“It is my desire to bring to life, through dance, music, and visual imagery, the extraordinary physical and spiritual powers experienced when visiting the land of the four corners area in the Southwestern United States and to express the mystery and power of this exotic land and its inhabitants.  This work is a quest for the spirit that resides there, a search inside the world of contemporary and ancient myth and legend.”   Maida Withers, Choreographer.

Video above:  https://vimeo.com/93606130/1990

(1990)  EARTH SPIRIT RISING – CONCERT  March 30 and 31
Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre / Arlington, Virginia.
The evening-length concert features five dances exploring the primal relationship of men/women to planet earth.  Company dancers include Cecily Carsky-Miller,  aerialist, John Lancaster, Mark Thompson, Maida Withers.

PROGRAM – EARTH SPIRIT RISING

IN EARTH’S BELLY DEEP…an emergence myth (trapeze entrance from above) with Cecily Carsky-Miller and Mark Thompson slowly descending from above the stage on ropes in a beautiful aerial duet. John Lancaster joins, later, to create a trio of aerial art.

MOVING EARTH / DUNES…first light of day (1988, LEDGE)
Features Withers in a contorted, sensual solo with undulating structures as if in deep sand…joined by The Company.  Music by Michael Willis. The set features flowing sand in a stream from above stage – slowly building a sand hill on stage.
Also available: https://maidadance.com/works/ledge

MOUNTAIN BIRTHING…a metaphor, a beginning (1988, LEDGE) Maida Withers and John Lancaster engage in a “birthing struggle.” John, suspended – hanging upside down, freely, by a rope tied to his feet, is manipulated by Maida Withers circling and turning John while talking. New music is written and performed by Michael Willis.  Dancers speak during this segment – talking into hanging microphones hung in the stage space.
https://vimeo.com/100503881/ Also available at https://maidadance.com/works/Ledge.

INTERMISSION

**PATH/MIGRATION)…the journey…the perfect courage.  Dancers-The Company;  Original Music created and performed “live” by Michael Willis; Photographs projected into the performance space are by Bruce Hucko, noted earth photographer. * PATH/MIGRATION is a restaged quartet of work created during a residency at Yellow Springs Institute outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 9 – 21, 1989. Four projectors: “Earth” slides by photographer, Bruce Hucko, Moab, Utah, are projected into the stage space for this segment.
For further information:  https://maidadance.com/works/path-yellow-springs-residency/

SHE WAS A VISITOR…the spirit of place  performed by The Company with original music by Urban Sax; 16 mm earth film is projected into the stage space – footage shot by James Byrne during a five-week residency with the Company on varied “extreme”Southeastern Utah Earth sites;  Strips of fabric hung in the performance space provide the theatrical capacity for shadow dancing. This unique set design is by Brian Siegel.

Technical notes available in the Archives file.

Mark Thompson, In Earth’s Belly Deep….an emergence myth.  For the opening section, dancers entered on ropes from the batons above the stage.Mark Thompson and Cecily Carsky-Miller enter (aerial descent  on rope from above the stage).

Mark Thompson (aerial descent from above the stage)
Maida Withers, solo, Moving Earth / Dunes

What the press is saying

"Maida Withers is not part of mainstream modern dance -- she is leading it. Withers has always been ahead of her time, experimenting with lasers, collaborations and multimedia. Movements Withers designed 10 to 15 years ago are now standard fare. But the restless searching Withers has already moved far beyond others' grasp." Linda Dinsmore

"My instincts are on the experimental edge. My fantasies take me to unconventional places."
As usual, Withers is way out in front, leading the migration." Linda Dinsmore