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How Did Katherine Dunham Contribute To Dance

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Katherine Dunham’s contribution towards American Modern Dance

Katherine Dunham is a world-renowned dancer who really inspired the change within modern dance. She was born on June 22 1909 in Chicago. Before becoming a dancer Katherine used to sing, and went to university. After she graduated she then founded the Negro Dance Group. They danced and performed at places such as the Chicago Beax Arts Theatre and with company’s such as the Chicago Opera. Having these opportunities led to Katherine being invited to the Rosenwald Foundation where they agreed to finance any study contributing towards her dance career, thus where she then spent two years in the Caribbean studying all aspects of dance.

Within the 1930’s Katherine Dunham transformed …show more content…

This was managed by bringing new methods of movement and expression to the very narrow minded table. She presented films, writing, photos and her own personal demonstrations, which were an innovation in sharing new work at the time.
However moving to New York is where Katherine’s breakthrough to the popular recognition happened, in 1939, which is where she performed at the Windsor Theatre within a program called le ‘jazz hot’ and ‘Tropics’ that was inevitably supposed to be a one night event however because of the demand ended up doing 13 weeks of performing in a row. From here Katherine Dunham developed and became huge within the dance world.

Katherine Dunham brought so much into America and was one of the people, which really changed the dance world. With the group she founded the ‘Katherine Dunham Company’, which was developed and was completely devoted to African-American and Afro-Caribbean …show more content…

She was a formal, tough supporter of racial equality, and refused to perform at any segregated venues within the United States, and highlighted discrimination within her performances. Katherine exposed to many people of the cultural value of black dance, and in America, influencing the changing perceptions of the black people. This was managed by showing people that even as a black woman, she was an amazing dancer, choreographer and also an intelligent

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