La Danse Noire Magazine debuts with tribute to Dunham

The life, work and legacy of the great Katherine Dunham is celebrated in the premier issue of Atlanta-based La Danse Noire Magazine, an online quarterly dedicated to "the history of Black dance, its pioneers and the ongoing continuum in the field."

Publisher Carol Lloyd invites you to access this issue for free on ISSUU here.

A special screening of "Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life"

Katherine Dunham (photo by Dwight Carter)

The Museum of the Moving Image 

welcomes you to 

Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life

Saturday, June 22 (3pm)

with director Terry Carter, 

and dancers Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott in person

This screening is scheduled in celebration of the 104th anniversary of Katherine Dunham's birth. Following the screening will be a town hall discussion of the Dunham legacy with the film's director, Terry Carter, and two celebrated Dunham dancers, Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott. The discussion will be moderated by Warrington Hudlin, a former Dunham drummer and trustee of Museum of the Movie Image.

Dir. Terry Carter. 2013, 73 mins. (work-in-progress)

One of America's most influential performing artists, Katherine Dunham introduced African Diaspora dance movements to the American stage, greatly influencing the character and development of modern dance. This documentary by the renowned actor and director Terry Carter explores Dunham’s intellectual curiosity and artistic genius. The film documents Dunham as an artist/scholar whose anthropological fieldwork shaped her vision as a choreographer and led to her creating a new dance technique. The technique is based on a series of physical exercises that enable dancers to master and execute her complex dance vocabulary. Over time, this set of exercises evolved into what is today considered an important methodology of dance: The Dunham Technique.

Featured are excerpts of recorded performances from the early years of Katherine Dunham's career, including Carnival of Rhythm (1939), Hollywood’s first Technicolor dance film; The Spirit of Boogie-Woogie, a “soundie” short film of the Dunham dance troupe in action from the late 1930s, and the star-studded motion picture Stormy Weather (1943) which featured Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Katherine Dunham's remarkable performance with the Dunham company. Included in this painstakingly researched film are clips that have never been seen in the United States including rare highlights of Dunham Company's European performances from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as well as scenes from the Italian motion pictures, Botta e Riposta (1952) and Mambo (1954), featuring Ms. Dunham as actress-dancer-choreographer. In addition to interviews with dancers and scholars who speak to her great artistic legacy, the film includes Katherine Dunham's reflection on coping with the racial bigotry of the times she confronted as she traveled with her dance company.

About the filmmaker

Terry Carter is an esteemed black film and television pioneer whose career as an actor and filmmaker spans 60 years. His television acting credits include The Phil Silvers Show, Julia, McCloud, and the original series Battlestar Galactica. He starred opposite Pam Grier in the cult classic Foxy Brown. His Emmy nominated documentary, A Duke Named Ellington, won several international awards and is widely considered to be the best documentary ever made on the life and art of Duke Ellington.

Program information

Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718-777-6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

Jean-Léon Destiné, 94

Jean-Léon Destiné, Dancer, Dies at 94
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, January 30, 2013

Spirit in Afro-Atlantic culture

Que viva Chango!: West African deities in the Americas
by Denise Oliver Velez, Daily Kos, December 4, 2011

Dance to get stamps of approval

Legendary Choreographer Bob Fosse to Be Honored with U.S. Stamp
Broadway.com, August 16, 2011

And not just Fosse! There's Isadora Duncan, Katherine Dunham and José Limón, too, coming in 2012 to a post office near you!

Stormy Weather (1943)

The glorious Lena Horne and Katherine Dunham

Dunham's 100th: I love a parade!

The late Katherine Dunham’s 100th birthday (June 21) is fine occasion for a celebratory parade. So, plan to be at West 79th Street Boat Basin (Central Park) at 10am, or somewhere along the parade route towards Symphony Space (Broadway at 95th Street).

At noon, the theater will host an outdoor program with drummers, dancers, dignitaries and the release of 100 doves and, at 7pm, a full concert with eight dance troupes. Admission to the evening show is free on a first-come, first-served basis.

Invited guests include original Dunham Dancers, Alpha Omega Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Charles Moore DanceTheatre, Fred Benjamin Dance Company, Joan Peters Dance Company, Katherine Dunham Children’s Dance Workshop, Louis Johnson Dance Theatre, PHILADANCO and Dr. Glory Van Scott’s Youth Theatre.

Parade participants and volunteers are requested. For further information, contact Melony McGant at (212) 712-6559 or drgloryvanscottproductions@yahoo.com.

Doves for Katherine Dunham

Continuing the Salute to the Extraordinary Life of

Miss Katherine Dunham

At Doves for Dunham

5:00 pm Sunday, June 22, 2008

Miss Dunham’s 99th Birthday

Outside Symphony Space Theatre

at 95^th & Broadway in New York City.

Drumming Procession

Greetings-Dr. Glory Van Scott

Shango Blessing-Jean Leon Destine

Gil Noble

Eloise Anderson

Julie Belafonte

Micki Grant

Maurice Hines

Warrington Hudlin

Woodie King, Jr.

Louis Johnson

Harold Melvin

Joan Peters

Camille Yarbrough

Releasing of 99 Doves in Honor of Miss Dunham

Followed by Drumming & Dancing

Montego Joe

Auchee Lee

Manny Ramos

Pamela Patrick

Michael Mustafa Ulmer

Jared Brown

For More Information About Doves For Dunham

Call Melony McGant

at 212-712-6559

drgloryvanscottproductions@yahoo.com

An Essential Lesson: The Legacy of Katherine Dunham

On Wednesday night, I attended The Legacy of Katherine Dunham, a panel discussion hosted by Judith Jamison at the 92nd Street Y, co-sponsored by the Y's Harkness Dance Center and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Journalist Gil Noble (WABC-TV's Like It Is) moderated panelists including dance critic Zita Allen, dancer-choreographer Ronnie Aul, and dancer-activist Julie Robinson Belafonte as well as E. Gaynell Sherrod (dancer, educator, researcher and choreographer) and Dr. Glory Van Scott (whose long, varied involvement in the arts could keep me here typing hyphens and commas all day).

The evening was a gathering of the faithful with many former Dunham dancers, students, colleagues and associates in attendance. Both panelists and audience members shared warm reminiscences of a wise, formidable genius whose influence reached beyond Afro-Caribbean dance and beyond dance itself. The program was intended to raise awareness that Dunham's soul-deep, powerful movement technique is an endangered treasure, taught by uncertified instructors who, some speakers charged, are watering it down.

Yesterday, the celebration continued with a master class in Dunham technique taught by the Ailey School's Joan Peters, one of only three people certified by the Dunham Institute. Neighborhood residents, workers and other folks just passing by the Ailey building on Ninth Avenue and West 55th Street got an eyeful, stopping in their tracks to gawk through the glass enclosure of the first-floor studio. More than sixty dancers worked through the challenging warm-up and barre and charged across the floor in vigorous repetitions of movements while the supremely calm, authoritative Peters beat out a flawless rhythm with a carved wooden walking stick. The terrific drummers made it hard for me--one of a handful of mere observers seated inside the studio--to keep still.

I glanced around and took in the diversity of races, ages, body types, degrees of flexibility and levels of skill. As the students followed Peters's directions, I saw some movements that I was quick to label incorrect. I also saw a lot of movements that were different and yet wonderfully correct. There are a lot of ways to be wrong about a thing, but there are also a lot of different ways to be right.

Some students clearly got the movements wrong, and I might have stopped to fuss over each of them, although Peters did not. But, in so many other cases, the variety of interpretations of a movement or phrase proved to be inspired. Each of these students put his or her own flavor into it. Sometimes that looked like the natural effect of a body dancing in its own way, putting its own spin on things, and not necessarily the student's conscious choice. It looked beautiful--whole, healthy and, I realized, both true to the African spirit and, more broadly, very human. I relished this diversity that is so often shed from contemporary dance companies and choreography in an effort to create a supposed coherence and consistent tone.

(c) 2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Celebrate the Legacy of Katherine Dunham

CELEBRATE THE LEGACY OF KATHERINE DUNHAM

Presented in partnership with the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Join AAADT Artistic Director Judith Jamison and Gil Noble, noted journalist and host of WABC's Like It Is, as they lead an exciting panel discussion about the life and legacy of Miss Katherine Dunham - dancer, humanist, anthropologist, activist and visionary.

Panelists:
Zita Allen * Ronnie Aul * Julie Belafonte * Gaynell Sherrod *
Dr. Glory Van Scott

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
8 pm
92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue (at 92nd Street)
Tickets: $25 or $15 with Student ID

To order tickets, call (212) 415-5500 or click here.

Tuesday's event will be followed by:

DUNHAM DANCE CLASS WITH JOAN PETERS

This workshop will delve into this eclectic fusion of Caribbean movement, ballet and modern dance. See why the dancers of today still use this technique to build strength, flexibility and improve the body's range of movement. Live drumming accompanies this workshop.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007
4:30-6 pm
The Ailey Studios
The Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue)
Cost: $18

To register, please call (212) 405-9500 or click here.

Katherine Dunham. Photo courtesy of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Archives.