Black Dance History
Katherine Dunham’s Rite of Passage
Revealing black dance to the world
I used to want the words ‘She tried’ on my tombstone. Now I want ‘She did it.’ — Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham passed away in May 2006 at the age of 96 and quite rightly ‘did it’ for black dancers of the day, who deserved equal dignity and respect and should not be confined to ‘shake’ and ‘tap’ dance.
A truly inspirational dancer reaching the height of her career through the 1940s to the 50s Katherine Dunham was dubbed the matriarch and queen mother of black dance. With a long career and choreographing over ninety dances, the author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist also created the ‘Dunham’ technique.
In particular, Katherine Dunham’s dance programme, performed April 19, 1943, served to emphasise how she was a truly innovative choreographer of her time. The titles of her dances reflected her outward expression of heritage, religion and spirituality, in contrast to the strong political, workers rights, themes of the day.
In contrast, Dunham’s programme seemed to reflect a journey through life. It opened with ‘Haitian Ceremonial Dances’ which began the passage in the spring with semi-ritualistic fertility rites, moved through conflict with a darker force, in the second section and finished with the possession of an evil spirit.
Dunham seemed to realise that her audience may have found this first section hard to digest and so moved to a slightly lighter second section, with a Rumba Suite. This also reiterates her innovative approach, as much consideration had been applied to the structure of the programme, as to the dances themselves.
Dunham’s third section reinforced her belief that dance should embody expression and her cultural sense of community with ‘Rites De Passage’. The journey continued through the programme, travelling to the tropics, then Brazil with an Indian rhythm influence and returned to her roots with Plantation Dances.
Other works of the time were using restrictive music to emphasise their explicit political themes. However, Dunham’s programme showed a variety of rhythm, percussion and tempo from rumba to blues.
The strong themes of culture, religion, life’s voyage and passion, reflect how she strove to overcome the stereotypical illusion of the black dancer. Although other choreographers were looking to life and culture for their influence, their political themes were very much at the forefront.
Dunham’s only political message was that African dance was far richer than previously believed and black dancers deserved dignity and respect and should not be confined to ‘shake’ and ‘tap’ dance.
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. — Katherine Dunham
Dunham’s dance troupe toured for over 20 years and performed to audiences all over the world, as well as Broadway, her performances were said to be dynamic and highly theatrical. She had a major influence on many of the great performers such as Alvin Ailey, Eartha Kitt and Walter Nicks, who were members of her company.
Throughout her distinguished career, Dunham earned numerous honorary doctorates, awards and honors. She was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Plaque d’Honneur Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce Award, and a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. — Thehistorymakers.org
Article written by Drama Llama | Educator | Writer | Academic | Consultant
