[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E21-E22]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO MS. KATHERINE DUNHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to commemorate Katherine 
Dunham for her extraordinary contributions to dance, culture, history 
and the world. Ms. Dunham has been called the ``Matriarch of black 
dance.'' Her unprecedented blend of cultural anthropology with the 
artistic genre of dance in the early 1930's, produced groundbreaking 
forms of movement, and in the United States, established black dance as 
an art form in its own right. Global awareness of folk dance in Haiti 
can be chiefly attributed to the work of Katherine Dunham.
  It is important to share the history of this amazing woman. After 
various stays in Jamaica, Martinique, and Trinidad, Ms. Dunham arrived 
in Haiti in 1935. She chose to visit the Caribbean in order to study 
the intensity, depth and the African influence of the Caribbean dance 
culture. The Caribbean nations of Haiti and Jamaica provided Dunham 
with new insights, as the villagers began to trust her and invited her 
to join in some of their most sacred dance rituals. She would 
ultimately claim Haiti as her second home and even adopt their Vodum 
(or Voodoo) religion. She later chronicled much of her time spent in 
Haiti in a book entitled, Island Possessed. Shortly after leaving Haiti 
she completed a thesis on the dances of Haiti, entitled Las Danzi de 
Haiti. In 1983, the Center for Afro-American Studies at UCLA published 
a revised version, incorporating a long campaign of subsequent 
research. It was through her dance compositions that Ms. Dunham 
introduced the Haitian based vocabulary of movement to the world. This 
form of dance later became known as the Dunham technique.
  Ms. Dunham' formal career begin in 1931, when the ``First Negro Dance 
Recital in America'' was presented in New York. At the time she was a 
21 year old University of Chicago student who also served as the 
group's choreographer, teacher and chief dancer. The multitude of roles 
that she played in this initial endeavor were indicative of her great 
career which would span the next 50 years. In 1935, Ms. Dunham was 
given the opportunity to study both academic and practical aspects of 
dance when she received a Rosenwald fellowship which enabled her to 
undertake an anthropological study of dance in the Caribbean. As a 
result of her research, Ms. Dunham determined that African influences 
dominated three aspects of Black folk dance. These include: the 
incorporation of African religious dance into new ritual behaviors; the 
secularization of the African religious dance; and the interaction of 
African secular dance with European secular dance.
  Upon returning to the United States, Ms Dunham reconstituted her 
dance group focusing primarily on her Caribbean experiences, 
particularly in Haiti. She choreographed and produced numerous 
production, Pins and Needles, Tropics, Le Jazz Hot--From Haiti to 
Harlem, Cabin in the Sky, Tropical Revue, Carib Song, Bal Begre which 
played in various location, including New York and Los Angeles. Ms. 
Dunham's company also appeared in the film Stormy Weather with Lena 
Horne and Bill Robinson. Specifically, the dance troupe is featured in 
fog-drenched ``Stormy Weather'' dream sequence.

  Later, Ms. Dunham returned to the international stage by opening 
Caribbean Rhapsody, Tropics, Son, Chorus, Nanigo, Bahian, Shango, LAg 
Ya', Rites of de Passage, Flaming Youth and Blues in Europe. Ms. 
Dunham's success in Europe led to considerable imitation of her work in 
European revues. Her company also toured South America, Africa and 
Mexico. Ms. Dunham's dance troupe was so successful that it became the 
most widely recognized American dance company in the world. This 
distinction was later inherited by the Alvin Ailey American Dance 
Theater in 1970's.
  The Dunham company made its last appearance in New York in 1962. It 
performed a production entitled Bamboche! which featured a contingent 
from the Royal Troupe of Morocco. In 1963 in Aida, Dunham continued to 
secure her place in artistic history by becoming the first African-
American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. Dunham first 
appeared in films in 1940 in Carnival of Rhythm. Her other film credits 
include Cabin in the Sky, Star Spangled Rhythm, Casbah, and Pardon My 
Sarong.
  In 1945, the Katherine Dunham School of Arts and Research opened and 
was comprised of a Department of Theater, Cultural Studies and the 
Institute for Caribbean research. It offered two, three and five year 
courses leading to professional, teaching and research certificates. 
The faculty numbered thirty, and the school's curriculum included 
classes such as dance notation ballet, modern and primitive techniques, 
psychology and philosophy. It also offered courses in acting, music, 
visual design, history and languages. During the 1940's and 50's, 
Dunham's School of Dance became the premier training facility for 
African American dancers by providing instruction in dance described as 
``arresting,'' and ``highly theatrical.'' The student body was 
interracial and numbered approximately four hundred. The cost to run 
this school was enormous and absorbed most, if not all of profits 
earned by Ms. Dunham. However, during its tenure some of its more 
famous students included Marlon Brando, James Dean and Shelley Winters.

[[Page E22]]

  In 1967, Miss Dunham joined the faculty of Southern Illinois 
University in Edwardsville, to create a performing arts training center 
and dance anthropology program. In 1969, Miss Dunham created the 
Katherine Dunham Center for the Arts and Humanities, a community-based 
arts education program in East St. Louis. The center provided East St. 
Louis residents with the opportunity to witness and participate in 
fine, performing, and cultural arts.
  Further, The Katherine Dunham Dynamic Museum is also located at 
Southern University in St. Louis. This landmark building appears on the 
Illinois Historic Register, and houses Miss Dunham's superb collection 
of African, West African, and South American art. It is also located in 
the Pennsylvania Avenue Historic District which is registered with the 
National Trust for Historic Preservation. The museum houses an 
outstanding collection of symbolic and functional art, including more 
than 250 African and Caribbean art objects from more than 50 countries. 
Tapestries, paintings, sculpture, musical instruments and ceremonial 
costumes from these and other areas of the world celebrate the human 
spirit. The museum also displays costumes, photographs, programs, 
letters, awards and mementos from Miss Dunham's career as a dancer, 
choreographer, teacher, writer and dance company owner.
  Additional accolades attributed to Ms. Dunham include advisor on the 
First World Festival of Negro Arts, which was the subject of a 
television special entitled, ``Divine Drumbeats: Katherine Dunham and 
Her People.'' In addition, she received the Kennedy Center Honors Award 
in 1983, and has been inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. 
Dunham has also been given a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame for the 
field of Acting and Entertainment.
  On January 7th, when the 108th Congress convenes, I will introduce 
this letter into the Congressional Record, adding this commendation to 
the tidal wave of many others, Thank you Katherine Dunham for your 
wonderful and marvelous contributions to the world.

                          ____________________