For Women’s History Month, Peter London Global Dance Company celebrates women’s and men’s voices in a performance at the Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Ave., Coral Gables, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28.
The performance, “Women and Men’s Voices,” features dancers Stephanie Franco, Mar’Kayla Michel, and Kayin Knighton, Carlos Reageleno, and Aaron Lopez.
Franco will premiere her work “Woman of Many Dreams,” which she says represents “the raw woman’s artistic body with its many layers and visions. . . . I am exploring a deep listening to my ancestors while simultaneously being called to unravel my many stories and desires.”
Aron Lopez and Clinton Harris in King Carnival (Photo courtesy of PLGDC)
The choreographer-dancer says that she believes women’s voices are complex, deeply rooted and multi-layered.
“I am offering an experimental journey of a Cuban American artist unraveling her convoluted culture, entangled by the desire of meeting her interconnections to other voices or the spirit guiding her path. I am responding to the emotional architecture of the music and choreography, a layered sonic soundscape, reflecting the spirit of improvisation in the artists' free jazz composition, layered with a mystical ambience. I am reacting to this abstract structure where deep listening, play, and contemporary themes can coexist."
Kayin Knighton’s “Enduring Ecdysis” follows the scientific process of a snake shedding its skin as a metaphor for her own transformation.
“I'm telling a story of shedding an older version of myself: my previous perspectives, insecurities, and limiting beliefs. But this isn't just about loss; it's about renewal. After the shed, I return transformed, reclaiming what it means to be Black, harnessing joy, feeling truly alive. It's about emerging from that vulnerable moment into power.”
She says working with the Peter London Dance Company has helped her grow as a choreographer.
“I've learned to embody choreography with intention, strength, and purpose,” says Knighton.
Mar’kayla Michel says that for her, choreographing is “doing what feels good and feels natural while still portraying the emotions and theme of my work. Something that I’ve learned while being a part of PLGDC is that the smallest move can portray the biggest feelings, there’s strength in subtlety.”
Photographer: GREGORY REED,MFA
Peter London Global Dance Company presents "Women and Men's Voices" on Saturday, March 28 in Coral Gables. (Photo courtesy of Peter London Global Dance Company)
In addition to the works of the three female choreographers, the program also features Jamar Roberts’ “A Folk’s Tale,” a compact yet profound masterpiece that distills the depth, resilience, and poetry of the African American experience into movement.
Peter London’s newest work for six men plunges into raw emotional extremes. Beauty is dismantled, reshaped, and reborn. The conventional is obliterated as the dancers embody what Martha Graham once described as “divine ugliness,” an electric, unapologetic virility that is both visceral and transcendent.
The evening culminates with London’s vibrant “Carnival Street Fete: Caribbean Suite,” set to music by internationally celebrated jazz trumpeter and composer Etienne Charles.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Peter London Dance Company in "Women's and Men's Voices," An Electrifying Evening of Contemporary Dance
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 28
WHERE: Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Ave., Coral Gables
TICKETS: $30 available online
INFO: (786) 362-5132
