(1984) – May 12
The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program presents:
Smithsonian Salutes Washington Dance
featuring
Maida Withers
and the Dance Construction Company

Presented by National Museum of Natural History, Baird Auditorium, National Museum of Natural History, 8:00 pm.

Retrospective: selection of short duets and quartets created by Maida Withers for the Dance Construction Company, 1974-1984, overtones of feminist notions about WOMAN and MEN.

Program
Dances on Men and Women
Choreography by
Maida Withers:

#1: Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses  (Excerpts) 1974
Duet on stools
Sue Short and Dale Crittenberger
Sound: Authentic 1974 television soap opera sound track

Duet on Nostalgia
Maida Withers and Brook Andrews
Sound Score arranged by Teddy Claus

#2: Put on the Music Let’s Dance (Excerpts), 1976
Runway 
Dale Crittenberger, Brook Andrews, Sue Short, and Frances Babb Stonkey
Music by Drake and Oakland

Dreamtime
Maida Withers and Brook Andrews
Music by Ryerson, Watts and Eaton

Finale
Brook Andrews, Dale Crittenberger, Frances Babb Stonkey, and Maida Withers
Music by Armstrong and Hines

Pause (10 minutes)

#3: Woman See (Excerpts), 1980
Journey in Innocence
Frances Babb Stonkey and Dale Crittenberger
Music by Regelio Maxwell

Ties That Bind
Sue Short and Dale Crittenberger
Music by Rogelio Maxwell

#4: Families Are Forever (Excerpt), 1982
Part III
John Bailey, Dale Crittenberger, Susan Jamieson, and Sue Short
Music by Joe Clark

Mr. and Mrs. Sally Ride (New Work), 1984
Maida Withers and Brook Andrews
Music by Teddy Klaus

What the press is saying

"The program of well-chosen excerpts chronicled Miss Withers' personal and always fascinating journeys in dance, as ell as changing attitudes toward family life and love." "The company serves as a vehicle for Miss Withers' explorations of mixed performance media - modern movement, experimental music, and avant-garde visual effects. Devoid of the multimedia trappings and intense psychological scenarios of the original works, the choreography could be savored as pure dance anchored by the symbolic interaction of men and women in the movement." "This was a rare opportunity to see the evoluton in Miss Withers' work over the years." Julie Van Camp

"Now that the Dance Construction troupe is about to celebrate a 10th birthday, Withers decidd it's time for a retrospective. Thus, excerpting older work for Saturday's program proved timely. It also turned out to have unanticipated benefits. The concentration and concision of the excerpts - in contrast to the more diffuse wholes-worked to their advantage. The program also offered a more compreensive view of Withers' and the company's artistic range. The selection, avoiding the purely formal side of Withers' choreography, were grouped together as "Dances on Men and Women" and explored gender relationships of the past, present and future. The amusing "Duet on Stools" from Yesterday's Garlands and Yesterday's Kisses, had a couple casually disrobing, with constant interruptions by stray thoughts and daydreams. Three numbers from Put on the Music and Let's Dance were whimsically stylized versions of '40s social dances. From the feminist Woman See came two duets - the blithely sensous "Journey of Innocence" and the love-hate vignette "Ties That Bind." Especially powerful was a quartet from "Families Are Forever" that probed generational and genealogical linkages. The new piece, Mr. and Mrs. Sally Ride, a duet for Withers and Brook Andrews, took off on the floating movement quality and the newly defined male-female roles evoked by space travel. The ohter dancers were John Bailey, Frances Stonkey, Dale Crittenberger, Susan Jamieson, and Susan Short. Like Withers and Andrews, they projected a strong sense of personal involvement." Alan M. Kriegsman