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male dancers in white pants walk forward with heads up while a man and a woman in front of them lunge backwards

Repertory

Rainbow Round My Shoulder

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

COMPANY PREMIERE

The Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 1972

WORLD PREMIERE

Donald McKayle Dance Company, 92nd Street YM-YWHA, 1959

MUSIC

Arranged by Robert de Cormier and Milton Okun from the collection of John and Alan Lomax

COSTUMES

Ursula Reed

LIGHTING

Chenault Spence

MUSICAL STYLE

Traditional

RUN TIME

18 Minutes

Hailed as Donald McKayle’s masterpiece, this powerfully athletic piece portrays the life of men on a prison chain gang. The memories of love and joy that sustain them are personified by a dream figure who appears as sweetheart, mother, and wife. By turns lyrical and muscular, McKayle’s sharply theatrical choreography explores the characters’ physical trials and emotional despair with equal intensity. “It is clear why Rainbow has survived, in its own quiet way, as a classic of American modern dance,” praised The New York Times. 

male dancers in white pants walk forward with heads up while a man and a woman in front of them lunge backwards

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder Photo by Paul Kolnik

A woman in a purple dress looks back at a man in white pants standing behind her.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder Photo by Paul Kolnik

A woman in a beige dress reaches one hand in the air with one leg slightly bent in front of her.

Renee Robinson in Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder Photo by Nan Melville

Four male dancers stand behind three male dancers sitting on the floor.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Donald McKayle's Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder Photo by Andrew Eccles