-
Born in Chicago, Illinois
-
Joins a Dance Club in High School
She starts learning a type of freestyle modern dance and throws a "cabaret part" by herself. -
Studies Ballet with Ludmilla Speranzeva
Speranzeva was one of the first to accept African Americans as dance students. -
Dunham Studies Dance at the University of Chicago
She majored in anthropology with a focus on African American dance. -
Forms Dance Company
She created Ballet Nègre, one of the first African ballet companies in the United States. -
Ballet Nègre Performs the Negro Rhapsody, but Soon Falls Apart
They performed at the Beaux Arts Ball; however the company ended up coming to an end soon after. -
Dunham starts the Negro Dance Group
-
Dunham gets Lead Role in La Guiablesse and Goes to the World's Fair
During that time she also ended up becoming Ruth Page's (ballet director of the Chicago Opera) assistant director and brought back Ballet Nègre. -
Receives a Grant to Study the Dance Styles of the West Indies
She performs field work and develops a close attachment to Haiti -
Ballet Nègre appear at the Young Men's Hebrew Association
They performed some West Indie dances and Tropic Death. The company went on to dance at the Goodman Theater and at the Abraham Lincoln Center. -
Dunham Choreographs her First Ballet
She choreographed and produced L'Ag'Ya, a ballet about love and revenge. She also became an important figure for the Federal Theater Project. She performed Tropics at the Goodman Theater, and she choreographed her first solo: A las Montanas, which she performed at the Abraham Lincoln Center. She also choreographed the dances Son and Barrelhouse. -
More Dancing and Choreography
Dunham and her company performed for the Quadres Society at the University of Cincinnati. She also performed in the film Carnival of Rhythm, and appeared in American Spectacular on NBC. During this year she also directed Pins and Needles, I Hear America Singing and choreographed Bahiana. She also managed to publish three writing pieces, two of them being articles in the Esquire. -
Tropical Pinafore, Tropics and Le Jazz Hot
In 1940 Dunham choreographed Tropical Pinafore for the American Negro Light Opera Association of Chicago. She also performed Tropics and Hot at the Windsor Theater in New York. She has worked with George Balanchine on dances for the play Cabin in the Sky. -
Tour and Rites de Passage
She went on tour for Cabin in the Sky and performed Rites de Passage for the first time at the Curran Theater -
National Tour and Stormy Weather
Dunham and Ballet Negrè go on a national tour for Tropical Revue and they appear in the film Stormy Weather. Tropical Revue is appreciated by many and featured Latin/Caribbean dance styles as well as dramatic ballet. -
Choros, Tropical Review and Memorial Auditorium
Dunham's Choros premieres at the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto. Tropical Review is put on at Cleveland's Hanna Theater for a whole week, and Dunham tells an entire white audience that although it was great performing for them, she will not return until management at the theater allows African Americans to sit next to White folk. -
Goombay and Shango
Dunham choreographed Shango, which is her interpretation of a Vodan ritual. It became a large part of her company, and Goombay, a memoir, talks about her visit to Jamaica and the effect it had on her. Ever since she took the trip to the West Indies, she has incorporated so many cultural influences into her dance style. Her anthropology work obviously played a large role in changing her style from the original ballet she learned to the modern dance she is known for. -
Period: to
Caribbean Influences
Dunham's group performed Caribbean Backgrounds in Washington, D.C. and her thesis Dances of Haiti gets published. She also performed in A Caribbean Rhapsody and choreographed Afrique. She also bought land in Haiti during this time. -
Period: to
Tour
Dunham and her dance company went on tour to North Africa, South America, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. During this time she appeared on multiple television specials, some which were nationally broadcasted. -
Period: to
The Dunham Company
The company falls apart but some of the dancers stick around and perform with Dunham in her last show on broadway-"Bamboche!". She became an artist-in-residence at SIUC in 1964. This means she basically went there to change up her environment and get some new inspiration. -
American Ballet Theater's 25th Anniversary
Dunham and some of the dancers who used to be in her company performed at the anniversary. -
President Léopold Senghor and US Representation
President Léopold Senghor asked Dunham to train the National Ballet of Senegal, and she was also deemed as an advisor for the first World Festival of Negro Arts. The US government even let her be the official representative of the United States at the festival. -
Performing Arts Training Center
Dunham's proposal to create a performing arts training center gets funded and the building is created in East Saint Louis. -
Period: to
Awards
She received the Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago Alumni Association in 1968 and was added to the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and the Entertainment Hall of Fame Foundation in 1974. In 1983, she became one of the very few recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 1986 she got the Medal of Artistic Merit in Dance from UNESCO. -
The Magic of Katherine Dunham
The Magic of Katherine Dunham is produced by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dunham gets named as a Founder of Dance in America. -
Passed Away
Katherine Dunham passed away on May, 21, 2006 leaving behind a legacy. She brought cultures together from all around the world and created the Dunham Technique. The technique mixes ballet with Caribbean and other African forms of dance; it includes a lot of torso and pelvic movements, while isolating limbs.