Katherine Dunham was influential because she chose to break away from what was traditional in America to explore and share the culture of other countries. She began doing so in college, when she was working on research as she was studying anthropology. Dunham always tried to find ways of connecting dance to what she was studying because dance was her passion. She traveled to third world countries such as Haiti, Martinique, Africa, Cuba, and she toured many other places as well with her dance company. Her purpose was to look further into the meaning behind dances, the purpose, the technique, and the cultural significance. What she did was she created something new rather than trying to perfect something long-standing, turning away from traditional …show more content…
At the time of her career, major movements included Abstract Expressionism (emphasized an artist's liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually non-representational means, merriam-webster.com), The Black Power Movement, 1968-1980, and some of the countries she visited, Senegal, for example, gained their independence in the 1960s. Her work influenced dancers such as Donald McKayle and Alvin Ailey(American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), who continued to go deeper into the expressive dances of black culture. Dunham had a major impact on 20th/21st century society and culture because of her new dance techniques that incorporated tradition and …show more content…
She was sent with her sibling to live with her aunt, where she was began to find a love for music and dance, with some members of her family consisting of so many different performers.(http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Katherine_Dunham.aspx) FOOTNOTE In Chicago, there were many African Americans moving up north, generally to find work and a place of living, and she saw how they were treated poorly in the north by being given the lowly jobs and living in segregated communities in areas of Chicago. Racial segregation was in existance http://mohistory.org/KatherineDunham/profile.htm FOOTNOTE. It was around 1922 when she began to learn the free style modern dances in high school that were derived from the works and ideas of Jaques-Dalcroze and Rudolf von Laban. Jacques-Dalcrose, a dance instructor in the early 1900s, was a dancer described as having an avant-garde style. Professor of harmony and solfège at the Conservatory in Geneva, he taught dance while incorporating solfege in to his teaching to better the understanding of his students. His purpose was to sharpen the almost subconscious responses to the musical aspects of dance to enhance performance. Rudolf von Laban http://www.dalcrozeusa.org/about-us/history was Later on, in 1928 she was interested in learning about ballet and studied with Ludmilla