10 Interesting Katherine Dunham Facts

Katherine Dunham facts explore the life of the famous American choreographer, dancer, social activist, author and educator. She is considered as one of the successful dancers in United States. People always call her as the matriarch and queen mother of black dance. Here are the interesting facts about Dunham:

Katherine Dunham Facts 1: dancer Katherine the Great

Dancer Katherine the Great is the title that she gained from the Washington Post. Dunham was very famous during the heyday in 1940s and 1950s.  She made shows not only in US, but also in Latin American and Europe.

Katherine Dunham Facts 2: Katherine Dunham Dance Company

Katherine Dunham Dance Company is the company that she established alone. This company was important to the progress of the American black dance troupe in her era. She ran the company for 30 years. There were at least 90 individual dances that she choreographed.

Katherine Dunham Dancer

Katherine Dunham Facts 3: African-American modern dance

Dunham is not only famous as a dancer.  She gave big contribution to the development of black dance. She made innovative style in the dance anthropology and African-American modern dance. Look another great Afro American woman in Josephine Baker facts.

Katherine Dunham Facts 4: date of birth

Katherine Dunham was born on June 1909 in Chicago.  After her birth, the baby Dunham was taken to Glen Ellyn, Illinois.  It is a small village situated around 15 miles from the west of Chicago.

Katherine Dunham Facts

Katherine Dunham Facts 5: father

Albert Millard Dunham was the name of Katherine’s father.   His family was the descendant of the slaves from Madagascar and West Africa.

Katherine Dunham Facts 6: mother

Fanny June Dunham was the name of her mother.  When Katherine was only three years old, her mother passed away.  Fanny was a mix of Native American and French Canadian.

Katherine Dunham Image

Katherine Dunham Facts 7: marriage

His father decided to marry again few years after the death of his wife. Then, he made the family moved to Joliet, Illinois. It was a white environment. There, Katherine had a dry cleaning business.

Katherine Dunham Facts 8: writing and dance

When she was very young, Katherine realized that she liked writing and dancing a lot. When she was in high school, he was enrolled with a dance club called Terpsichorean Club. She learned a lot the ideas of dancing of Rudolf von Laban and Jaques-Dalcroze.

Katherine Dunham in Color

Katherine Dunham Facts 9: Blue Moon Café

Blue Moon Café was organized by Katherine when she was 15 years old. This organization was used to raise the fund for the Brown’s Methodist Church. She made her first dancing performance during the fund raising program.

Katherine Dunham Facts 10: a dance

Even though at that time she was very young, she created a private dance school for the black children.

Katherine Dunham Pic

In 1935, Dunham made an ethnographic study for Caribbean dance form after she was awarded by Julius Rosenwald and Guggenheim foundations for a travel fellowship. Do you have any opinion on facts about Katherine Dunham?