Donald Mckayle

Donald McKayle (1930-2018)

Dancer, choreographer and teacher. Born in New York. At age 17, McKayle won a scholarship at the New Dance Group studio, where he started his professional training. His teachers in those early years including Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Anna Sokolow. At age 18, McKayle premiered his first choreography, a solo piece of his own performance called Saturday’s Child (1948). In 1951, he created a company of his own which performed until 1969. Ever since then, he had choreographed for many companies around the world, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Cleveland Ballet, Ballet San Hose, L.A. Contemporary Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Lula Washington Dance Theatre and others. In 1970-1974, he served as the artistic director of Inner City Dance. Since 1995, he was the artistic advisor of the Limón Dance Company. In addition, he choreographed in a wide range of theater, TV and cinema productions, including Sophisticated Ladies, The Cosby Special, and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Over the years, McKayle choreographed six dances for Batsheva: Daughters of the Garden (1964); Nocturne (1965); Album Leaves (1976); Mountain of Spices, Rainbow Round My Shoulder (1977); Looking for Jerusalem (1985).
McKayle has taught in many institutes throughout his life, including Bennington College and Juilliard. He served as the Dean of the School of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts and a lecturer and artistic director at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
McKayle has been the subject of many awards, commendations, and retrospectives. In 1992, he won the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, and in 1994 he won the American Dance Guild’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement. McKayle was also included in the Dance Heritage Coalition’s 100 Dance Treasures list.