Katherine Dunham
Though she loved dance as a child, Katharine Dunham pursued graduate studies in anthropology at the University of Chicago in the 1930s, a period when few women, let alone African Americans, were admitted to major universities. According to Margaret Wolff, it was at "a lecture on cultural anthropology that she first understood the ways in which dance was a reflection of the fundamental belief systems of a society." In 1935, she received the Rosenwald Fellowship to study the indigenous dances of Jamaica and Haiti and "began to explore her interest in movement as a medium of individual and collection expression - particularly religious expression." Katharine Dunham raised Caribbean rhythms and movements to the world's notice and was the first to make black dance an accepted art form. She broke the color barrier of classical dance, and became the first African American to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera. In 1967, she formed the Performing Arts Training Center in the St. Louis inner city and for over 40 years has been providing dance and humanities classes for youth to help break the cycle of poverty and violence in that community. On several occasions, students from this program have performed at the White House.
Katharine Dunham was one of the first international celebrities to use her fame to draw public attention to various humanitarian causes, such as the inhumane treatment of victims of the Spanish Civil War, the racial murder of a young black, and segregation that her troupe encountered. Included in her many accolades are the Kennedy Center Honors Award, the Albert Schweitzer Music Award, The Urban League's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Presidential Cross of Brazil.
The passages and questions below are offered as a starting point for discussion, and are simply listed in sequential order as they appear in the book.
- Page 159 "Eventually, I distilled God into a quality rather than a being having a specific form or shape. To me, God is the convergence of goodness in man and a melding and dispersion of that goodness. God is a collective of good thinking, of right thinking and actions that makes life easier and more beautiful. And, in my mind, beauty is always associated with God. While I recognize that there is ugliness in the world - in man and in Nature - I am careful not to get immersed in it. By staying with the positive and the beautiful, life becomes, for me, easier and more comprehensible."
- I love Katharine Dunham's description: "God is the convergence of goodness in man and a melding and dispersion of that goodness." It is a description that inspires me, that allows me a much broader field in which to discover "acts of God", and it is a description that gives me hope for the world. What was your reaction to it?
- My recent schedule has been such that I no longer watch the news, and I have found it much easier to focus on beauty, optimism, and "good thinking" in the absence of that information that someone else has deemed 'newsworthy'. Have you had a personal experience with this? How do you balance 'being informed' with 'optimism' that the situation in the world today can improve?
- Page 160 "Fortunately, I began to realize that the more you become aware of God, the more you ask of yourself, not of others. What also follows is that you want to share the best of yourself with people, and you want to participate more fully in life. You reach a place where you realize you have a choice: to admire the beautiful waterfall from a distance or to stand in its midst and let it pour over you. I've found that participation is the best part of being human. ... Have you ever listened to a musician or a conductor who is making music solely to open a path other others, to spread music to her listeners? What an experience! It's almost as if she has bared her divinity to you. It's quite different from someone who uses her skill, her technique, to create something for herself."
- In this passage, Katharine Dunham offers a solution on how people on the liberal end of the religion and spirituality spectrum can share their perspective with others, without fear of proselytizing = "share the best of yourself with people." I have recently had a few conversations on the huge rise in conservatism experienced in all of the world's religions, and yet my personal experience is that I am meeting more and more people who are sharing the best of themselves. What has your personal experience been?
- I love how Katharine Dunham's suggestion that awareness of God encourages participation in life. I truly have found that "participation is the best part of being human" – that when I let go of expectations and perceptions and just jump in, that I experience a level of connection and joy that is indescribable and stays with me for days afterwards. What has been your experience with participation? Do you tend to create opportunities where none seem to exist or wait for them to present themselves? Do you jump in or find yourself holding back and testing the waters?
- Was there a particular passage that made you stop and either consider or appreciate?