two-bit act. Dance is rich with history, culture,
integrity, character and revolution. Dance deserves respect.
Dance begs attention. It reflects life. It tells a story. It
tells the truth. There is so much to discuss and learn
about dance. Questions to be answered and journeys to explore.
Ballet, Hip-Hop, African, Modern, Tap, Caribbean, Jazz…whew!
We’ve got work to do. Until next time, keep your heads up, backs
straight and minds open. “Movement
never lies” – Martha Graham Matriarch and Pioneer of Black Dance By Meechi
meechi@excapethematrix.com
To tell you the truth, it takes a whole
lot more than just talent and nothing less than blood, sweat and
tears to make it in the world of professional dance. To perform
dance requires all the fibers of your being that fuel an
insatiable passion to be born into the instant. It isn’t for the
weak-minded or unfocused individual.
- Dancer, Choreographer, Anthropologist, Humanitarian –
meechi@excapethematrix.com
Such a title does not come often or easily, however well deserved by a woman
whose life was the journey of hardship, trails and a great number of triumphs.
Born in a Chicago hospital on June 22, 1909, Katherine Dunham was the daughter
of Alfred Millard Dunham a black man, and her mother Fanny June Dunham of French
Canadian descent. At the tender age of four Katherine lost her mother to an
illness that left her and her older brother in the care of their father who
later remarried. Unfortunately, due to financial hardships, her father was
forced to send her and her brother to live with their Aunt Lulu Dunham, a
beautician. Rising racial tensions forced the family to move once again with two
of Lulu’s cousins’ Clara Dunham and her daughter Irene, an amateur actress. They
resided in an apartment that doubled as a rehearsal space for a black vaudeville
show that they were producing. Katherine’s exposure leads her to study and
admire the performances of singers Bessie Smith, Ethyl Waters, the dance team of
Cole and Johnson, amongst others. Electrified by the dance, she would often
entertain her brother with the movement she had learned. An active student in
school, Katherine added to her list of activities by taking dance classes and
often performing in local fundraising events throughout her community.
In 1924 she enrolled at a Junior college, just before graduating she was
employed as an assistant librarian at the Chicago Hamilton Branch Public
Library, additionally she was accepted into the University of Chicago. After her
many accomplishments, racial reality set in when she was forced to catalog books
and eat lunch away from her white coworkers. Wanting to quit the job, she was
coerced by her brother to endure due to her need for income.
A 1935 Rosenwald Fund Scholarship allowed her to further her studies which lead
to a revolution in American Dance and to an awareness of black culture and
history. Her work began when she traveled to the Caribbean Islands of Jamaica
and Haiti where she apprenticed as an anthropologist. Her first stop in Jamaica
led her to Accompong, a northwestern island inhabited by a group of African
descendents known as the Maroons. Here she came in first hand contact with many
of the African traditions, folktales, oral history and most of all dance culture
of Africa .
She later traveled to Haiti where she was introduced to the Vodun (Vaudun,
Vaudou, Voodoo, Vodou, Vodu’) religion, better known as Voodoo (spirit). Most
people think of Voodoo as black magic, cult worship and superstition, however,
it is a well established and genuine religion that involves communication with
the higher powers and unity with the forces of nature. Voodoo centers on the
Gran Met, the creator of the universe who establishes a number of spirits or
loas to communicate with mankind. Katherine eventually adopted the Voodoo
religion as her own faith and later became a mamba (priestess). She recorded her
experiences of Haiti in her 1947 book The Dances of Haiti.
On her return to America , she established the Katherine Dunham Dance Company,
the first African American Modern dance company and married John Thomas Pratt
who worked as her artistic collaborator and partner of 47 years. Her numerous
choreographic productions led her to work with George Balanchine in Cabin in the
Sky a Broadway musical starring Ethyl Waters. With a myriad of rave reviews, she
appeared in a number of movies and musicals, all the while touring with her
dance company throughout the world. She continued to choreograph for the stage
and Broadway, managed to publish several work of her life experiences, work
abroad as a humanitarian, and eventually opened the Performing Arts Training
Center in East St. Louis , Illinois . She received a host of honors and awards
and made several guest appearances before her death on May 21, 2006.
I’ve only provided you with a glimpse of a life so fully lived, if you’d like to
learn more about this phenomenal woman or even take a dance class involving the
Dunham Technique, check out the following:
Books:
Katherine Dunham- A Touch of Innocence
Kaisa! : Writings by and about Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham: A Dancing Life- Joyce Aschenbrenner
Dance Classes:
Katherine Dunham Center for Arts and Humanities
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Please feel free to email me with your questions, comments or suggestions at
meechi@excapethematrix.com