Katherine Dunham, the acclaimed dancer, choreographer, teacher and anthropologist, rides a bike barefoot along the beach in Copenhagen. It’s 1959 and her eponymous dance troupe was visiting Denmark, one stop on a successful European tour. In the mid-’50s the Dunham Dance Company performed in a trio of films: Mambo (1954), made in Italy; Die Grosse Starparade (1954), made in Germany; and Música en la Noche (1955), made in Mexico. The Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theater, opened in New York at the end of World War II, boasted among its alumni James Dean, Eartha Kitt, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier and Shirley MacLaine. Photo: Phil Burchman.