Laura Knox

Laura Knox

Laura Toffel Knox (born c. 1925 in Chicago, Illinois; died April 1, 2011 in Birmingham) was a professional dancer and community activist. She founded Birmingham Creative Dance Group (now Southern Danceworks) in 1963 and created the Alabama Dance Council in 1973.

Before coming to Birmingham, Knox danced with Ballet International, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and with European and Puerto Rican professional companies. She moved to the city in 1960 and was soon pushing boundaries by forming the Birmingham Creative Dance Group, which performed a racially-integrated program at the Unitarian Universalist Church in 1963.

A dogged promoter of dance and movement, Knox took up the challenge of founding the statewide Alabama Dance Council in November 1973. Knox led several companies in the area, including the Birmingham Civic Ballet and Montgomery Civic Ballet. She mastered Hispanic and Indian dance forms which she shared with students and could be found most Saturday mornings conducting free Tai Chi lessons at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. She founded the ArtBurst series of avant-garde performances and also taught French and English as a second language.

Knox's husband, Victor, died in September 2010. She was survived by her children, Sylvia and Andre.

References

• Huebner, Michael (April 4, 2011) "Birmingham's Laura Toffel Knox, advocate for arts, civil rights dies at 85." Birmingham News