Donald McKayle has been named by the Dance Heritage Coalition "one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: the first 100." His choreographic masterworks, considered modern dance classics, Games, Rainbow Round My Shoulder, District Storyville, and Songs of the Disinherited are performed around the world. He has choreographed over ninety works for dance companies in the United States, Canada, Israel, Europe, and South America. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and the Lula Washington Dance Theatre serve as repositories for his works. He is Artistic Mentor for the Limón Dance Company. Ten retrospectives have honored his choreography. In April 2005, he was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and presented with a medal as a Master of African American Choreography.