Katherine Dunham: DANCING A LIFE
As curator and education coordinator at the Katherine Dunham Museum in East Saint Louis, IL, Aschenbrenner (anthropology, emerita, Southern Illinois Univ.) is uniquely qualified to analyze and appreciate the life and career of her subject. Dunham founded the first self-supporting African American dance company, but she made more of an impact as a dance teacher, anthropologist, and socially responsible artist. Aschenbrenner's purpose is "to elucidate [Dunham's] views on anthropology and dance and how they relate to her social activism"-aspects that have received little attention in existing biographies (e.g., Terry Harnan's African Rhythms and Ruth Biemiller's Dance: The Life of Katherine Dunham), most of which are out of print. The author's purpose is realized through a careful reading and interpretation of Dunham's memoirs, A Touch of Innocence and Island Possessed, which are supplemented with information collected from archival documents, interviews with Dunham's colleagues, and personal reminiscences. This focused study is written for academics, specifically dance historians and anthropologists. Recommended for academic libraries.Joan Stahl, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DCCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.