--Katherine
was a graduate of the University of Chicago. , and was artist-in-residence
at Southern Illinois University. Later owned her own dance studio
in 1931 (the Katherine Dunham School of Dance) in New York
and had a group called the Katherine Dunham dancers who were one
of the first all black female dance groups. Choreographed such
Films
as "Cabin in The Sky" in 1940 and "Stormy Weather"
in 1943.
Studied much of the African, Haitian
and Carribean dance techniques and introduced many of them into
her choreogrphies. Dunham's travels took her to Jamaica, Trinidad,
Cuba, Martinique, Haiti, Africa an others. Dunham was also an Anthropologist
and used the pen name of K. Dunn for magazines such as Esquire.