Donald McKayle, Choreographer
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Songs of the Disinherited

Picture
Premier:  1972
Length:  20 minutes
Dancers:
Available for Re-staging:  Yes
Categories:  Small Ensemble, Large EnsembleMusic • Richie Havens: Stormy
Sung by • The Voices of East Harlem


Notes:  Angelitos Negros is available as part of a suite of solo dances for women
             Upon the Mountain is available as a duet

About Songs of the Disinherited

Songs of the Disinherited  is one of Donald McKayle’s heritage masterworks. It examines and speaks deeply of varied aspects of the Black Diaspora in the New World. It’s four movements begin with the driving spiritual “I’m On My Way,” a relentless rendering  of determination and forward movement out from the abyss of slavery. The second movement, “Upon the Mountain,” a depression blues, is an anguished cry  of hunger  and the resolve to survive. The third movement, “Angelitos Negros,” a study in black majesty , is a towering  depiction of female strength. The final movement, “Shaker Life” is an urban gospel that dispels doubt and celebrates life.

Songs of the Disinherited was choreographed in 1972 for the Inner City Repertory Dance Company of Los Angeles and since than has entered the repertories of the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble among others. The solo Angelitos Negros  has also  been performed by Elizabeth Roxas of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Roxane D’Orleans Juste of the Limón Dance Company, Melissa Young and Nycole Merritt of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, and is a signature performance piece for the dance soloists Stephanie Powell and Nejla Yatkin

More Information: info@DonaldMcKayle.com