Preserving Katherine Dunham's Legacy: A New Call to Action

After teaching university courses every summer since 2002, I finally had my first summer off to work exclusively on my research (thank you Dean Theodoulou, the Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at California State University, Northridge, for awarding me with a Summer Research Stipend to conduct this research). What was the first thing I wanted to do? Attend the 30th Annual International Authentic Katherine Dunham Technique Seminar in St. Louis during the last week of July 2013. Why, you might ask? Even though I never had the opportunity to meet Ms. Dunham personally, I have always had an unexplainable connection to her. She even spoke to me in a dream once. In fact, a few years ago, I began writing an article on her contributions to the discipline of Black Studies entitled "Dancing Across the Diaspora: Katherine Dunham's Foundational Contributions to the Establishment of Black Studies in the Academy." Although other publication opportunities have arisen since then forcing me to place this article on hold, I was very excited to spend my summer writing about Ms. Dunham, and eager to add information on her dance technique and the annual Technique Seminar. Katherine Dunham, born in 1909 and made her transition in 2006, was an African American female dancer; performer; choreographer; teacher; scholar; activist; author; musician; Broadway star; film star; and creator of her own dance technique, company, and schools. Throughout her life, she worked with everyone from George Balanchine to Leopold Senghor; conducted fieldwork and research in places such as Accompong, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, and Haiti; graduated from the University of Chicago and created her own academic discipline entitled Dance Anthropology; travelled the world with her dance company performing in places such as Italy, Spain, Germany, Chile, France, Mexico, Africa, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the United States; starred in several films and Broadway shows; wrote five books and countless articles; fought injustice, racism, and segregation throughout the United States and abroad; and became directly involved in national political discussions that even resulted in her going on a hunger strike to support Haitian refugees who were mistreated by the United States' government. Ultimately, there is not enough space in the world to discuss the many things that Katherine Dunham accomplished during her lifetime. But, it is very easy to see that her story is woven directly into the fabric of America, and how her legacy and contributions should be treated with the same importance and respect as W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, and others. Before traveling to St. Louis, I had seen several videos of Katherine Dunham and her company dancing, and also saw other companies, such as the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and the Charles Moore Dance Theatre, perform her work; but, I never had the opportunity to take a Dunham Technique class myself. The seminar itself was more phenomenal than I could have ever imagined. Throughout the week, we had the privilege of taking Dunham Technique and Repertoire classes from master teachers, Ruby Streate, Michael Green, and Jeanne Speier, all who had personally danced and performed with Dunham; and additional classes from other certified Dunham instructors: Jan Blunt and Heather Beal-Himes. The drummers who played for our dance classes and who taught our drumming class were also personally trained by Katherine Dunham: James Belk, Montra Mumphard, and Jared Brown. I was so completely mesmerized by all of these amazing individuals who had interacted with Dunham so closely, and who have made it their life's work to continue Katherine Dunham's legacy. In addition to Dunham Technique and Repertoire classes, we also had Vinyasa Flow and Acro Yoga classes taught by fellow Dunham Technique participant, Giana Montoya. There were also World Dance classes, also taught by Giana Montoya and her partner, Nery Garcia, both professional salsa dancers, who taught us how to dance Salsa, Cha Cha, Merengue, and Bachatta. …