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This is the third in a series highlighting a small few of the stellar volunteer and non-profit arts organizations in the Birmingham area. 

The most effective way for a community to grow is to make meaningful, diverse connections.  Alabama Dance Council's mission statement is "To promote the study, creation, performance and enjoyment of dance in all forms. The ADC offers a forum for communication about dance and provides services that support the artistic work of professional dancers, choreographers and dance educators, and advance the artistic experiences of dance students and audiences."  ADC has some events slated this month to further their mission. 

The first, their biggest anual event, the Alabama Dance Festival, begins this week on Wednesday, January 13th and runs through Sunday, January 17th.  At the festival, dancers may attend showcases and take master classes and workshops in traditional disciplines (ballet, modern, tap, jazz) as well as world, Broadway and aerial dance.  Students may register for a single class or a Full Track Package, which includes six classes, a ticket to each of the showcases (Battleworks and the Alabama Festival Showcase), meals on Saturday and Sunday and a festival t-shirt.  

Also a part of the festival, three workshops will be held at Birmingham Southern College on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m.  These workshops are targeted not only to dancers but to arts educators and arts administrators.  The first workshop, Engaging Audiences and Growing Your Web Presence, will be led by Jaki Levy of New York City dance company Misnomer.  This workshop will coach attendees how to use free web platforms such as YouTube, Flickr and Wordpress as free marketing tools.  Levy will guide workshop attendees in specific, individualized scenarios to help them support their current projects. 

The second and third workshops will be led by Leatrice Ellzy and Michael Moss, whose experience with The National Black Arts Festival has become an invaluable teaching tool.  At 11 a.m., the two will lead Using Second Life to Engage Audiences, a workshop based on the online 3D virtual world "Second Life".  Ellzy and Moss will demonstrate how arts administrators and educators can use Second Life to host virtual concerts and events, building their audience online which in turn fortifies and grows artists' audiences in the live venue.  Next, at 1:30 p.m., Ellzy and Moss will turn the focus to social media, teaching attendees to exploit some of these websites' untapped tools such as streaming, widgets and unified messaging systems to reach and grow audiences.  Workshops are $10.

Another event ADC is bringing to Alabama residents also happens this weekend as a part of the Alabama Dance Festival.  Dance Across Birmingham is an affair for the novice dancer or dancer wanna-be.  FREE community dance classes will run all day on Saturday, January 16th in styles from Latin and African dance to hip-hop, swing and ballroom.  There will also be creative movement classes provided to pre-schoolers that day.  All classes will be held at the BJCC and are FREE and open to the public.  Those who wish to attend can register online at the ADC's website.

Alabama Dance Council works through their events to unite and support not just dance, but all areas of the arts in the state of Alabama.  For more information, visit their website.  For information on any of these events,  you may follow this link to our calendar, click on specific dates and read each event's press release. 

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