A collaborative research project between Ohio State Dance Professor Dr. Harmony Bench and Dr. Kate Elswit (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama) focused on choreographer Katherine Dunham paved the way for the Institute for Dunham Technique Certification (IDTC) to bring their summer Dunham Technique Conference to Ohio State in summer 2023, in summer 2024 and again in summer 2025. The first week of the conference, July 14 – 19, was the Dunham Teacher Certification Workshop for dance teachers in the process of becoming certified to teach Dunham Technique. The second week, July 21-25, was a dance intensive open to Ohio State dancers and the broader Columbus community, in addition to Dunham Technique enthusiasts from around the world. We are very excited that current Ohio State Dance students were able to participate at low or no cost. This week included dance classes in Dunham, Dunham based Haitian, West African, Jazz, Modern and more. All classes were taught by certified Dunham teachers, but classes did not require previous Dunham training.
To learn more about the work IDTC does to preserve the embodied legacy of Katherine Dunham’s technique, visit their website: https://www.dunhamcertification.org/ or follow them on social media @InstituteforDunhamTechniqueCertification. To learn more about the award-winning work that Drs. Bench and Elswit have done using digital humanities approaches to analyze Katherine Dunham’s repertory, company membership and touring, go to www.dunhamsdata.org.