MACON, Ga. — Sounds like there's a lot going on at the Hayiya Dance Theatre.
This dance studio and cultural arts center dances to the beat of its own drum, but to founder Pilar Lowden– this is what joy sounds like.
At any point in our lives, we could all need some joy, and I'm happy to be able to provide that for our families here," Lowden says.
Hayiya is the African Zulu word for joy.
Lowden– an Augusta native–- picked it out when she opened her dance company 23 years ago as a recent Wesleyan College graduate.
"I didn't want to go home and compete with my own dance teacher or move to Atlanta where there are a lot of West African dance teachers, and no one was here doing what I was doing," she explained.
Now, they are one of Macon's only black-owned performing arts dance companies and the only one that teaches West African dance.
However, that wasn't always the case. Lowden says that 10 years before her, there was a local legend who taught Kuumba arts.
"She had already established this love and culture, so when she was gone, there was a void that I didn't even know that I was about to step into and fill," she explained.
They offer much, much more than dance.
"We are a cultural arts center," Lowden said. "We have piano, we have voice, we have STEAM, we have leadership, we have free tutoring for our students."
However, West African dance is their specialty aside from the ballet, jazz, tap, step, and hip-hop classes they offer.
"It's one of those dance styles that is approachable for anyone," she said.
Lowden says West African moves come from everyday life.
"Some of the dance steps mimic eating, or taking care of your family, or grooming yourself. It makes it easier for people to ease into the movements, and West African dance is non-threatening-- it's just fun," she said.
In the steps and moves, she also tries to teach a few lessons.
For so many years, African culture and black culture seemed to be invisible– even though our culture is the foundation for so many other dance forms," Lowden explained.
She says contemporary, jazz, tap, hip hop– their imprint is all over dance. Lowden says that their heritage, history, and culture get lost.
"So when people come here, you're going to learn a lot. I don't just teach the movements, you're going to learn where these dances came from," Lowden said.
She says you'll learn how to love yourself along the way.
"You'd be surprised how many students are not proud of themselves," Lowden said.
She says she remembers one girl who watched their performances and how it changed her perspective on body image.
"Her mother told me that she was so in awe because she saw dancers that looked like her," she said. "At the time, she thought only slimmer girls could be dancers, and seeing girls that looked like her– seeing me– in all shapes and sizes meant everything to her. It opened up the world to her when she had not seen herself on the stage before."
Lowden says West African dance is not something you age out of or weigh out of; it's a place where everyone is welcomed.
"You're going to understand that you're important too because this is a part of you. It's not just about the movements, it's understanding that movements are in you," Lowden said.
She's watched the joy spread over the years.
She started teaching 10 adults twice a week, now she teaches over 150 kids and adults. Lowden says just in the month of February, they have 20 to 30 public performances– multiple in a day.
Lowden says this is what she was meant to do.
"I was going to be a pediatric surgeon– that's all I ever wanted to do. I liked dancing, but that wasn't my focus until my mom got sick, and I could not dance," Lowden said.
This was when she was in the 11th and 12th grade. Lowden said she quit all her dance classes and got two jobs to help support her family during her mother's illness.
"Those two years of not dancing reminded me of what God really wanted for me. This is the gift that I am able to give to others," she said.
She says everyone should just give it a chance.
"You have a place in dance. You have a place where you want to be, not somewhere that someone tells you where to go."
Lowden says next Saturday, February 24th, they will present a performance called 'Stained Glass'.
She says it's an experience hard to describe in words, but it will feature live music, a choir, dance, and orators.
It's at 6 p.m. at Mount De Sales Performing Arts Academy.