ASFA Alumna Returns To Alma Mater As Dance Instructor

BIRMINGHAM, AL — After more than 25 years in Chicago as an artistic director, choreographer, dancer and educator, Margi Cole and her company, The Dance COLEctive, are relocating to Birmingham.

Cole will become instructor of modern and contemporary dance at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, a 7th–12th-grade public magnet school, effective July 29, 2021.

Cole, an ASFA alumna, will instruct, choreograph, counsel and evaluate students in ASFA’s Dance Department. She will teach modern dance technique and theory, stage and choreograph original works for AFSA performances and lecture demonstrations, and mentor and advise dance majors and non-majors, among other responsibilities.

“I am ready to share my love of ASFA and my passion for empowering young artists,” Cole shared. “I can’t wait to fully immerse myself in the creative culture of the department, the school and the Alabama arts community. What a unique opportunity to return to my ‘roots’ and help cultivate future artists and community leaders in the place that opened the door to the artist I am today. I am incredibly grateful to be able to return ‘home’ to ASFA.”

After attending the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Cole went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in dance from Columbia College Chicago and a Master of Fine Arts in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In 1996, Cole founded The Dance COLEctive to help support the presentation of her work and work by her peers. She has since created more than 60 works and commissioned/created 15 solos. Her work has been performed at various venues and multi-artist festivals, both onstage and site-specific, locally and nationally.

“I am thrilled that Margi will be joining the ASFA Dance faculty,” said Dance Chair Wes Chapman. “She brings so much to the Dance Department through her vast experience as a teacher, choreographer, artistic director and administrator. Margi’s passion for ASFA Dance is already strong as she is an alum and recently staged her works and created new works for the ASFA Dance Department.”

In addition to her work at ASFA, Cole plans to continue leading The Dance COLEctive, producing concerts and engaging in projects.

“I’m looking forward to new opportunities for collaboration in Birmingham and beyond,” she said, “but, after a long and fruitful artistic journey in Chicago, I also hope I can maintain my ties there and participate in projects if they arise. I am extremely grateful to have enjoyed so many years of creative discovery and support.”

At the Alabama School of Fine Arts, students can earn their advanced high school diploma while specializing in creative writing, dance, math-science, music, visual arts or theatre arts. ASFA’s faculty provides a pre-professional arts conservatory program and college preparatory training for students from across Alabama.