Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora

by Joanna Dee Das

One of the most important dance artists of the twentieth century, dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) created works that thrilled audiences the world over. As an African American woman, she broke barriers of race and gender, most notably as the founder of an important dance company that toured the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia for several decades. Through both her company and her schools, she influenced generations of performers for years to come, from Alvin Ailey to Marlon Brando to Eartha Kitt. Dunham was also one of the first choreographers to conduct anthropological research about dance and translate her findings for the theatrical stage.

Katherine Dance and the African Diaspora makes the argument that Dunham was more than a dancer-she was an intellectual and activist committed to using dance to fight for racial justice. Dunham saw dance as a tool of liberation, as a way for people of African descent to reclaim their history and forge a new future. She put her theories into motion not only through performance, but also through education, scholarship, travel, and choices about her own life.

Author Joanna Dee Das examines how Dunham struggled to balance artistic dreams, personal desires, economic needs, and political commitments in the face of racism and sexism. The book analyzes Dunham's multiple spheres of engagement, assessing her dance performances as a form of black feminist protest while also presenting new material about her schools in New York and East St. Louis, her work in Haiti, and her network of interlocutors that included figures as diverse as ballet choreographer George Balanchine and Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor. It traces Dunham's influence over the course of several decades from the New Negro Movement of the 1920s to the Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and beyond.

By drawing on a vast, never-utilized trove of archival materials along with oral histories, choreographic analysis, and embodied research, Katherine Dance and the African Diaspora offers new insight about how this remarkable woman built political solidarity through the arts.

Genres: History, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

Published June 20, 2017

Reviews

[James Steichen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in modern dance, politics, African American history, or you are just an admirer of Katherine Dunham this book is a must read. The author explains Dunham’s development as an artist and how her creative work was always intensely political, and that it is impossible to separate these two aspects of her life. The book also reveals new and surprising facts about Dunham’s life based on never-before-seen archival findings.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books written on Dunham, touching on her biography but also exploring in depth her career and influence as an anthropologist of dance. I recommend this to anyone interested in her or in the field of research.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much useful and amazing research went into this book and it’s a WONDERFUL resource. A must read for dancers who are involved in modern/jazz/interested in race in dance history! I only gave 4 stars because it’s very detailed and matter of the fact that it leads to be slightly boring and hard to read, but it’s well worth it!

[Mills College Library]

792.8092 D2293 2017