Katherine Dunham: Pioneer in African Dance

Katherine Dunham: Pioneer in African Dance. . This sculpture of cold cast bronze depicts Katherine Dunham, a Joliet native and among the most influential figures in 20th-century art. She was a dancer, actor, choreographer, anthropologist, author and activist who raised African/Caribbean dance traditions to a modern art form. , Dunham was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois in 1909 and moved to Joliet when she was five. She first studied dance at Joliet Township High School and Joliet Junior College. She moved to Chicago in 1927 where she studied tap dancing, ballet, and acting. In the early 1930's, she opened a dance school and performed at the Chicago Opera House and the Chicago World's Fair. In 1935, while attending Northwestern University, she won a grant to tour the West Indies, where she studied Afro-Caribbean dance, religion, and folklore. A year later she received a degree in social anthropology from the University of Chicago. , Dunham opened the Dunham School of Dance in New York, which trained dancers in classical ballet, African and Caribbean dance forms, and other cultural arts. She also became the first black choreographer at the Metropolitan Opera, when she choreographed Aida for the Met's 1963-64 season. , Since 1967 Dunham has lived in East St. Louis, where she has been affiliated with Southern Illinois University - as founder of the East St. Louis Center for the Performing Arts. There she has developed cultural arts programs for disadvantaged youth. In 1983, she was the recipient of the Kennedy Centers Honors Award in recognition of her lifetime achievements in the performing arts., Lead sculptural artist: Kathleen Farrell, Assistant artists: Roger Carlson, Saul Chavira, Dante DiBartolo, Sarah Furst, Caryn Carew Horvat, Andrea Roundtree. Mosiac artist: Kathleen Farrell. Sculpture/mosaic sponsored by the City of Joliet. Plaque sponsored by the City of Joliet and by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Copyright Friends of Community Public Art 2001, (photo caption:), In July of 2002, Katherine Dunham, in her nineties, was honored by the City of Joliet. Currently, she is raising funds for the Katherine Dunham Museum, the Dunham African Artisans Village and the Dunham Children's Workshop performance arts facility.