Dance / Yellow Bird connection - Beyond Tiki

I ikitnrev Tiki Socialite D.C. / Virginia Joined: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1325	I ikitnrev Posted posted on Tue, May 23, 2006 2:39 AM I was reading the recent obituary of dance choreographer Katherine Dunham - a name I likely would not have recognized one week ago. But she was a key figure in exploring and building connections between Western Dance and Caribbean music and island mysticism, and developed techniques that helped form the bedrock of modern dance. One of the members of Dunham's dance company was the wife of singer Harry Belafonte - he is listed as saying that it was Dunham who "revealed to him the beauty of that music" and helped him to appreciate Caribbean music, which led him to record such songs as 'Yellow Bird.' So, following the threads of influence ... Katherine Dunham inspires many people with her dance and rhythm, Belafonte records some Calypso music in the mid 50's, starting a glocal Calypso craze, and a few years later, Arthur Lyman has his biggest hit with the recording of 'Yellow Bird' I may not have known her while she was living, but I can appreciate her presence in our world now that she is gone. The full appreciation/obituary can be found here at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201838.html Vern

I was reading the recent obituary of dance choreographer Katherine Dunham - a name I likely would not have recognized one week ago. But she was a key figure in exploring and building connections between Western Dance and Caribbean music and island mysticism, and developed techniques that helped form the bedrock of modern dance.

One of the members of Dunham's dance company was the wife of singer Harry Belafonte - he is listed as saying that it was Dunham who "revealed to him the beauty of that music" and helped him to appreciate Caribbean music, which led him to record such songs as 'Yellow Bird.'

So, following the threads of influence ... Katherine Dunham inspires many people with her dance and rhythm, Belafonte records some Calypso music in the mid 50's, starting a glocal Calypso craze, and a few years later, Arthur Lyman has his biggest hit with the recording of 'Yellow Bird'

I may not have known her while she was living, but I can appreciate her presence in our world now that she is gone. The full appreciation/obituary can be found here at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/22/AR2006052201838.html

Vern

Post #233479 by ikitnrev on Tue, May 23, 2006 2:39 AM