Dance icon needs living, medical expenses
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
Katherine Dunham’s grand return home to East St. Louis last week twirled into more of a visit than a homecoming.
After conducting her annual dance seminar and celebrating her 96th birthday, the beloved modern dance doyen swung back to her New York abode to await completion of renovations to her former East St. Louis home.
During her grand homecoming celebration last week, a motorcade carrying Dunham drove past the house, but didn’t stop.
On Monday, Dunham, who hasn’t lived in the house for six years, returned to the home for a tour. The renovations – featuring a wheelchair lift, a patio, balcony and enlarged bathroom with a stone vanity – were a surprise to her.
“She was very cheerful and excited. At one point, she had tears in her eyes,” said East St. Louis Poet Laureate Eugene B. Redmond, a member of the Board of Directors for the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities.
Now, Redmond and his fellow board members are trying to get a foothold on raising funds. Monies are needed for her basic living and medical expenses.
The board met last Thursday at Yvetter Young Middle School to choreograph fundraising ideas.
“We need to pay gas and lights – grants can’t do that,” said board president Dr. Lena Weathers. “We need free money for nonspecific things, like gas and lights – if you can call gas and lights nonspecific.”
Ideas generated at the meeting included selling historical photographs of Dunham, creating children’s books about the former dancer and reprinting her own books.
Dunham’s books include Touch of Innocence (about her early childhood), Island Possessed (about her love affair with Haiti) and Journey to Accompong, an ethnographic travel narrative about the Maroons of Jamaica.
Norman Ross, executive director of the Greater East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, suggested tax increment financing (or TIF) for the Dunham home, museum and performing arts center and other institutions that would include Miles Davis’ former home.
“Those are the type of ideas we need,” Weathers responded. “We are attempting to bring light to Ms. Dunham as an institution.”
Redmond said Dunham came along a bit too early for television and never became a household name like many stars because that wasn’t her goal or style, which also speaks to her financial situation.
“She didn’t go for the big buck,” Redmond said, “And, whenever she had a nest egg, she put the money back into the institutions she built. She has been a servant of the causes of people, and she couldn’t and wouldn’t have taken advantage of becoming this big star because she was busy combining art, education and humanity.”
Still, her homecoming celebration befitted her majesty as a champion of African, Caribbean and American dance, human rights and anthropology.
A motorcade carrying Dunham and the mayors from both sides of the river began in Downtown St. Louis and ended at the Katherine Dunham Museum up the street from her home and performing arts center.
The motorcade stopped at the center of the Eads Bridge, where Dunham was greeted by drummers. She was then wheeled to a red carpet, velvet-rope throne.
“It’s good to be home,” she said to East St. Louis Mayor Carl Officer in 90-plus-degree heat.
Mayor Francis Slay presented her with a proclamation naming the day in her honor.
“Modern dance would not be what it is without your influences,” Slay said to Dunham, who was wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Perhaps her biggest treat during the ceremony, given her love for children, was the stirring performance of “Home,” by 12-year-old Brittanie Boyd.
Dunham will return to her East St. Louis home in August.
Donations for Katherine Dunham can be sent to: KDCAH, 532 North 10th St., East St. Louis, IL. 62201