Hawai'i-made documentary traces dancer's steps

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	'Donald McKayle: Heartbeats of a Dance Maker' 8 tonight, PBS Hawai'i (KHET-TV)

The show, narrated by Della Reese ("Touched by an Angel"), will air later on the Public Broadcasting System network. PBS Hawai'i and Dance Pioneers produced the show with Hawai'i financing.

McKayle, an under-appreciated visionary, is one of those true pioneering hyphenates — a dancer-choreographer-teacher-conceptualist — who was the architect of his own destiny.

He ventured into dance at a time when few men excelled in established dance companies. He also was the rare beacon of color, overcoming established barriers of racism during a time when segregation was legal.

The show, with exciting archival footage of some of McKayle's landmark dances, explores his spirit and his artistry, and shows how he overcame prejudice, won audiences and expanded the borders of dance.

"My dances are always about human beings," he said.

Reese notes that his "body of work ... touches and instructs the heart."

Harry Belafonte, a fan and a friend, says his "work is filled with social commentary."

As a teenager, with no formal dance training, McKayle obtained a dance scholarship at the New Dance Group, a prestigious New York dance school. In 1948, at age 18, he broke the mold of conventional dance, staging "Saturday's Child," an innovative number set to a poem without music, which had a riveting sociological note — examining the plight of the homeless.

McKayle was a leader in the frontier of a changing dance world. He was the first male in Jean Erdman's company; his 1959 duet with Erdman, "Solstice," was the first bi-racial dance on the concert stage.

He choreographed works for a myriad of companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the San Jose Cleveland Ballet, and the Limón Company. He was nominated for five Tony Awards on Broadway over the years. His successes included "Golden Boy," the Duke Ellington musical "Sophisticated Ladies," and "Raisin."

McKayle's story came to Hawai'i with Gregg Lizenbery, who worked alongside Marilyn Cristofori of Dance Pioneers and PBS Hawai'i to create the documentary.

Lizenbery, who directs the dance program at the University of Hawai'i, said it took 14 years to get the McKayle story told.

"I had worked with Donald, with the Repertory Dance Theatre in Utah years ago, and later toured in a solo concert that featured some of his works," Lizenbery said. When Lizenbery relocated here 13 years ago, the project moved with him.

McKayle directed the producers to archival sources. Writer Victoria Kneubuhl was hired to script the show once elements were in place.

McKayle is now affiliated with the University of California-Irvine. "His career has been enjoying a second life, with more and more people recognizing who he is," Lizenbery said.

Joy Chong-Stannard produced, directed and edited the special. The University of Hawai'i, the National Endowment for the Arts, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the Hilton Hawaiian Village provided support.