Miami Art Week
December 6, 2024
9:00 PM
‘My new dance work is inspired by the photos of Mac Stone and Clyde Butcher, further illuminated by a stunning variety of instrumental and field recordings created by Jose Elias. With the audience to bear witness, dancers will respond to images and sounds in celebration of one of America's most captivating ecosystems: the Everglades.” (Peter London, 2024)
Welcome to The Betsy's opening event that includes a new work by Peter London Global Dance Company that celebrates The Everglades by responding to the work of exhibited artists, Mac Stone and Clyde Butcher, set to a score by composer/arranger/performer Jose Elias drawn from material conceived during an Artist Residency in the Everglades.
Peter London’s work is commissioned by The Betsy Hotel and the City of Miami Beach with Jose Elias receiving support from The Betsy Writers Room in partnership with the Perez CreARTE program. The exhibition of Stone and Butcher’s works are exhibited collaboratively by The Betsy and the Everglades Foundation.
"Before my Artist Residency in the Everglades, I was deeply inspired by Mac Stone's Ted Talk. His exploration of the Everglades landscape resonated with me, influencing the experimental soundscapes I composed. Similarly, a conversation with Clyde Butcher at his Ochopee gallery ignited my passion for capturing the raw beauty of the Everglades in sound. It is an honor to have my music complement Peter London's performance and this stunning photography exhibit that will transport the audience to a world of both visual and auditory wonder." (Jose Elias)
About the Artists
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Peter London has danced with the Jose Limon Dance Company and was principal dancer with the Martha Graham Company. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, London graduated from Juilliard where he was a William Randolph Scholar, and has recently retired as professor at New World School for the Arts in South Florida. He is founder and artistic director of the Peter London Global Dance Company. Peter London Global Dance Company (PLGDC) is recognized as one of Miami's top dance companies - founded and directed by former Martha Graham Company principal dancer.
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Jose Elias is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, Cuban Tres player, arranger, and composer. He has performed on five continents producing wide-ranging musical projects and was a recent ‘artist in residence’ with the Everglades AIRES program, where he worked in tandem with indigenous musicians to create this work that has been re-imagined by Jose Elias for the Peter London Dance Company during Miami Beach Art Week 2024: Everglades Songbook Suite by Jose Elias.
"The Everglades evoke a terrestrial united eco-system of various plant and animal life: A wind swept water landscape, drenched in sun that is immediately unsettling, beautiful and spiritual. There is a deep sense of being lovingly embraced and gloriously suspended. It asks for nothing and no complaints are heard. It speaks in silence, like the gaze of a watchful mother upon her child playing in a state of bliss, unaware of potential dangers that may lurk in the shadows." (Peter London)
About the Photography
Clyde Butcher, Gator Hook ©2009, All Rights Reserved
Mac Stone, A Dream of Old Florida, All Rights Reserved
Clyde Butcher AND Mac Stone - Clyde Butcher is an American large-format camera photographer known for wilderness photography of Florida, often called "the Ansel Adams of Florida." Mac Stone grew up exploring the landscapes of North Central Florida and is a fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, and a contributing photographer for National Geographic. The Everglades Foundation partners with The Betsy Hotel’s exhibitions program to present artists Butcher & Stone.
