By Arsht Center Staff

Most local dancers who wanted a career in the arts once had to leave Miami for New York to pursue their dreams. That changed when Peter London, a former principal dancer with Martha Graham and Jose Limon Dance companies, decided to create Peter London Global Dance Company. Now gifted dancers from New World School of the Arts and other acclaimed dance schools in South Florida can still call Miami home. And that’s good for dance lovers like us.

This Friday and Saturday, May 24 -25, witness the wonders of Miami’s own home-grown talents  when this contemporary dance troupe performs at the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., for the first time. The company of former and current New World students blends classical ballet, modern dance and Afro-Caribbean folkloric movements and music. This week’s two-night stint features a choreographic sampler of six new works that reflect the dancers’ diverse backgrounds, from Haitian to Korean.

“Part of the idea is to celebrate all of who we are,” says London, a longtime New World teacher who created his company in 2011, when he received a Knight Arts Challenge grant. London counts Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Robert Battle and Jamar Roberts among the students he’s mentored. Try to spot Miami’s next big star at one of the 7:30 p.m. performances.

General admission tickets for each night are $35.00. Tickets are on sale at the Adrienne Arsht Center box office by calling 305-949-6722 or can be purchased online at www.arshtcenter.org. Miami’s Green Family Foundation is hosting a VIP reception immediately following the Saturday performance.

Springs Nights at the Arsht Center” features Anasthasia Grand-Pierre (above) and other Miami-based dancers in the Peter London Global Dance Company.