M.I.S.T

M.I.S.T. (made in southeast texas) Aimed Dance’s “The.Arena”

story by Kinza photos by Lynn Lane

Aimed Dance is a performance arts nonprofit organization that provides the community with the opportunity to be exposed to dance as a fine art. The company does this through educational programming, live performances and a professional network. The collective offers resources to young dancers to reach their dreams through providing supplies and scholarships.

Aimed Dance’s, The Arena, was an intense experience of five rounds that start with human struggle and ends with coming together. The show opened with all of the 2021 company dancers entering the arena heated and ready to fight. A beautiful mess of people aggressively bucking up to each other but never coming in contact. It was like a brawl with no winners, just a release of hostile energy with a line being drawn across the arena splitting it into two sides. Round two is Lamaar Reed depicting an internal struggle. He is fighting himself, convulsing and reaching for something but his mind is holding him back. His round ends with him on the floor exhausted, panting with the battle being over. Round three is Haley White’s fight with self perception. She dances around the arena drawing attention to physical attributes as if she isn’t satisfied with her vessel. Spotlights turn on and off highlighting her body and gestures towards herself. Round four comes back to the line drawn down the arena. Kalee Irwin, Mia Paul, Aaron McClendon and Sarah Vicery enter the arena from opposite sides. The music is so loud with the hustle and bustle of instruments, and you can hear the repetition of “Get outta town” muddled in the noise. They sit in chairs facing each other so close, this line arguing with their dance. At some points they do cross to the other side as if they have won at convincing the other. Round five is a coming together of Tyler Rooney and Rachel Curtis. The whole performance they are in sync and do not come out of contact with each other. The Arena was theirs and there was no struggle between the two. This last round allowed the viewers to release the breath we were all holding in.

Read Kinza’s interview with Aimed Dance founder Amy Elizabeth at www.artstudio.org