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A Katherine Dunham Production.

Katherine Dunham [cover title]. Nelson L. Gross in association with Dan Melnick presents Katherine Dunham in Bal Nègre : A Brilliant Dance Revue with the Dunham Dancers, Jean Leon Destine, The Sans Souci Singers [title page].

[New York, ca. 1946.] 4to (10.625” x 8.375”), color illustrated wrappers. [18] pp., b&w illustrations throughout. CONDITION: Very good, light wear to wrappers.

A scarce and wonderfully illustrated souvenir program for Katherine Dunham’s Bal Nègre, providing an overview of Dunham’s stunning and innovative career, her oeuvre, and her dance school.

This program was published for Dunham’s production Bal Nègre, which opened at New York’s Belasco Theater in 1946 and played at the Geary Theater, San Francisco in 1948. On the heels of her “jackpot” show, Tropical Revue—“which scored a sensation the length and breadth of the U.S. and Canada”—and Carib Song, Bal Nègre is described here as “the latest in a brilliant succession of theatrical productions conceived and directed by Miss Dunham.” The program includes a glowing biographical sketch of Dunham (calling her story “one of the Seven-Day Wonders of the American entertainment world” and tracing the “union of dancing and science” that fueled her remarkable career); a discussion of “Primitive Rhythms : A New Dance Vocabulary…stylized by Katherine Dunham and presented as theatrical pieces”; and illustrated overviews of “Tropics” and “Le Jazz Hot,” including shots of “Shore Excursion,” “Bahian,” “Mexican Rhumba,” “Congo Paillette, a corn-sorting ritual,” “Rites de Passage,” “The Cakewalk,” “Flaming Youth,” and other dances. A section titled “The Company Rehearses” lists members of the dance Company, the Sans Souci Singers, and the Drummers, identifying them in several images of rehearsals and performances. The company’s resident composer-conductor, Gilberto Valdes, is shown as well, baton in hand. The program concludes with an overview of the Dunham School of Dance and Theatre, with illustrations showing a “primitive technique” dance class, a “West Indian Rhythm” drumming class, a drama class, and a children’s class practicing a “group dance.” A stylized illustration on the front wrapper depicts a dancing Dunham, arms raised as her magnificent white dress billows against a striking red, black, and green background.

Dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and activist Katherine Dunham (1909–2006) enjoyed one of the most successful dance careers of the twentieth century, and has been hailed as the “matriarch and queen mother of Black dance.” She earned a PhD in anthropology form the University of Chicago, and won acclaim for her innovative interpretations of dances from the Caribbean and Latin America which she based on her anthropological research in the West Indies and beyond. At the apogee of her career during the 1940s and ’50s, she achieved great success throughout Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. with her own all-Black Katherine Dunham Dance Co., which she directed for nearly three decades. The company was the sole self-supported Black American dance troupe of its day. Over the course of her long career, Dunham choreographed over ninety individual dances, made important contributions to the field of dance anthropology, and innovated African American modern dance. She also choreographed and starred in dance sequences in films, and was the recipient of numerous awards. Many students trained at her Chicago and New York studios went on to become notable figures in the field of modern dance.

OCLC records holdings at SUNY Binghamton, University of Miami, University of Maine at Orono. Two other OCLC records seem to record related programs, similarly scarce.

A rare and fabulous souvenir program for Katherine Dunham’s Bal Nègre, produced early in her remarkable career.

REFERENCES: “Katherine Dunham” at Britannica online. 

Item #10152

Price: $295.00

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