{"id":2248328,"date":"2026-01-24T11:21:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:21:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2248328"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:21:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:21:31","slug":"showcasing-the-powerful-intersection-of-dance-and-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/showcasing-the-powerful-intersection-of-dance-and-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcasing the powerful intersection of dance and music"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jazz artist and Frost School of Music professor Etienne Charles and Miami choreographer Peter London connect in many ways: their shared Trinidadian heritage, the way they blend Afro-Caribbean culture with contemporary American jazz and modern dance, and their dedication to education.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>concert<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>they will present on Feb. 5 as part of the\u00a0<\/span>Frost Music Live<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>series not only promises to be a thrilling showcase of original music and dance, but also a powerful demonstration of the legacy of artistic mentorship and the expanded possibilities created through collaboration and community engagement.<\/p>\n

Frost School professor and jazz artist Etienne Charles.\u00a0<\/span>Photo: Samuel Leon \/ Edin Studios.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of great stuff happening in Miami,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Charles<\/a>. \u201cI wanted to bring this to the Frost School to show we\u2019re engaged with the community and with other partners and players in town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Etienne is looking at is global education,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>London<\/a>, a revered longtime dance teacher at Miami\u2019s renowned\u00a0<\/span>New World School of the Arts<\/a>, which offers conservatory training within a public high school program. \u201cHow many universities in this country have that opportunity to create a global experience not just in music, but in dance and history? Etienne is doing the finest thing he can as an educator, not just for his students, but for the community and the institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Choreographer
Choreographer, director, and teacher Peter London. Photo courtesy Peter London.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The concert features the\u00a0<\/span>Peter London Global Dance Company<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(PLGDC) performing original dances to musical works by Charles, several of which were commissioned by London. Two were choreographed by\u00a0<\/span>Jamar Roberts<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>Lloyd Knight<\/a>, former students of London who have become acclaimed dance artists. The music will be performed by the 20-member\u00a0<\/span>Frost Studio Jazz Band<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>(FSJB), which Charles directs. Four Frost School\u00a0<\/span>dance program<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>students and one faculty member\u2014also a former student of London\u2019s\u2014will join the nine professional dancers in London\u2019s troupe for two pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of what we do at the Frost School is create unique, unforgettable experiences for students and audiences,\u201d said Charles. \u201cWhen is the last time you had a jazz big band playing original music by the composer and director for a dance performance?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Peter
Members of Peter London Global Dance Company in London\u2019s \u201cKaiso Bacchanal,\u201d with music arranged by Etienne Charles.\u00a0<\/span>Photo by Gregory Reed.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

London first choreographed to music from Charles\u2019 album \u201cCreole Soul\u201d for an online, pandemic-era concert. \u201cIt was phenomenal music,\u201d London said. \u201cIt had all the rhythms you have in Trinidad that I grew up with. It opened a floodgate of creativity.\u201d He was thrilled when he heard Charles would be joining the Frost School in 2022. \u201cI\u2019m like \u2018the gods set us up,\u2019\u201d London said. \u201cIt\u2019s a match made in heaven.\u201d He asked Charles, a fellow Trinidadian native, to compose music for a new work inspired by\u00a0<\/span>Trinidad and Tobago Carnival<\/a>, the giant annual celebration at the heart of the country\u2019s culture. Named \u201cBacchanal Tuesday,\u201d it invokes Carnival\u2019s delirious street parties and African-rooted rhythms, and was presented at the PLGDC\u2019s annual concert at Miami\u2019s Adrienne Arsht Center in 2023.<\/p>\n

London followed with two more music commissions for Charles for works by his former New World students, which PLGDC performed in 2024 and 2025. (He was also inspired to commission music from Frost School jazz professor and pianist\u00a0<\/span>Martin Bejerano<\/a>, whose sister-in-law is a dance teacher at New World.)<\/p>\n

\"Dancer
Dancer and choreographer Jamar Roberts, who studied with Peter London, created “As an Offering” to honor his former teacher, to an original score by Etienne Charles.\u00a0<\/span>Photo by Michael Avedon.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI thought it would be a great thing for my American kids to work with a Caribbean composer, using their contemporary modern dance blended with contemporary Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean dance, to music that is a mix of Afro-Caribbean and American jazz,\u201d London said.<\/p>\n

One was the solo \u201cDeeply Rooted\u201d by Lloyd Knight, a leading dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company\u2014founded by the godmother of modern dance, and the troupe where London was a principal dancer for many years. The other was a group work by\u00a0<\/span>Jamar Roberts<\/a>, who was a longtime star dancer at the\u00a0<\/span>Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater<\/a>, the hugely popular and influential modern dance company, before becoming an\u00a0<\/span>acclaimed<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>choreographer<\/a>; he is currently a guest faculty member at The Juilliard School\u2014which both Charles and London attended.<\/p>\n

\"Dancer
Dancer Lloyd Knight choreographed “Deeply Rooted” to Etienne Charles’ music “Green Thumb.”\u00a0<\/span>Photo by Melissa Sherwood.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roberts\u2019 piece, \u201cAs an Offering,\u201d is a tribute to his former teacher. \u201cJamar said it was in honor of me, in honor of mentors and the future,\u201d London said. \u201cHe created a ritual dance of honoring, of celebration, of unity. The music is just phenomenal, and the piece is mesmerizing and powerful. People love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Charles proposed bringing their collaborations to a Frost School stage, while adding the FSJB and the school\u2019s dance program.<\/p>\n

Charles was recently commissioned by the Ailey company to\u00a0<\/span>compose the score for \u201cJazz Island,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>a new dance by Maija Garcia inspired by a book by the legendary Trinidadian dancer, choreographer, and actor\u00a0<\/span>Geoffrey Holder<\/a>\u2014also a mentor to Charles\u2014 which premiered at the company\u2019s New York season in December. It was an expansion of his experience collaborating with London, and of his own instincts as a composer from a culture where dancing is second nature.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Frost Studio Jazz Band will perform with the Peter London Global Dance Company.\u00a0<\/span>Photo courtesy Frost School of Music.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI always write [music] with body movements in mind,\u201d Charles said. \u201cWorking with Peter prepared me for understanding the story in a dance, understanding what a choreographer wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with Charles has been equally inspiring to London, who hopes this concert will capture the excitement and value of their collaboration. \u201cPeople will get a firsthand look at how we can come together, from different experiences and different groups, to produce the highest level of excellence in the arts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If you go:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong>The Peter London Global Dance Company and Frost Studio Jazz Band directed by Etienne Charles perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, at Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr. on the Coral Gables Campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Tickets and information here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
A member of Peter London Global Dance Company in Jamar Roberts\u2019 \u201cAs an Offering\u201d with music by Etienne Charles.\u00a0<\/span>Photo by Gregory Reed.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source news.miami.edu \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jazz artist and Frost School of Music professor Etienne Charles and Miami choreographer Peter London connect in many ways: their shared Trinidadian heritage, the way they blend Afro-Caribbean culture with contemporary American jazz and modern dance, and their dedication to education. The\u00a0concert\u00a0they will present on Feb. 5 as part of the\u00a0Frost Music Live\u00a0series not only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2248329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[435306,435309,435310,260129,187166,435303,435304,435308,435307,435305],"class_list":["post-2248328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-afro-caribbean-culture","tag-etienne-charles-jazz","tag-etienne-charles-trinidad","tag-frost-school","tag-frost-school-of-music","tag-peter-london-dance-company","tag-peter-london-global-dance-company","tag-trini-culture","tag-trinidad-carnival","tag-trinidadian-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Showcasing-the-powerful-intersection-of-dance-and-music.webp.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248330,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248328\/revisions\/2248330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}