ASFA alumna comes home to teach dance at the school

Margi Cole, a dancer and choreographer, has spent the last 25 years in Chicago leading her own company, The Dance COLEctive, and performing in the United States and Europe.

But Cole, an alumna of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, has now come home to live and work.

Beginning July 29, Cole became an instructor of modern and contemporary dance at ASFA.

“I can’t wait to fully immerse myself in the creative culture of the department, the school and the Alabama arts community,” Cole said.

Among other duties, Cole will teach modern dance technique and theory and also mentor dance majors and non-majors.

In addition, she will stage and choreograph original works for AFSA performances and lecture demonstrations.

“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,” she said.

She brings “vast experience” to the position as a teacher, choreographer, artistic director and administrator, said Wes Chapman, ASFA Dance chair.

“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 department, Chapman said.

After attending ASFA, Cole earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Cole founded The Dance COLEctive in Chicago in 1996 and has created more than 60 works that have been performed nationally.

Her company has been committed to nurturing cutting-edge choreography, innovative collaborations and mentorship of new choreographers.

She has been on faculty at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago for more than 25 years and has taught and lectured widely, including Alabama Ballet, the American College Dance Festival, the American Dance Festival, the Joffrey Academy of Dance and Northwestern University, as well as Dance Ireland in Dublin and Maiden Voyage in Belfast, Ireland.

In 2005, Cole was awarded an American Marshall Memorial Fellowship and represented the United States on a month-long tour of Europe. She was one of 57 fellows that year from around the country and the only artist in the group.