Dance legend Katherine Dunham’s controversial “Southland” ballet has never been seen on American stages — or anywhere else since its short run in the early 1950s.. Author(s): Timmons, Michele | Abstract: There are no video records and little documentation of the performance; however, choreographer Katherine Dunham’s obscure dance work, Southland, still succeeded in epitomizing a community that was enshrouded in the complex negotiation of three distinct modes of solidarity: the performance of race, gender, and national identity. Chasanoff/Elozua "Amazing Grace" Collection, It's Showtime! Please Name 1 - 2 Historical Incidents And/or Ongoing Events/movements That Coincide With The Making And Performance Of Each Dance - He attacks her and leaves her unconscious. In the background is a painting of former workshop member and certified Dunham technique teacher Heather Himes. The ballet was premiered in the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, in January 1951. He attacks her and leaves her unconscious. In His-tory and Memory in African- American Culture. During the 1950s, her troupe was known for performing a piece called Southland , which alluded to Southern lynching and featured a black man swinging from a rope. She has been called the matriarch and queen mother of black dance.. She had one of the most successful dance careers in Western dance theatre in the 20th century and directed her own dance company for many years. 46, Black Moves: New Research in Black Dance Studies. This thesis studies two performances: Katherine Dunham’s Southland (1951) and Alvin Ailey’s Revelations (1960) to understand the ways in which artists resisted the State Department’s attempt to inscribe the ideals of the nation into these works. On another occasion, in October 1944, after getting a rousing standing ovation in Louisville, Kentucky, she told the all-white audience that she and her company would not return because "your management will not allow people li… Dunham early became interested in dance. It was never performed in the United States or elsewhere. When the field hands reenter, the white woman falsely accuses the black man of rape. Katherine Dunham's Southland and the Archival Quality of Black Dance. A portrait of Katherine Dunham looks over the dance studio as students practice during the Katherine Dunham Children's Workshop in East St. Louis. The ballet was premiered in the Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile, in January 1951. One of her most controversial choreographies was "Southland", which was her impassioned response to the lynchings of Southern blacks. Dunham was informed the morning after the premiere that Southland would receive no reviews, as it had shocked the American embassy in Chile and was considered anti-American. . One of her works, "Southland," depicted a lynching. This dance scene is often overshadowed by Lena Horne. She spoke a prologue on stage at the premiere: "Though I have not smelled the smell of burning flesh, and have never seen a black body swaying from a Southern tree, I have felt these things in spirit . In 1951, at the dawning of a decade that would be known by some for its suffocating conformity and political intolerance, Katherine Dunham created Southland, a dramatic ballet Americana about what was by then the century-long practice of lynching.In the program notes to the ballet that premiered at the Opera House in Santiago de Chile, Dunham wrote, “This is the story of no actual … Studies in Dance History, a monograph series sponsored by the Society of Dance History Scholars. (2016). Her subsequent applications for financial support and subsidy from the U.S. government were denied, although many other dance companies were sent abroad as U.S. ambassadors of good will. The Black Scholar: Vol. Katherine Dunham's "Southland" finally has its premiere this weekend thanks to the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater. Photo from Julie Belafonte’s personal collection. 46, Black Moves: New Research in Black Dance Studies. . Dunham waited to debut Southland until the last few days of her company’s two-week run in Chile, allowing time to draw public interest in their work. Culture, first arriving there as a young anthropologist, focusing her college thesis on Haitian Dance York City well. White woman falsely accuses the Black man of rape looks over the studio. Troupe toured the world, hoping that by exposing the ill, the white woman falsely accuses the man. Hoping that by exposing the ill, the conscience of the Many will protest works, ``,... 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