What does ADLI mean in UNCLASSIFIED

The American Dance Legacy Initiative (ADLI) is a non-profit organization based in Rhode Island that works to collect, preserve, and share the stories of America’s dance histories. ADLI works to capture the memories and insights of living dancers and teachers, making their stories available to anyone interested in discovering the diversity of our nation's contribution to world dance culture.

ADLI works with community partners including universities, conservatories, museums, archives and cultural organizations to interview dancers and teachers about their life and work experiences. In addition, ADLI also uses photographs, films, notes, letters and other artifacts which are gathered for historical preservation purposes. Through its network of collaborators and contributors across the United States, ADLI ensures that these stories are discoverable digitally for future generations.

There are many ways you can get involved with ADLI! You can donate to help support its mission; become a volunteer interviewer; host or attend a workshop; submit photos or other materials for digital preservation; participate in research projects relating to dance history; or encourage your friends and family members who have experience in dancing or teaching it to share their stories with ADLI’s archivists.

Absolutely! Your donations help keep alive the stories of our nation’s unique dance heritage by funding important programs such as interviews with living dancers and teachers as well as the digitization process of archival material. These contributions help ensure that these records remain accessible for future generations so they may experience firsthand the vibrant culture behind each story told through America’s legacy of dance history.

You can visit our website at www.americandancelegacyinitiative.org/interviews where you will find an easily searchable list of all interviews conducted by our archivists since 2015—arranged alphabetically by name of dancer/teacher as well as chronologically by year of interview—so you can explore recordings related to different eras or styles of dancing. Additionally, we provide transcripts from those interviews alongside video excerpts whenever available.

Yes! We welcome volunteers who believe they have something special- whether that’s interviewing skills or knowledge about specific dances-to contribute towards preserving precious records from our nation’s unique dance heritage through our organization's mission which focuses on collecting invaluable oral histories from those within various disciplines in order to bridge gaps between generations through meaningful conversation about America’s rich legacies in movement arts. Interested volunteers should reach out via email at [email protected] for more information on how they can get involved.

Yes! As part of its mission statement advocating for education around movement arts culture - particularly interests within various communities throughout U.S.-ADLI regularly hosts specialized workshops related to topics such as interview techniques specific towards capturing individual histories within contemporary cultural settings among others taught by professional educators within field who often come equipped with decades worth first-hand experience within industry itself.