“A Day of Dunham”
Saturday, Oct. 25
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Panel discussions, master classes. $15 per discussion, $25 per class.
6:30 p.m. Reception followed by Awards Dinner and After Dance. $60 per person/$100 per couple.
The Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. 4736 Best Rd, Atlanta. Tickets: www.ladansenoire.com. Information: 678-661-7342.
Carol Lloyd remembers the day, nine years ago, when her 1947 recording, “Afro-Caribbean Songs and Rhythms,” performed by Katherine Dunham and Ensemble, arrived in the mail. Lloyd had loaned the boxed set to a museum near East St. Louis, Ill. where Dunham worked for more than three decades. When the set came back, all four records were broken.
They might have cracked in transit, Lloyd thought, but one piece was missing. She never found out what happened, and it doesn’t matter much now. But to Lloyd, it symbolized a fracture in Dunham’s legacy.
On Saturday, “A Day of Dunham — Restoring the Legacy” will bring together disciples, patrons and students to pay tribute to the late dance pioneer many have dubbed “Matriarch of Black Dance.”
The event runs from 9:00 a.m. to midnight at the Westin Atlanta Airport hotel. Panel discussions and master classes will precede a dinner with performance tributes and soiree honoring Dunham and other dance luminaries.
It is the first major event produced by La Danse Noire, a non-profit organization aiming to illuminate black dance through its website, quarterly print publication, and annual tributes to dance pioneers.
It is fitting that Dunham, noted dancer, choreographer, author, educator and social activist, is primary honoree. As anthropologist, Dunham studied dance cultures of the Caribbean and Africa and combined what she learned with American dance to create a unique, African-American dance style for theater, film and the concert stage. Between 1943 and 1965, her company toured the U.S. and some 57 countries.
The late choreographer Alvin Ailey said Dunham showed that black dance material from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas “could be presented with elegance and style and class, and also say something about our history.”
During the late 1960s, Dunham established a school in East St. Louis, aiming to solve social problems through dance and cultural education.
Like many who studied there or with Dunham’s disciples, Lloyd feels she embodies Dunham’s concept of socialization through the arts.
Lloyd began dancing in 1976 on scholarship at the Jackie Thompson School of Dunham Technique in Springfield, Illinois, studying Dunham technique along with ballet, modern dance and jazz. Students performed in traditional African dress, in keeping with Dunham’s mission to empower young people by teaching them about their cultural roots.
In 1988, Dunham met with Lloyd, then in Atlanta, to discuss Dunham’s legacy. Dunham wanted to establish an Atlanta base, so Lloyd founded the Dunham Institute-Atlanta. They also talked about a publication to chronicle her legacy.
Lloyd broadened the publication’s focus to encompass all of black dance, incorporating “La Danse Noire” in 1994 as a monthly print magazine. The project waned due to limited resources, but Lloyd remained involved with Dunham and the East St. Louis-based organization founded to preserve her legacy.
In 2005, Dunham’s long-time assistant died, causing strife within this community. Lloyd went to help that summer, producing the last annual seminar before Dunham’s 2006 death. Before leaving, she agreed to loan “Afro-Caribbean Songs and Rhythms” to a local museum.
The returned broken records caused Lloyd to separate from the organization. But she stayed connected with Dunham people across the country.
Two years ago, new pieces came together. Lloyd found a home base at AREA, a local dance studio, where she and owner Jai McClendon Jones revived the Dunham Institute-Atlanta.
Then a friend gave Lloyd the 1947 recording of “Afro-Caribbean Songs and Rhythms.” The mint-condition boxed set re-affirmed her sense of purpose.
Lloyd started the website. Articles came in, attracting interest from across the country. The quarterly magazine is slated to debut before year’s end.
Saturday’s honorees include Frances Davis, Dunham company member and the first black dancer to perform with the Paris Opera Ballet. Trina Parks, Dunham alumna and first African-American James Bond girl, will present, alongside master teacher Edward Brown and choreographer Otis Sallid. Lloyd sees Dunham as the base of it all. “She was incredibly brilliant. She was warm, she was the embodiment of the best. She was this mighty force.”
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