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Choreographer Donald McKayle worked with dance students Sept. 13–24 to prepare for the University Dance Company’s premiere of ‘Worldwide Rhythms’ in February. The Dance Company will perform choreography by McKayle and dance faculty Sandra Torijano DeYoung, Evelyn Velez-Aguayo and Robin Wilson. McKayle’s piece in the program is adapted from ‘Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder, ‘a piece that has been performed with professional dancers from Buenos Aires to Moscow. But working with students is a much different experience, McKayle says. ‘With students, you are developing people. It’s a very different process that has its own rewards.’
McKayle’s career began in the 1950s with the Martha Graham Dance Co. and has included associations with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Anna Sokolow and Merce Cunningham. A professor of dance at the University of California, Irvine, he also has been nominated five times for a Tony Award in choreography or direction. Photo by Bob Kalmbach