Gertrude Prokosch Kurath (1903–1992) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
r, researcher, author, and
ethnomusicologist
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
. She researched and wrote extensively on the study of dance, co-authoring several books and writing hundreds of articles. Her main areas of interest were
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
and
dance ethnology
Ethnochoreology (also dance ethnology, dance anthropology) is the study of dance through the application of a number of disciplines such as anthropology, musicology, ethnomusicology, and ethnography. The word itself is relatively recent and etym ...
, with some of her best known works being "Panorama of Dance Ethnology" in ''
Current Anthropology
''Current Anthropology'' is a peer-reviewed anthropology academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press for the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Founded in 1959 by the anthropologist Sol Tax1907-1995. ''Current A ...
'' (1960), the book ''Music and dance of the Tewa Pueblos'' co-written with Antonio Garcia (1970), and ''Iroquois Music and Dance: ceremonial arts of two Seneca Longhouses'' (1964), in the ''Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin''. She made substantial contributions to the study of
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
dance, and to dance theory. From 1958 to January 1972 she was dance editor for the journal ''
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...
''.
Biography
Gertrude Prokosch was born on August 19, 1903, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. She was the daughter of
Eduard Prokosch
Eduard Prokosch (15 May 1876 – 11 August 1938) was an Austrian historical linguist who specialized in Indo-European and, specifically, Proto-Germanic studies. He was the father of Gertrude Prokosch Kurath, Frederic Prokosch and Walther Prokosch ...
, a
historical linguist
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
, and sister to the writer
Frederic Prokosch
Frederic Prokosch (May 17, 1906 – June 2, 1989) was an American writer, known for his novels, poetry, memoirs and criticism. He was also a distinguished translator.
Biography
Prokosch was born in Madison, Wisconsin, into an intellectual family ...
. She graduated from
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
, receiving a BA in 1922, and an MA in art history in 1928, concurrently studying music and dance in Berlin, Philadelphia, New York, and Providence, Rhode Island from 1922 to 1928. She then studied music and dance at the
Yale School of Drama
The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in e ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, from 1929 to 1930. She danced under the stage name of Tula, starting in 1922. From 1923 to 1946 she was a teacher, performer, producer, and choreographer of
modern dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...
. In the mid-1940s, she turned her focus to the study of
American Indian dance, doing extensive fieldwork on the musical traditions of Michigan's
Anishinaabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...
and others. She was awarded grants for field research by the
Wenner-Gren Foundation
Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren (5 June 1881 – 24 November 1961) was a Swedish entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in the world during the 1930s.
Early life
He was born on 5 June 1881 in Uddevalla, a town on the west coast of Sweden. He w ...
from 1949 to 1973, the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
from 1951 to 1965, and the
National Museum of Canada The national museums of Canada are the nine museums in Canada designated under the federal ''Museums Act'' and operated by the Government of Canada. The national museums are responsible for "preserving and promoting the heritage of Canada and all it ...
(1962–1965, 1969–1970). She wrote about
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
,
Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
,
Six Nations, and
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
Indian dances, as well as on the subjects of
dance theory Dance theory is the philosophy underpinning contemporary dance, including formal ideologies, aesthetic concepts, and technical attributes. It is a fairly new field of study, developing largely in the 20th century. It can be considered a branch of e ...
and methods. In 1962, she founded the Dance Research Center in
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
.
Her other scholarly interests included the fields of folk liturgy and rock music.
Robert Commanday
Robert Paul Commanday (18 June 1922 – 3 September 2015) was an American music critic who specialized in classical music. Among the leading critics of the West Coast, Commanday was a major presence in the Bay Area music scene over a five-deca ...
of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' praised her addition to ''
The New Grove Dictionary of American Music'', saying, "For the first time in the country's history, a comprehensive survey of its music and musicians is available in a single reference work. It encompasses the spectrum, the fields of concert, opera, traditional, folk and popular music, and areas related to and touching on American music in every conceivable way - industry, technology, education, religion, literature.... Two treatments must be singled out as unique and outstanding. One is the 20-page study on "Indians, American" by Bruno Nettl and Charlotte Heth on the music, Gertrude Kurath on the dance. In addition, there are separate articles on the music of nearly 40 tribes and tribal groups. Equally impressive is the 22-page article on 'European-American Music', treating in sequence the musical cultures and influences here of 19 European countries."
Kurath died on August 1, 1992, just a few months after the death of her husband, linguist
Hans Kurath
Hans Kurath (13 December 1891 – 2 January 1992) was an American linguist of Austrian origin. He was full professor for English and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The many varieties of regional English that he encountered du ...
. Her archives are maintained at
Cross-Cultural Dance Resources
Cross-Cultural Dance Resources (CCDR) is a non-profit dance research organization in the United States, formed in 1981 and based in Tempe, Arizona. It maintains a non-lending library devoted to the study of dance, with over 15,000 shelved items pl ...
in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, which published her work ''Half a Century of Dance Research''. The Iroquois materials are housed in the Woodlands Cultural Centre in
Brantford, Ontario
Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...
.
Honors
* 1972, CORD (Congress on Research in Dance)
* 1986, UCLA Association of Graduate Dance Ethnologists
* 1987, Society for Ethnomusicology
* 2001, (posthumously), Society for Ethnomusicology
* 2001, (posthumously) Michigan State University Museum Heritage Award
Selected works
* Kurath, Gertrude Prokosch; Garcia, Antonio. ''Music and Dance of the Tewa Pueblos'', 1970
* Gertrude Prokosch Kurath / Jane Ettawageshik / Fred Ettawageshik / Michael D. McNally / Frank Ettawageshik, ''Sacred Music, Dance, and Myth of Michigan's Anishinaabe, 1946–1955''
* Kurath, Gertrude Prokosch. ''Half a Century of Dance Research''
* Helm, June, Nancy Oestreich Lurie, and Gertrude Prokosch Kurath. ''The Dogrib Hand Game''. Ottawa:
ueen's Printer 1966.
*
*
* "Panorama of Dance Ethnology" in ''
Current Anthropology
''Current Anthropology'' is a peer-reviewed anthropology academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press for the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Founded in 1959 by the anthropologist Sol Tax1907-1995. ''Current A ...
'' 1960, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 233–254
*''Music and dance of the Tewa Pueblos'' with Antonio Garcia,
Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, NM, 1970
*"Iroquois Music and Dance: ceremonial arts of two Seneca Longhouses", ''Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin'' 187, 1964
*Recorded the Ethnic Folkways Library record ''Songs and Dances of Great Lakes Indians'' 1956, #FM 4003, Folkways Records & Services Corp.
References
Further reading
* Charlotte J. Frisbie, 1977, "Music and Dance Research of Southwestern United States Indians" ''Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography'' number 36. Information Coordinators, Inc. pp. 30–35.
External links
Kurath Collectionat
CCDR
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; french: Agence de la santé publique du Canada, ASPC) is an Government agency, agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious ...
(pdf)
(A short Bio) https://web.archive.org/web/20120406063937/http://www.ccdr.org/kurath_bio.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurath, Gertrude Prokosch
Dance historians
1903 births
1992 deaths
Writers from Chicago
Bryn Mawr College alumni
Yale School of Drama alumni
20th-century American historians