Doves for Durham.

Hordes of people waited in lines that snaked around the block at Symphony Space at 95th and Broadway in Manhattan last September. They were hoping to get a seat to see "A Salute to the Extraordinary Life of Miss Katherine Dunham," who died in May (see "Transitions," Aug.). Produced by Dr. Glory Van Scott, the program began with laudatory remarks from Congressman Charles Rangel and Raymond Joseph, the Haitian Ambassador to the U.S. Jennifer Dunning told stories about how obsessed Miss Dunham was with current injustices and concluded, "Miss Dunham was a fabulous broad." Arthur Mitchell said, "People think it was just black dance. She was the queen of dance."

The Katherine Dunham Children's Dance Workshop, from East St. Louis, demonstrated that Dunham technique is still a vibrant and rigorous amalgam of modern dance and African-based forms. Eight companies, including those of Alvin Ailey, Joan Peters, Joan Myers Brown (Philadanco), and Fred Benjamin, were represented. Two dancers from Dance Theatre of Harlem performed an excerpt from Doina, an exquisitely sculptural duet by Royston Maldoom. In Louis Johnson's Shout, Hollie Wright strutted and fumed with vigor and charm. The Charles Moore Dance Company performed Miss Dunham's signature work, Shango (1945), which depicts a Yoruba sacrifice, with a community of people all in white dancing to the beat of four drummers. Jerbean Gilkes, as the one who becomes "possessed," writhed on the ground and then stood on a table, vibrating his whole body. Presumably overtaken by the snake god, he flicked his tongue while being carried atop a conga drum. The sense of a somewhat chaotic community ritual was stirring.

The second half continued showings by the Children's Workshop and finally, at the end of a long but inspiring afternoon, audience members trooped outside for a special avian farewell. Traffic was stopped, the drummers played, and 97 doves (Miss Dunham was almost 97 when she died) were released. They flew high into the sky and scattered.