Aimee K. Bryant has been performing in the Twin Cities for the over the 20 years. Some of her professional highlights include Beneatha in A Raisin in the Sun, Ensemble Member in For Colored Girls and Black Nativity, as well as Sarah in Ragtime and Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. City Pages named Aimee the Best Actress of 2015. Her original music can be heard on her debut CD “Becoming”.
An artist of many trades; a professional actor, singer, songwriter, poet, dancer and choreographer, she approaches creativity from an organic aesthetic. In the classroom, this begins with nurturing the voices of the students by using community building activities to create a safe space in which they can be free to experiment with creative expression, take artistic risks, and explore and share their personal connection to the material. Aimee uses theater games, performance, movement, songwriting, spoken word, creative writing and rhythm to help students find an alternate entrance into academic curriculum. She wants to empower students to use collaboration as a problem-solving tool.
Oftentimes, students who are poor academic achievers are discovered to be brilliant artists. Aimee enjoys watching the transformation in their self-esteem when they find that they can be successful in class, and the elevation of the value of that student to the class because of his/her artistic acumen.
Teaching Artist Statement
I think my main purpose as a teaching artist is to lavish my students with love and respect, and make them aware of their magnificence. I hope that when people see me perform they have a similar experience, but in a classroom I have the opportunity to praise each child individually and coach them into an awareness of their artistic ability and their intrinsic brilliance. I love the immediate exchange of ideas that happens in a residency, and I enjoy collaborating with students. They teach me so much about my own artistry and about how to be a better instructor. The love I get in return is what keeps me working to become a better teaching artist.
In my work there is a strong emphasis on critical thinking, improvisation, collaboration, and community building. I hope when students complete a residency with me that they have learned how to look at the world from someone else’s perspective, that they are willing to follow their creativity wherever it leads, that they are better at compromising and working together, and that they care for each other more deeply than they did before.
Program Offerings
Residency
Theater
Use improvisation to explore creating characters, making up stories, composing songs, acting, dancing and collaborating with other participants to create an original play. Aimee’s residencies serve students with physical and learning disabilities, elders, adults with disabilities, and adults living with mental illness.
