Katherine Dunham - The HistoryMakers

them in their rituals and ceremonies and so forth. Later in life
I have drawn from all of these places and people and things the
things that I needed for the moment…”
Upon her return to the United States in 1936, Katherine Dunham
began to incorporate elements of African and Caribbean tribal
dance into the techniques she taught at her Chicago dance company,
the Negro Dance Group. Dunham wanted to expand her company
into a commercial enterprise, and decided to move to New York
City: “New York offered more in terms of theatrical experiences
function. And if those two things are brought together, you get a
person doing Dunham Technique and making a movement.”
The Dunham Company became world-renown, touring Europe
many times in the 1940s and 1950s. Dunham also drew the
attention of renowned art historian Bernard Berenson, who
became something of a mentor: “[Berenson’s] wealth was simply
his brains, and he would put out there before me ... the sentence
here or wisdom there … that was his contribution to me, and I
welcomed it. I knew it. I didn’t want anything from him but that.”
From left to right: Dunham with her company in a production of “Lady with a Cigar”; Dunham at age seventeen; Dunham performs “Guitar Blues” with
partner, Vanoye Aikens; Dunham attends a Hollywood opening with her husband, theatrical designer, John Pratt. Photos property of Katherine Dunham
and also in terms of training…we
really began to think of ourselves…as a
commercial possibility, and I think that
New York helped me to realize that there
was no way to learn all of our potential in
Chicago.” Thus, the Katherine Dunham
Dance Company was founded in 1939.
It was with this company that Katherine
Dunham conceived and solidified the
Dunham Technique: “The Dunham
Technique has several aspects. One
is social. It’s a thing which aids in the
melding together of people. It is a social act. It can be looked
upon as an isolated act, but that is not its real intent and purpose,
which is an erasing of conflicting boundaries among people…As
a Dunham Technician, you’re learning about space, about time,
about the relationship. I think the most important thing is form and
“No matter how
hard we try,
we can never
break our ties
to Africa ...”
- Katherine Dunham
Dunham also starred in several major
motion pictures, including Cabin in the
Sky.
Katherine Dunham does not dwell on
her professional success in the interview.
However, instead, she focuses on her
personal life and her philosophy of
dance. Regarding her relationship with
her second husband, John Pratt, Dunham
says: “We worked on the same artistic
level. He understood the things that I
did, and I understood the things that he
did. We were in love not only on this great important artistic level,
but also on a humanistic level. He felt about people the way I
did. He loved what people do, and he wanted to do something
about the destruction of the human spirit, which I did and so forth
and so on. So we had everything going for us, but everything, and
cont on page 13.
THE HISTORYMAKERS SPRING 2006 PAGE 11