By G. Pilar Wilder, Hayiya Dance Theatre

This month has been absolutely wonderful at Hayiya Dance Theatre! On Friday the 9th we performed at the first ever Otis Redding Day, here in the Magnificent Macon, GA and on Saturday the 10th, we performed by request for the Redding family at the Otis Redding evening of respect concert. But Wait! There’s more! Hayiya was a sponsor for the 2011 Governor’s Tourism Conference this week! Thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation, we were able to “unveil” our official Hayiya Dance Theatre T-Shirts just in time for the event. A lucky few delegates received our t-shirt as a souvenir! Can our month get any more exciting. YES!!! We were also asked to perform at the Governor’s Tourism Conference on the 13th and will represent our fair city this Saturday, September 17th at the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival. This month, the studio launched it’s morning ZUMBA classes with great success, began working with Mercer University, Stone Academy and the Macon Arts Alliance to choreograph the children’s opera Muskrat Lullaby, will host Amamansa Whitton of Giwayen Mata (Atlanta) for Master classes and workshops on the 24th. Wheww! Lastly, something we forgot to mention last month, Macon Magazine currently features our very own Pilar Wilder as one the their “5 under 40”. Each year the magazine features 5 young leaders making a difference in their respective fields and the greater community. And the cherry on top: this month Gateway Macon launched a new website to promote the city of Macon. www.maconmogul.com highlights successful entrepreneurs. Among the the first group to be selected…HAYIYA DANCE THEATRE!!!