Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/765213
32 | MACON MAGAZINE DECEMBER/JANUARY 2017 to face harsh reality a little sooner than many of her peers. Her mother got sick – "she was literally on her deathbed at the time," Wilder said – and Wilder had to abandon dance for a few years, work two jobs and dutifully do her part to keep her household afloat. The empty ache of not dancing was so strong within her those two years, she knew it was meant to be more than just a hobby. She came to Macon to attend college. An ambitious, plucky student, Wilder started her own dance company when she was in just her second week at Wesleyan. Originally called Harambee African Tribal Sounds Unlimited, the company now shares a name with her studio. "I didn't want to graduate without a job, so I created one myself," Wilder said with a laugh, recounting the origins of Hayiya Dance Theatre Movement Institute and Center for Cultural Arts, the studio she founded a week before graduating from Wesleyan College. Hayiya, in its early days, didn't have a permanent home; several local businesses donated space so Wilder would have a location for the West African Dance class she taught. These days, the studio boasts a full schedule of classes Monday through Thursday evenings. There's ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, modern dance, praise dance, Zumba and the list goes on. There are summer camps for kids, African drumming classes and vocal lessons; Wilder pays forward the generosity she received by offering space at no cost for instructors to hone their teaching skills. For Wilder, dance isn't just something that happens on weekday evenings – it's all day, every day. She currently works as the fine arts department chair and fine arts technology coordinator at Westside High, where she also teaches dance. Community involvement is important to her; she serves on the boards of Middle Georgia Food Bank, the Museum of Arts & Sciences and the Bibb County Judicial Citizens Review, and her list of previous accomplishments is epic, in the most literal sense of the word. "Every year I "I love everything I do so much. None of it is frivolous, and leaving is never easy – but I have to give myself space to focus elsewhere."