Katherine Dunham (born 1910)

Boris Chaliapin (1904-1979)
Sanguine and charcoal on illustration board, 1962, T/NPG.89.75
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Mrs. Boris Chaliapin and Irina Chaliapin Murphy, 1989

Katherine Dunham pioneered the use of folk and ethnic dance as a basis for modern theatrical compositions. She built her distinguished career as both a dancer and choreographer, and on her academic research into the role of dance in African, Caribbean, and African American societies. Dunham pursued her interest in the origins of black dance at the University of Chicago where she earned a Ph.D. in anthropology. In 1935 she received her first grant to study ethnic dance in Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti. She especially loved Haiti and returned there many times. Participation in the depression-era Federal Theatre Project in Chicago offered Dunham an invaluable opportunity to experiment with her own folk ballets, such as L'Ag'Ya (1938), a dramatized version of a fighting dance from Martinique. Her company's New York debut in 1940 was an unqualified success, and her compositions were recognized as the first uniquely African American concert dance. Thereafter, Dunham enjoyed a long and varied career, choreographing and starring in numerous concert, theater, and film works. In 1965-66 she served as the technical cultural adviser for the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal. Upon her return, she settled in East St. Louis, where she founded a combined cultural center, anthropological museum, and dance studio. The center offered local residents a curriculum of dance, psychology, anthropology, and languages. Dunham's legacy, however, is greater than any one neighborhood or culture. In her own words, "I would feel I'd failed miserably if I were doing dance confined to race, color, or creed. I don't think that would be art, which has to do with universal truths."