DONALD MCKAYLE FACT SHEET



Date/Place of Birth
  • Born on July 6, 1930 in East Harlem
Background/Training
  • Began training at the New Dance Group where he successfully auditioned for a scholarship and studied various techniques
Performing Highlights
  • Made his professional debut in dances by Sophie Maslow and Jean Erdman
  • Performed in the companies and works of Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, and Martha Graham
  • Performed in several theatre productions, including House of Flowers and West Side Story
Choreographic Highlights
  • Choreographic accomplishments include Games (1950), Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (choreographed in 1950 and revisted in 1996 to create Rainbow Etude, the first etude of The Repertory Etudes Collection), Her Name Was Harriet, which was originally presented in 1952, but was later reworked and retitled They Called Her Moses, District Storyville (1962), Sophisticated Ladies, Four Vignettes (Rhythm, Blues, Ballad, Reel), Golden Boy (1964), and Raisin (1974)
  • Also choreographed for Shakespeare in the Park plays performed each summer in Central Park, as well as for television shows including Bill Cosby's TV specials and the 1973 Oscar Awards ceremony
  • His work can be seen in several films such as Disney's 1970 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Teaching/Directing/Personal Company Highlights
  • Taught at the New Dance Group, Bennington College, and the Juilliard School
  • Worked with Batsheva, Harkness, and Alvin Ailey companies
  • Served as Dean of the School of Dance at Cal Arts
  • Professor of dance at UC Irvine
  • Served as artistic director of the Los Angeles Inner City Dance Company



Where to find more about Donald McKayle


Print

Adamczyk, Alice J. Black Dance: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989.

Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance From 1619 to Today. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book Company, Publishers, 1988.

Long, Richard A. The Black Tradition in American Dance. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1989.

Marks, Marcia. "The Subject is People," Dance Magazine Feb. 1963: 30-35.

McKayle, Donald. Transcending Boundaries: My Dancing Life. 2002

Perpener, John O. African-American Concert Dance: The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001.


Video

Free to Dance. Prod. and Dir. Madison Davis Lacy. Exec. Prods. Charles L. and Stephanie Reinhart. Presented by the American Dance Festival and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. 2001.

Speaking of Dance: Donald McKayle. Dir: Douglas Rosenberg. Prod. American Dance Festival Video. 1993.


Internet

Free To Dance. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/freetodance/