MIAMI, USA – Miami’s leading multicultural, contemporary dance ensemble, the Peter London Global Dance Company (PLGDC) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has named Kal Gajraj as its first executive director. Gajraj comes to PLGDC after serving as the chief marketing officer of the Florida Grand Opera.
Peter London, founder, artistic director, and choreographer says, “The Company is looking forward to the next decade of artistic innovation and will expand its base, as well as tour nationally and internationally as the multicultural dance company ambassador for Miami.”
London welcomes Gajraj who is a skilled and experienced leader in the arts field. PLGDC board president and chief executive officer of Avram Corporation, Herbert J. Coleman added, “We are pleased to select someone with Gajraj’s 20 years of professional brand management and fundraising track record.”
Gajraj who holds an MBA and MPA from the Keller Graduate School of Management said, “I am honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the vision of our founder Peter London, bring my passion for diversity in the arts, and join with our Board Members, choreographers, dancers, and patrons to propel the company even higher.”
Peter London notes that “in this time of both the global COVID-19 health pandemic and global social justice protests, the arts have lent a different voice to emotional feelings and can help bring healing to people because art is another window from which to view a situation and celebrate what is positive about humanity.”
London’s unique dance aesthetic blends the traditional retention of West African dance from the Caribbean, the Martha Graham technique and other modern dance forms, and classical ballet. London says his multi-ethnic heritage from the cosmopolitan country of Trinidad and Tobago, with its Spanish, French, African and East Indian influences of people, energy and vibrations, infuse the global nature of his work.
PLGDC’s 2019 season began in January 2019 at the Adrienne Arsht Center with the highly acclaimed and sold-out collaboration performance at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center with both the PLGDC dance ensemble and the dancers from the Dance Theatre of Harlem. The companies performed the dance work “Dougla,” choreographed and designed in 1974 by world-renowned choreographer Geoffrey Holder.
The 2019 Season culminated with the December 2019 performance of “CROSSING” that included company premieres of London’s “YORUBA YARD” and additional choreography for “Black Men Stories” with new written work and performance by Eddie Brown, Miami playwright and actor, including his reading of an excerpt of a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Miami playwright, actor and Academy Award winner for the movie “Moonlight,” and writer for the award-winning TV series “David Makes Man,” and guests choreographers and dancers Gentry Isaiah George, Lloyd Knight and Nathaniel Quinn Sokol Davis.
The highly anticipated 10th anniversary season will include a December 2020 performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, with a world premiere masterwork created by Peter London and guest choreographers that will celebrate women. The piece will be performed either live on stage with an audience or virtually via the Internet on multiple platforms depending upon the Arsht Center and official Miami-Dade government directives regarding public gatherings in light of COVID-19 at that time.
