Dedicated to Dunham

Natural History, Feb, 2007

You dance because you have to.

--Katherine Dunham (1909-2006)

Katherine Dunham sought, in the native dances of the Caribbean, in the pounding rhythms of Africa, the cultural origins for the distinctive form of dance she pioneered. She spent her long life creating art of transcendent power and beauty, coupled with awareness of both racial inequality and ethnic pride.

Dunham was an exceptional and gifted woman--when she died in New York last May at 96, she held a 1936 degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago and scores of honorary doctorates. She founded revolutionary dance troupes, choreographed at the Metropolitan Opera, and performed on Broadway. Her great love for the Haitian people led her to embrace the Vodoun religion and to capture headlines by going on a 47-day hunger strike at age 82 to protest U.S. treatment of Haitian refugees.

"Dedicated to Dunham" is the Museum's tribute to this remarkable woman, a one-day festival on Sunday, February 25, during African-American Heritage Month, celebrated as part of the Museum's Global Weekends programming. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m., dancers and educators who studied with Dunham and the young stars who are influenced by her extraordinary work will perform, present panels, and screen films about Dunham and her remarkable life.

"I used to want the words 'She tried' on my tombstone," Dunham once said. "Now I want 'She did it.'" Dedicated to Dunham shows that, indeed, she did.

Dedicated to Dunham is coproduced by the American Museum of Natural History; Barbara Horowitz, founder and president of Community Works; and Voza Rivers, executive producer of New Heritage Theatre Group. Global Weekends are made possible, in part, by The Coca-Cola Company, the City of New York, the New York City Council, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support has been provided by the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the Tolan Family, and the family of Frederick H. Leonhardt