Dance Unscripted
Dance Unscripted brings together working artists, makers, and educators to explore creative research, pedagogical practices, dance-making, and more. It aims to break down barriers between audience and artist, educator and student, and professional and novice, creating a space for conversations that foster engagement, collaboration, and connection across diverse participants and fields.
This project is funded through a grant from the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.
Dance Unscripted
Ep 1: Flip the Script with Shelby Brannan
In the inaugural episode of Dance Unscripted, host Amy Elizabeth, alongside Shelby Brannan - Aimed Dance Board President - delves into the mission and evolution of Aimed Dance, a performing arts organization in Southeast Texas. The conversation explores the importance of resilience in the community, particularly in the face of natural disasters, and how dance serves as a medium for fostering hope and connection. The podcast aims to bridge the gap between the dance world and the community, emphasizing the accessibility of dance as a natural form of expression. Amy shares her passion for learning and the desire to engage with guests on topics such as creative research and the role of dance in personal and communal resilience.
Season One is brought to you by a grant through the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.
Amy Elizabeth
Welcome to Dance Unscripted. I am your host, Amy Elizabeth, and on this episode, we are joined by Shelby Brannan. As the board president for Aimed Dance, Shelby is the perfect guest to kick off this special episode where we go behind the scenes, change roles, and introduce the podcast and its host. Shelby will be asking me questions, gaining insider perspective on why Dance Unscripted and why now. We'll be discussing our collaborators and more. Be sure to stick around to the end for additional project information.
Amy Elizabeth
Welcome to Dance Unscripted. I am your host Amy Elizabeth and this is episode one where we have the privilege of sharing the mic with Shelby Brannan and Shelby is actually here to help introduce the podcast and introduce, well, me to the audience. How are you Shelby?
Shelby Brannan
I'm great and I'm so excited to be here to help flip the script a little bit and talk more about what Aimed Dance is and what you're doing.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes, me too. Thank you so much for being here. A little background on Shelby is that Shelby is actually the Aimed Dance board president. That is her connection to the organization and to the podcast. And one of my favorite people to talk about dance and to talk about dance in our area and how we can really make an impact on our community through the art of dance here.
Shelby Brannan
Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
in Southeast Texas where we are actually located.
Shelby Brannan
Yup, it's been the wildest three years of my life and I've loved every second. I'm excited to jump into this. First, can you tell the audience what is Aimed Dance? Take me through its evolution and how it landed here in Beaumont, Texas.
Amy Elizabeth
Definitely a ride
Yeah, so mission statement. Aimed Dance is a 501c3 performing arts organization seeking to foster an awareness of and value for dance as a fine art here in our community. And we do this through live performances, educational programming, and professional networking. But that's actually not what Aimed Dance started out as. We have been around since 2006.
And our former name is Red nerrus Feil Dance Company. And so for the first 12 or so years, we were in the Houston, Greater Houston area. And we started out as a performing arts company. And that is what we did. We just created art and we were a collection of peers and colleagues who worked together, enjoyed working together. And we decided to just keep doing it after graduation. So we all met in college. And then once...
I got a job offer. Isn't that great how life does that for you? But actually I'm originally from Southeast Texas. And so I got a job offer from Lamar University to come home and that transition kind of shifted everything for me and for the company because Southeast Texas had a different need than Houston, Texas, where we were primarily based.
And so we shifted the company by asking a series of questions of what is the need, what is the gap, what are the opportunities that we could offer artists here in Southeast Texas.
Shelby Brannan
Tell me more about this podcast. How do you go from a dance organization to podcasting for the dance organization? What's the whole idea behind it?
Amy Elizabeth
I think the thread line between all of it really is this idea of opportunity, wanting to create opportunities. But I also feel that at my core, I'm an educator. I am in love with learning. I love learning. And that's kind of what this podcast is, is a pathway for me to continue to keep learning from the people that I want to learn from
Shelby Brannan
Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
and creating that access not only for myself, but for others. If I have a question, chances are someone else does too. And so finding a way to take this interest that I have for dance, the art of dance, all things dance, and making it accessible to more people, right? It's just another platform of accessibility and opportunity for dance, for dancers, for the community at large.
Shelby Brannan
So I know there's a really particular through line for this podcast. Can you talk about what that is?
Amy Elizabeth
the through line for this podcast, the through line. Well, the podcast idea essentially started when I was doing another podcast. And the interviewer got stumbled, got a little taken aback because I kept using the word creative research and kind of stopped the interview.
and said, can you talk more about this? Because I've never associated dance with creative research, which then started the conversation of like, what is creative research and qualitative versus quantitative research? And should we be calling it an activity because it doesn't look like other research? So that actually was the spark of this. It just, it generated a million questions for me.
and how I see what it is that I do, which then sparked how does everybody else do it? What drives them, motivates them? How do they define these things? And so that it was the strike of the match that started the conversation of the podcast. And then from there, we were connected to the Center for Resiliency at Lamar University and received a grant from the Center of Resiliency. And so,
this particular season one is really grounded in the role of resilience in our community and how dance impacts, empowers, motivates, supports our community in this way.
Shelby Brannan
Can you talk a little about why resiliency is so important in Southeast Texas and what Aimed Dance's connection is to resiliency in our community? Because I know there's a pretty incredible story there.
Amy Elizabeth
Yeah, I mean, Southeast Texas, we're on the Gulf Coast, right? So we have this natural phenomenon called hurricanes, just that kind of sparked the Center for Resiliency and how they can support the community and research in this area, not just in resilience, but in studying flood patterns and.
and things like that and really educating the community on how we can move through and move past ⁓ from situation to situation. I don't like the word natural disaster. Yes, it does affect us that way, but the idea is that we have the capacity to move through and we see this repeatedly in our area as people come together. There is the hashtag 409 strong.
Right? And so when these disasters or these things happen, we rally, we come together as a community. And it's really one those beautiful things because strangers become neighbors and all of these barriers and boundaries that we place on ourselves in our daily lives are removed. And it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from or what your background is. If you have a need, we're here, we have it. And there is this
really beautiful sense of humanity, right? That people come together and are able to get through this together. And I believe the story that you're talking about was when we first got here, when we, I first got to Southeast Texas and Aimed Dance was really trying to figure out who we are and what it is that ⁓ we can do here. What is the need in the community?
I think that's the first question any nonprofit should ask themselves is what is the need in the community and how can we serve? And I believe it was Harvey came through and really unfortunately devastated the area. And with us being a dance organization, we chose to help these young people. We have over 30 studios in Southeast Texas. We have a thriving dance community for the youth from
age two to 18. You can't be a young child in Southeast Texas and have not taken a dance class. mean, come on. Tutus are cute, okay? And so we developed a program called Helping Hands where we reached out to all of the studios and we asked for a list of families and we reached out, like give them our contact information, things like that. And we were able to collect
Shelby Brannan
Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
thousands of items to help these young dancers get back into the studio. A lot of our studios have dress codes. And if the studio itself doesn't have a dress code, they need to be in something that they can move in, that they can have freedom and they don't feel the restriction of what they're wearing. And so we did a nationwide search. We had boxes shipped in from Philadelphia, from California, from Florida. And again, the nationwide community came together.
shipping new and used items to us. We got the list from the studios. We started checking it off, finding sizes. And if we didn't have exactly what that child needed in size or color or whatever it was, we also took donations and we went out and purchased it for them. And we did have one of our local dancewear stores here was able to also give us a discount.
on the things that we were purchasing that also really helped us be able to do that. I think, if I remember correctly, just in that one situation, we were able to help over 300 students get back into the studio with whatever they needed, whether it be tights or shoes or something like that. We also connected with, there were a couple of the studios that were actually damaged and reaching out to them and what do you need? Do you need our physical bodies to come in and help demo?
Shelby Brannan
Mm-hmm.
Amy Elizabeth
I believe we were able to get a couple of gift cards, like the Home Depot and things like that for some of the studios to kind of help them get back on their feet.
Shelby Brannan
I think it's incredible. You know, a sense of normalcy after going through something so devastating is so important to those kids. And I think it's really incredible that something as simple as a ballet shoe can represent hope. Tights can represent hope to a child. Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
Yes!
Mm hmm. Yeah,
absolutely. And that's what the parents were really seeking was, yes, our lives, we may be displaced right now, but the kids, they still need to be doing their activities. They still need to be going to school and they need a way to do that. They still need to be going to their class. These are their friends. This is their community. Let's give them that sense of normalcy. And also you use the word hope, giving them a sense of hope. Like I may be displaced from my home right now.
But I still have this community. I still have these friends. I can still have fun. Because we know as young people, we don't really understand these things as much as we do as adults.
Shelby Brannan
Yeah, you know, keeping with the thought of resiliency, how do we practice it? Can it be taught? And then how does that connect to going to a dance class? Because it does.
Amy Elizabeth
It does,
absolutely. ⁓ What's interesting is these are the exact questions that we're asking ourselves going into the podcast, right? So we're going to be asking each one of our guests, what is resiliency? How do you display resilience in your life? And so of course, I had to think about this, but I have so many options. I have so many answers. So I would say ⁓ the basic, can it be taught in a textbook?
No, it cannot be taught from a textbook. It cannot be taught by telling someone what resilience is. It is an action. It is learning by doing. It is being whole body engaged in what that thing is. And for me, I think the simplest form of developing resilience in myself was the act of showing up, the act of going to class.
If you're a young person and you're training in dance, it can be a lot. It can be, I mean, it's time intensive. And some of these young people are going to the studio four and five days a week on top of their classes, on top of trying to be a young person. It can be a challenge. And I think for me, just that idea of showing up and understanding
that when I show up, yes, I'm showing up for myself and yes, I'm investing in myself, but I'm also showing up for the ensemble. I'm also showing up for the group and that is helping me understand my role as a part of the whole and developing that sense of community
and a lot of other things like compassion and empathy and all of these things. But I think it just that idea of showing up on the days that I didn't want to show up and what does that feel like and what does that look like day in and day out starting from a young age. And I think that's how I still show resilience in my life now. Like we don't want to get up and go to work every day. We love our jobs. Don't get me wrong. But I mean, I don't know a single person who really wants to do it every single day.
Shelby Brannan
No, we don't.
Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
but it is the act of showing up. Like that is resilience. And it's like, you don't have to wait for a natural disaster to happen. It's something that I think is developed over time. And so in the traditional sense of being taught, no, I don't think it can be taught, but I think it can be encouraged. I kind of want to use the word embedded. It could just become embedded in who you are. I think there's also a certain part of it that's
Shelby Brannan
Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
in your DNA. It's a part of your humanity.
Shelby Brannan
Yeah.
So I'm excited to hear about what your guests have to say about resiliency. But you mentioned that part of your want for starting this podcast is you are excited to learn from your guests. So what are some other things that you're really looking forward to hearing your guests talk about on season one?
Amy Elizabeth
Honestly, anything about dance gets me excited. I nerd out hardcore about anything about dance. But some of the topics that we're going to be covering again are creative research, defining creative research, what it means to them, how they use those tools in the studio, whether it be educational practices or dance making. We are going to be talking about
pedagogy, pedagogical practices. We're going to be talking about dance making and the art of making dance and what does that look like. Then we're going to have some probably some administrators, some funders, some people who may not be in the studio every single day, but are really empowered by dance and support dance in their communities. So I'm excited about that. But I think for me at the root is I can read articles.
about these creative processes, interviews. I can watch videos of the works themselves, but I don't have the opportunity to get into the actual, again, I want to use the word root, to the root of it. And the root of it is the artist themselves, is the scholar themselves, is the person who's actually in the studio or doing the research. And each individual person is so different and they approach it.
differently. That's what makes art so wonderful is that we all have our own voice. We all have our own pathway. We all have our own things that we that excite us and engage us and just really rev us up. And that's really what I want to get at. I want to get it at the root. It's like, say, yeah, I read this interview that you did. Now I want to talk to you about it.
Shelby Brannan
(laughter)
Amy Elizabeth
You said this, I want to talk about that, right? And so just getting a little deeper, diving in a little deeper, getting a little bit more intimate with the artists, with the work that they're creating and why they're creating it. That's I'm really excited
Shelby Brannan
If there's one thing you want listeners to take away who maybe aren't as familiar with the dance world and all of the aspects that make the dance world revolve, what do you want them to take away from this?
Amy Elizabeth
Mm.
I was going to be so cheesy, but the first thing that popped in my head is dance is life. And this idea that
Shelby Brannan
Yeah.
Amy Elizabeth
It is everywhere at all times.
It's not something that you have to access. It is already there. And again,
Shelby Brannan
Babies aren't taught to dance, are they? Movement is natural. Babies aren't taught to dance. Movement is natural.
Amy Elizabeth
You're not. mean, a lot of people say, I have two left feet. No, you don't. You have a lack of practice. If that's the specific dance that you want to do. Sure, there are genres. Sure, there are techniques and things like that. But as a human, if you are a moving, breathing being, you are dancing. And I think for me, it's bridging that gap between people who go "dance isn't for me"
Pretty sure I just saw you bobbing your head. Okay. Which I know it sounds a little flippant and you know, it's pulling it into its core, but I think for non-dancers it's...
access to the information as well. I think it's helping non-dancers to see that it's not so far outside of them, that it is a part of who we are as humans. It is humanity, in my opinion. And so I hope that they, even if they don't want to dance, it's engaging with the process of making dance. It's engaging with the product, going to the concerts, watching classes, you know, who knows?
Shelby Brannan
You we've talked a lot in this podcast about this research being qualitative and there's so much to be said on everything with how you answered that last question and how it relates to our quality of life, which is what qualitative research is. And so I know I myself look forward to hearing what your guests have to say in season one and that's all the questions I have for you.
Amy Elizabeth
Mm.
Yes! Well, hopefully in episode one of Dance Unscripted, ⁓ we have a little bit better idea of who Amy Elizabeth is and why she's chosen to do this mega platform ⁓ and what the audience can get out of coming and ⁓ watching and or listening. Dance Unscripted is a podcast, YouTube channel and blog.
So if we are readers out there and we love those articles, we're hoping that our guests will also be contributing to that blog as we contribute and bring to the audience just as much information as we possibly can. Yeah, so Shelby, thank you so much for giving us your time. It is always a pleasure
Shelby Brannan
Thanks for having me. It was a joy.
Amy Elizabeth
Thank you for joining us for Dance Unscripted presented by Aimed Dance. Knowing you could have chosen any other platform, you chose us and you chose dance. Thank you. Be sure to click to subscribe and share with someone you know will enjoy this episode. Leave us a review on Spotify and your name will be entered into a drawing for Dance Unscripted merchandise. Winners will be announced at the end of each episode. Season one is brought to you by a grant from the Lamar University Center for Resiliency.