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Donald Mckayle Papers MS.P.023 http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1k400389 No online items Guide to the Donald McKayle Papers MS.P.023 Finding aid prepared by Processed by Laura Clark Brown, machine-readable finding aid created by James Ryan, 1998; edited by Audra Eagle Yun, 2012. Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries The UCI Libraries P.O. Box 19557 University of California, Irvine Irvine, California, 92623-9557 949-824-3947 [email protected] © 2012 Note Arts and Humanities --Performing Arts--DanceArts and Humanities--Performing Arts --Theater Guide to the Donald McKayle MS.P.023 1 Papers MS.P.023 Title: Donald McKayle papers Identifier/Call Number: MS.P.023 Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries Language of Material: English Physical Description: 19.1 Linear feet(19 document boxes, 5 record cartons, 1 shoe box, 6 flat boxes, and 3 oversized folders) and 12.1 unprocessed linear feet Date (inclusive): 1930-2009 Abstract: Photographs, programs, production notes, music scores, audio and video recordings, costume designs, reviews, and other printed and graphic materials illustrate the eclectic career of world-renowned choreographer and University of California, Irvine Professor of Dance Donald McKayle. Early materials pertain to his youth in Harlem and his performance career in New York City in concert dance, theater and television. The bulk of the collection documents McKayle's career as the choreographer of over fifty concert dance pieces between 1948 and 1998 and as a director or choreographer for theatrical productions both off and on Broadway, including Raisin and Sophisticated Ladies. The materials illustrate the development of individual choreographic pieces, the evolution of McKayle as an artist, and his career as a dance educator. Creator: McKayle, Donald, 1930- Access The collection is open for research. Unprocessed negatives in box 25 are restricted from researcher use. Preferred Citation Donald McKayle Papers. MS-P 23. Special Collections and Archives, The UCI Libraries, Irvine, California. Publication Rights Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and University Archives. Acquisition Information Gifts of Donald McKayle in 1997 and 1998. Processing History The collection was processed by Laura Clark Brown and Emma Kheradyar in 1998. The finding aid was prepared by Laura Clark Brown and edited by William Landis in 1998; the finding aid was edited and updated by Audra Eagle Yun in 2012. Biography A world-renowned choreographer, Donald McKayle began his career in New York City, initially studying dance with the New Dance Group and dancing professionally for noted choreographers such as Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Sophie Maslow, and Anna Sokolow. In the 1950's he founded and directed Donald McKayle and Company, creating such landmark works as Games, Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder, and District Storyville between 1951 and 1962. Although originally created for McKayle's own company, these works are now found in the repertories of major modern dance companies such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. McKayle's career has taken him to and beyond Broadway, where he choreographed Golden Boy, directed and choreographed Raisin, and conceived and choreographed Sophisticated Ladies. He has worked in film and television as well, choreographing dance sequences in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Minstrel Man and directing the first episodes of the television series Good Times. Donald McKayle was born in New York City on July 6, 1930. A first-generation American and the son of Jamaican parents, he grew up in Harlem. The McKayles, a tightly knit, loving family, were part of the New York West Indian community which offered social interaction and cultural awareness to a young boy. McKayle first danced in public at a West Indian social activity. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and graduated in 1947. While in high school, McKayle showed a passion for both folk music and American and African-American history. He belonged to a high school chapter of the Frederick Douglass Society and a youth group called Club L'Ouverture which held folk dances and "sings," and on weekends he went to hootenannies and danced Latin at the Grand Plaza. His choreography later drew from these early experiences and interests. McKayle's early years in New York City and his interests in the performing arts and folk music were a prelude to his dance career, which began in his senior year in high school when he won a scholarship to New York's New Dance Group in 1947. Pearl Primus, a Trinidad-born dancer, choreographer and scholar of African studies, drew McKayle into a life in dance. Her powerful performances of pieces such as African Ceremonial and Hard Time Blues were watershed moments for the young McKayle. Primus, regarded by many as the "Mother of African-American Dance," was his first exposure to a dancer who "wedded African rhythms and themes to modern training." Guide to the Donald McKayle MS.P.023 2 Papers MS.P.023 After winning a scholarship to the New Dance Group, McKayle surrendered his life to dance. The Group was a large, democratic artists' organization with first-generation disciples of modern dance pioneers Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Hanya Holm and Charles Weidman. He had the opportunity to study under established choreographers, including Sophie Maslow, Pearl Primus and Jean Erdman. McKayle danced in several of Maslow's masterworks, including Folksay, The Village I Knew and Champion. The choreography and mentoring of Sophie Maslow and Pearl Primus had an enormous influence on McKayle's creative life. He adopted and adapted a similar approach to his own artistic work, whereby he translated both folk and African-American themes in his choreography. In McKayle's second year of formal dance training, the New Dance Group embarked on a concert season which thrust him into performance. He danced in Sophie Maslow's Folksay and Champion and Jean Erdman's Four Four Time. The New York City dance world in the 1950's was fluid and McKayle moved easily within it, dancing with and for such masters as Anna Sokolow and Merce Cunningham. He won a scholarship to study at Martha Graham's School of Contemporary Dance and had the opportunity to work personally with this pioneering choreographer. Graham created a solo for him in her piece Ardent Song. He joined and traveled with the Martha Graham Company on a State Department-sponsored tour of East Asia in 1955 and 1956, a tour comprised of both performances and lecture demonstrations by Graham. It was his first experience with world travel and foreign cultures and it both impressed him and influenced his creative work. While developing a busy professional dance career, McKayle began to choreograph first for himself and later for groups. In 1951 he founded Donald McKayle and Company. In 1969 he left New York and moved to California. He continued to perform, teach and create on the West Coast as artistic director of the Los Angeles Inner City Repertory Dance Company in the early 1970's. McKayle has not directed his own company since 1973. In 1963 McKayle won the Capezio award, his first major award for choreography, and he has continued to receive recognition for his art ever since that time. Other prestigious honors include the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award in 1992. In 1997 McKayle became the first creative artist to receive the UC Irvine Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award for Research. As Donald McKayle gained a solid reputation in the concert dance world as a choreographer, influential people in other theatrical realms took notice. The acclaim of his "jazz ballet" in pieces such as District Storyville drew the attention of Broadway producer Hillard Elkins, who asked McKayle to choreograph the dance sequences in his production of Golden Boy, starring Sammy Davis, Jr. Elkins was successful in enticing McKayle to choreography for Broadway, where Golden Boy premiered in 1964. The production was a success and McKayle earned a Tony nomination for his choreography, thus beginning another aspect of his career. In earlier years McKayle had danced on Broadway in Bless You All, House of Flowers, and West Side Story, and he had directed and choreographed musical theatre off Broadway. He later directed and choreographed a musical version of the hit play Raisin in the Sun, entitled simply Raisin. The production, starring newcomer Debbie Allen, became a success in its own right and won the Tony for best musical in 1974. McKayle has earned five Tony nominations for his work on Broadway. Donald McKayle conceived the Tony-nominated Broadway hit Sophisticated Ladies based on the life and writings of Duke Ellington. The show was originally titled "Duke," but was later given the "sexier" title Sophisticated Ladies before the show opened. Sophisticated Ladies premiered on Broadway in 1981 and starred Gregory Hines and Judith Jamison, who later became the director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. McKayle's original concept and staging of musical numbers had undergone a plethora of changes, but the "choreo-musical" that he conceived in 1978 received numerous Tony nominations. He won the NAACP Image Award for writing and an Outer Critics Circle Award for choreography in 1981. Sophisticated Ladies in 1981 was McKayle's last endeavor on Broadway. He has also directed and choreographed numerous regional theater productions before and since his stint on Broadway; other credits include Emperor Jones in 1986 and Evolution of the Blues from 1978 to 1979. Hollywood has also enlisted McKayle's talents. He choreographed dance for films, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Great White Hope and The Jazz Singer, and for television films and shows including The Minstrel Man, Free to Be You and Me, The Strolling Twenties, and The Ed Sullivan Show.
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