Aimee McDonald is Artistic Director of Terpsichore Collective. Aimee headed Terpsichore's Kitchen from 1998-2009, producing the annual Dancing in Summer choreographic showcase, as well as a series of showings and performances. Her work has been shown in the United States, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Montreal. In 2023, after an extended hiatus from the stage due to motherhood and recovery from an auto accident, she returned as both choreographer and dancer for live stage work and screendance projects. She has danced for numerous independent choreographers. In moving into the area of Screendance/Dance for Camera, she has worked with Peter Sparling, Cara Hagan, and Mitchell Rose. She was also a co-founder with Sean Hoskins of Ann Arbor Dance Network. Aimee received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and is also a GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Master Trainer.

Artist Statement

Through my work I strive to orient myself in time and place, exploring memory and identity. In her book The Creative Habit Twyla Tharp asks the reader ”who is your muse?” Upon reading this I wondered “Is it okay to be my own muse?”, not out of any self importance or arrogance, but in that I recognized that my work is made of deeply personal reflections on my own emotional experience. I hope that the viewer can feel those emotions, many without name, and feel something familiar from their own life. My work is not literal. I believe dance says what words cannot. If I wanted to tell you a literal narrative I would write it for you. I hope that through dance we can bypass language and go straight to things for which words aren’t enough.