Celebrating dance

Courtesy of ArtsBHAM

Since 2002, Rosemary Johnson has been at the helm of the Alabama Dance Council, where one of her main tasks is to coordinate and curate the organization’s main event, the Alabama Dance Festival.

The festival takes place every January and features classes, workshops, auditions for summer dance programs, performances and more.  

Originally from Montgomery, Johnson moved to Birmingham when she was 8 and had a 20-year career in music education before transitioning into arts administration.

In 1976, she graduated from Samford University with a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and went on to obtain master’s and doctorate degrees in piano performance from the University of Alabama.

It was during her time teaching at Wallace Community College in Selma that she first became involved in arts administration. The university opened a theater in 1992, and Johnson started working as a presenter, bringing in jazz musicians, chamber music and dance groups.  

When eligible to retire from teaching, Johnson knew she wanted to pursue arts administration full time. She looked for jobs outside of the state, but the opportunity she was seeking came when the position of executive director of the Alabama Dance Council opened up.

In her time at the organization, one of the most notable changes she has made is bringing in a professional guest company to the Alabama Dance Festival. 

Over the years, the festival has hosted notable companies from around the country including the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York City-based Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion and Jessica Lang Dance, as well as Los Angeles-based CONTRA-TIEMPO. This year, the event will bring in a company a little closer to home: Ballet Memphis from Memphis, Tennessee. 

And although many factors inform the decision over which company will perform, Johnson consistently seeks two specific characteristics.

She wants to present companies that mainly or exclusively perform contemporary or modern dance repertory, rather than classical ballet, and that also do community engagement during residencies. 

“If community engagement isn’t really a part of what the company does, I’m less likely to pick them,” she said. “I don’t just want artists coming in, giving a performance and leaving. That wouldn’t have the same impact.” 

Johnson thinks engaging the community helps demystify dance. “It gives people an entry point to the art form [that] might otherwise only know about it through ‘The Nutcracker’ or TV,” she said. “It also shows them that you don’t have to be a dancer to appreciate dance.”

Another one of Johnson’s aims has been to ensure that a greater variety of dance styles are represented at festival, particularly during the “Dance Across Birmingham” event that features a day of free classes to beginners of all ages. 

“The diversity of dance in Birmingham is greater than people might realize,” Johnson said. “At Dance Across Birmingham, you’ll find classes in styles including African, Bollywood, belly dance, hip-hop and Latin dance. Dancers need a ballet foundation, but they also need to learn other styles to succeed professionally today.”

As is the case in most cities, Johnson notes there are challenges facing the Birmingham dance community. “It’s difficult to obtain funding,” she said, “and building dance audiences is challenging when many people are not as familiar with dance as with other arts such as music.”

Nonetheless, she thinks dance and dance education in Alabama — particularly the state’s collegiate dance programs — are stronger than ever. 

One of her ongoing goals, therefore, is to increase the visibility of the city’s dance scene, and she thinks the council is succeeding in this. 

“A lot of people around the country now know what we’re doing because of the festival,” she said. 

The Alabama Dance Festival takes place from Jan. 12-21. Ballet Memphis’ public performance will be Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Center’s Jemison Concert Hall. For more information, visit alabamadancecouncil.org.