We were thrilled to have the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification in residence this week at Ohio State in Prof. Crystal Michelle Perkins’s Africanist movement practice class for first year Dance majors. IDTC was created in 1994 by Dr. Albirda Rose with the approval and input of Katherine Dunham, and the volunteer collective continues to train the next generation of expert teachers of the Dunham Technique. Penny Godboldo, Certified teacher and former co-director of IDTC, offered a lecture entitled “Survival/Resilience in Challenging Times Through the Wisdom of the Katherine Dunham Technique: A Way of Life,” and Rachel Tavernier, Master teacher and IDTC technique committee chair, offered a master class in Dunham Technique.
Socially distanced dancers in Prof. Crystal Michelle Perkins’s 1st year Africanist movement practice course at The Ohio State University move through barre exercises from Dunham Technique guided by Master teacher Rachel Tarvenier onscreen. Photo by Crystal Michelle Perkins.
Like other dance training organizations, IDTC members have had to modify their practices to continue sharing Dunham Technique. Rachel remarked that they decided to teach classes via Zoom twice a week solely on a donation basis so that students could continue their study and have an escape from the harshness of our times. They have discovered that by using Zoom, they are actually able to meet students from around the world—France, Mexico, Iran, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Brazil in addition to students all across the U.S.—who may or may not have been able to attend the regular summer seminars, which are usually held in person but were cancelled this year due to COVID. Zoom enables a “world community” to gather around the practice of Dunham Technique. Even after the pandemic is over, they plan to continue to offer classes online.
Composite image of Penny Godboldo’s lecture for dance students at The Ohio State University on the continued relevance of Katherine Dunham’s technique and philosophy for contemporary dancers.
Penny noted that it also felt important to continue this work in light of the current political climate, and especially as a way to affirm Black lives and experiences. Katherine Dunham promoted cross-cultural understanding and developing the whole person in her classes. For Dunham practitioners, the technique is more than a physical practice—“it’s a way of life.” The things learned in the dance studio are carried out into the world, including the mutual relationship between self and community, which requires self-understanding. The current period of COVID-related isolation is actually good for developing this self-understanding, Penny said. “Isolation does not mean being alone … or that you can’t be in community with others … or that you can’t find comfort in yourself.” Instead, it offers a space for self-interrogation where we can find the causes that that we’re passionate about and keep moving, because “anytime we’re not moving, we’re not doing,” and we “have to do something!”
