Donald McKayle, Choreographer
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I've Known Rivers

World Premiere, August 12, 2005, Saratoga Springs, NY
Choreography • Donald McKayle
Music • Margaret Bonds
Poem • Langston Hughes - The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Tenor • Darryl Taylor Pianist • Maria Corley
Costume Design • Melanie Watnick
Available for Re-staging: Yes
Repetiteurs: Stephanie Powell, Karen Wing

Dedicated to the inspiration of the pioneering artist scholar, Pearl Primus, and to the memory of the supreme dancer, Janet Collins

This solo has been performed by Stephanie Powell, Karen Wing, Stacie Aung, and Ching Ching Wong. 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
by Langston Hughes

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world
 and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln 
went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy 
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Picture
Stephanie Powell in "I've Known Rivers"
More Information: info@DonaldMcKayle.com