Dance Studies Colloquium
Rachel Fensham, University of Melbourne

Frocked by Katherine Dunham's L'Ag'Ya

Building upon Jane Bennett's (2010) notion of vibrant matter to consider the earthy animism of skirts, head-dresses, and other costume ornaments, this paper will examine the materiality of costumes worn in Katherine Dunham’s L’Ag’Ya (1938) and featured on the Temple Dance Studies Colloquium poster. In addition to discussion of their formal qualities, it will consider the role of her husband, designer John Pratt, in constructing her theatrical style, as well as Dunham’s own ambiguous relationship with Creole art and politics in Haiti. 

Rachel Fensham is a dance and theatre scholar who is Assistant Dean of the Digital Studio, University of Melbourne. Her current book project is on “Movement” in the Theories for Theatre Studies series, Methuen, and she has published widely on modern dance, dance costumes, and interdisciplinary research in Dance Research Journal, Critical Costume, Design History Journal.