![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Screen-Shot-2025-04-15-at-7.16.38-PM.png\")
<\/a>Photo by Cheryl del Cuore, as is the one at the top of this review.<\/p><\/div>\n
To explain my feelings on it, I must first share a bit about my soul<\/em>\u2014it is ruled by music. And when dance is accompanied by music that\u00a0hurts my insides, nothing works for me. It\u2019s hard for me to concentrate on what I\u2019m seeing<\/em>\u00a0if I don\u2019t like what I\u2019m hearing<\/em>. And as far as my dance<\/em>\u00a0soul goes, I am mostly a ballet, hip-hop, afro-jazz, and the beautiful fluid<\/em>\u00a0kind of contemporary dance girl, with a little krump thrown in, (because that\u2019s what Mr. X does.) Modern*<\/em>\u00a0dance is probably my least favorite discipline to see. So perhaps I\u2019m not the best one to critique the much-lauded A.I.M.\u00a0company. *[Note: I believe A.I.M. bills its style as\u00a0contemporary<\/em>, but in the presentation\u00a0I saw, it looked more like what I consider to be the classic modern\u00a0dance<\/em> that I erroneously majored in at UCLA back in the day.]<\/p>\n All that being said, I often gauge the reactions of the rest of the audience as my barometer of shows, and the jam-packed Wallis audience that I was part of seemed to really value\u00a0everything they saw that night. And several people I spoke with at intermission and afterwards told me that they really liked the quartet of numbers. One couple I know personally, who sees perhaps even more theatre and dance than I<\/em>\u00a0do, (they\u00a0went to New York this week to see sixteen<\/em>\u00a0shows in ten<\/em>\u00a0days!,) said that they enjoyed it all<\/em>\u00a0very much.<\/p>\n And, as Mr. X noted, the dancers are all very skilled, an assessment with which I wholeheartedly agree, which is always wonderful to witness.<\/p>\n Kyle Abraham. Photo by Tatiana Wells.<\/p><\/div>\n But I always like to know what dances are about<\/em>, if it\u2019s not obvious. So I was confused about the intention or story of all of these numbers. I could not find those definitions in the digital program, (which could have been just me,) so I just watched and appreciated the talent in front of me.<\/p>\n For some reason, this more modern dance style was not what I was expecting that night, so that may be part of the reason that the production\u00a0didn\u2019t hit me as well as it did everybody else. But A.I.M. founder Kyle Abraham, (who was my favorite-dressed person there,) should take heart in the fact that I\u2019m also not a devotee\u00a0of Tony Award-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones\u2019 company, which has a similar style to this one. There\u2019s nothing wrong with either one\u2014they\u2019re just not my cup of tea. So Abraham is actually in great company.<\/p>\n The second number of the evening, Just Your Two Wrists<\/em>, which was a solo performed by Amari Frazier, seemed to be everyone\u2019s favorite. The guys next to me even gasped at it.<\/p>\n I definitely liked the second half of the show, (which was one complete number, Year<\/em>, of which this was the West Coast Premiere,) more than I did the first because the choreography was a bit snazzier than in the three earlier pieces. Mr. X and I were actually looking forward to seeing a number set to Nina Simone music, because I must have read something wrong someplace, so we were a tad disappointed that it was not on tap this go-round.<\/p>\n Year, the new number that made up the entire second half. Photo by Chris Strong.<\/p><\/div>\n I think I would have admired the same overall movements<\/em>\u00a0more than I did if they were set to music that gets to my soul, such as choices by Teddy Swims or Shaboozey or Sade or Tchaikovsky or the aforementioned Nina Simone. Or, as a matter fact, the Beatles. That\u2019s why I\u2019m excited that Pepperland<\/em>\u00a0is coming to the Wallis next month, which I understand to be a full-length dance set to the music of the Beatles\u2019 iconic album, Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em>. I cannot wait for that one.<\/p>\n Especially at the Wallis, where I\u2019m always happy to see anything<\/em>! As we were sitting in our seats waiting for the show to begin, Mr. X looked around at all the perfect sightlines,\u00a0(no one\u2019s head blocks the view of the patron behind them,) and admiringly declared, \u201cThis theatre is so well-designed!\u201d I can add only\u2014what he<\/em>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n To learn more about the Wallis\u2019 upcoming shows,\u00a0just click here: www.thewallis.org<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A.I.M. DANCE COMPANY AT THE WALLIS I\u2019m basing this review of the A.I.M. Dance Company, (whose performance\u00a0I recently saw at my favorite theater in the world, the Wallis in Beverly Hills,) on what a wise nine-year-old girl said to me a couple of years ago. I had taken her to two events in one day,<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>