The Katherine Dunham Company, a troupe of dancers, singers, actors and musicians, was the first African American modern dance

Modern dance

Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...

 company. It descended from Ballet Negre, a student troupe founded by Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham

Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...

, which later became the Negro Dance Troupe.

The company had successful runs on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 and in other major American cities. Beginning in the 1940s Dunham took her troupe on a series of highly acclaimed world tours.

Apprenticing in the Dunham Company helped launch the career of many African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 performers of the day. Dunham alumni include Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance...

, Rosalie King

Rosalie King

Rosalie King , also known as Rosalie Simpson, was an American character actress and singer.She appeared on radio in The Maxwell House Coffee Hour...

, Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt

Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...

 and Walter Nicks

Walter Nicks

Walter Nicks was an African-American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher of jazz and modern dance. He was a certified master teacher of Katherine Dunham technique. He was professionally active for nearly 60 years....

.

Successful reviews included the universally acclaimed Bal Negre (1946).

See also

• Modern dance
  Modern dance
  Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
  
  
• Postmodern dance
  Postmodern dance
  Postmodern dance is a 20th century concert dance form. A reaction to the compositional and presentation constraints of modern dance, postmodern dance hailed the use of everyday movement as valid performance art and advocated novel methods of dance composition....
  
  
• 20th century concert dance
  20th century concert dance
  20th century concert dance is the name given to a category of dance forms that include:* Free dance* Modern dance* Expressionist dance* Postmodern dance* Dance improvisation* Contemporary dance* Dance for camera...
  
  
• List of dance companies

External links

• Katherine Dunham timeline - includes information about the development of her company
• Katherine Dunham IMDb entry - includes a list of films in which she appeared, choreographed and/or her Company appeared