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Article: Attitudes.(Katherine Dunham obituary)(Obituary)
- Article from:
- Dance Magazine
- Article date:
- September 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Dance Magazine, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On June 3, 1948, Katherine Dunham's revue Caribbean Rhapsody opened at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. No one, I think, realized it at the time, but this was not only Europe's first sighting of the extraordinary Dunham, it was Europe's first sighting of American modern dance. It was not for nothing that Dunham was quoted by Jack Anderson in The New York Times obituary as saying, "The dancing of my group is called anthropology in New Haven, sex in Boston, and in Rome--art!" Art it was.
Dunham's recent death one month short of her 97th birthday--some record books shaved three years off her date of birth as she usually did herself--set me contemplating her career. ...