A not-for-profit, federally tax-exempt organization founded in 1974 in Washington, DC.

Vision
Collaboration   Experimentation  Global   Multi-Dimensional   Research

Maida Withers Dance Construction Company  mixes dance and performance with technology and media to create thought-provoking works for stage, site, and film, in a collaborative process with dancers, architects, visual artists, scientists, musicians, and others committed to a process of experimentation.  Works are bold in concept, choreography and movement, political, autobiographical and daring as unexpected narrative. The interface of technology and human values is captivating and surprising.  Interactive works driven by social and political consciousness have featured rotating loudspeakers, laser beams, wireless cameras, cyber worlds, video installations, video feedback, always with original music created and performed live.

Maida Withers, Founder and Artistic Director, has created a significant body of work, over 80 to 100 dances of breadth and vision. The Company tours internationally once or twice each year with frequent sponsorship by U.S. Embassies and the U.S. Department of State. Tours and residencies in over 18 countries have occurred since 1962 and  include over eleven visits to Russia and eight tours in Brazil, along with residencies and tours in Poland, France, Norway, Finland, England, Mexico, Guatemala, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Croatia, Argentina, and others with performances at Lincoln Center GREAT DANCE in the Bandshell (NYC), Luna Theatre (Moscow), Teatro Cacilda Becker (Rio de Janeiro), Warner Theatre, Lincoln Theatre, National Theatre, Kennedy Center, Lisner Auditorium, Dance Place, Joe’s Emporium, and others in Washington, DC.

Site works have been created for Lenin Museum (Krasnoyarsk, Russia), Museum of Image and Sound (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Holy Rood Cemetery, Corcoran Gallery of Art; Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Renwick Gallery; National  Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC), among others. Dance films are created for exhibition in local, national, and international film and video festivals.

Maida and the Company were instrumental in introducing Washington artists and audiences to many new ideas related to performance and choreography:  dance improvisation as performance, the use of architectural and environmental locations for performance, collaboration with dancers to create a hybrid form of choreography, experimenting with technology as an integral aspect of performance including early introduction of video and live feed in performance.  Maida and the Company Founded the DC International Improvisation Plus+ Festival in 1995 and continued bringing international artists to work with DC dance, visual, music, and theatre artists for 14 years.

Company support has been received from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Dallas Morse Coors Foundation, American-Scandinavian Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Dilthey Foundation, others.