Tag: Dance
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Negritude in Motion: Katherine Dunham’s Legacy in Haitian Dance (part II)
(Read Part I here) In addition, Dunham’s students, such as Lavinia Williams, later exerted a tremendous influence on Haitian dance by teaching formal technique in Haiti. Williams, invited by Estimé’s successor, Paul Magloire, was trained in classical technique and used her training to categorize and professionalize Haitian folkloric dance. Williams added floor stretches, body conditioning, ballet…
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Negritude in Motion: Katherine Dunham’s Legacy in Haitian Dance (part I)
African American dancer, anthropologist, and choreographer Katherine Dunham enjoyed a lengthy relationship with Haiti. Beginning with her travels as a student at the University of Chicago in the 1930s, Dunham retained her connections to the island for the rest of her life. Moreover, Haiti, the subject of her memoir, Island Possessed, illustrates how important the Black Republic…