Dunham, Katherine (1909–2006)

US dancer and choreographer. She was noted for a free, strongly emotional method, and employed her extensive knowledge of anthropology as a basis for her dance techniques and choreography. Her interests lay in the fusion of modern and Afro-Caribbean dance. In 1940 Dunham established an all-black dance company, which toured extensively. She is best known for her choreography in musicals, such as Cabin in the Sky (1940), and films, notably Stormy Weather (1943).

In 1967 she founded a performing arts centre for inner-city youths in East St Louis, Illinois. She went on a hunger strike in 1992 to protest against the US deportation of Haitian refugees.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dunham studied at the University of Chicago, and went on to earn a doctorate in anthropology. Turning to dance, she started her first school in Chicago (1931), later becoming dance director for the Works Progress Administration's Chicago theatre project. She published an autobiography, A Touch of Innocence, in 1959.