Category Archives: Turn of the Century (2000-2020)

ICE

(2006) ICE Maida Withers and Vincent Cacalano performed  an improvised duet, ICE  a SITE WORK that took place in the refrigerator/storage room for large blocks of ice that would be used by fishermen on their boats  Gloucester is a fishing harbor in Gloucester, ...

Rage

(2006) Rage Maida Withers performed a dramatic solo, "Rage," a female political statement that took place on the theatre stage, a political statement, an improvised performance for the New Arts Festival, Gloucester, MA Gloucester New Arts Festival, a free street and site ...

Dance Film – ITVS Sampler

  ITVS (Independent Television Service)  sample for proposed film by MWDCCo for documentary film  ITVS  (Independent Television Service)  is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS  The proposed project was ...

Collision Course a.k.a. Pillow Talk (Brazil Street Festival)

Visões Urbanas (2013) During a dance notation conference in Mexico (I remember it as Rio de Janeiro, but that is under discussion) after Maida performed a solo, she watched from the wings as a mature female, a stranger named  Mirtes Calheiros, ...

TOUCH-2004-Arkhangelsk-Russia

TOUCH 2004 Festival 12 - 16 July, Arkhangelsk, Russia https://nikolayshchetnevwixsitecom/nik-s/ https://vimeocom/6880178 International Festival of Contemporary Dance Performances: Performances: "Thresholds Crossed" - Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Washington, DC Accents - Break dance group TOP9 (St Petersburg, Russia) Kannon Dance Company (St Petersburg, Russia) "Identification of Movement" Other Dance Theatre ...

TOUCH – 2003-Arkhangelsk-Russia

TOUCH 2003 FESTIVAL 12 - 14  July, Arkhangelsk, Russia International Festival of Contemporary Dance https://nikolayshchetnevwixsitecom/nik-s/ Dance Performances: «Aurora Borealis» - Dance Construction Company (Washington DC/ USA) Kannon Dance Company (S Petersburg/ Russia) Children dance theater «Domino» (Korjazma, Arkhangelsk region/ Russia) Group «La Jounes» (Arkhangelsk/ ...

FareWell: Tipping Point (Maida Withers)

[embed]http://vimeocom/17845659[/embed] FareWell - Tipping Point

Performatica: (FareWell) Tres-Dias-en-Cholula

[embed]https://wwwyoutubecom/watch?v=pvGRXN-N8Ec[/embed] (the above film will be replaced by a 2025 update by Linda Lewett) (2009) Documentary Film (29:20) Taped in Cholula, Mexico during Performática: International Forum of Contemporary Dance and the Art of Movement in 2009   Linda Lewett, filmmaker and collaborator with Maida ...

Dance of the Auroras – Part III – Magnetic Storm Seen From Above

2000  St Petersburg, Russia (April 2000)  Residency with Kannon Dance School and Company, St Petersburg, Russia •   Maida Withers created Part III Magnetic Storm of Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky with Iwona Olszowska, dancer from Poland, and ...

GW Dance Technique as Performance

[embed]https://vimeocom/211768902[/embed] (2017) In 2017, five dancers, students at George Washington University, studied with Maida Withers, to explore a course, Dance Technique as Performance The course was divided into four segments After three weeks of studying movement and movement phrases, the students performed ...

Rainforest Awakens

Tania Fraga Maida Withers Steve Hilmy RAINFOREST AWAKENS II [embed]https://vimeocom/471183584[/embed]  https://vimeocom/470650599 DRESS REHEARSAL LIVE ZOOM REAL-TIME INTERACTIVE BROADCAST WEBINAR interactive telematic performance with maida withers | performance telemática interactiva com maida withers October 21st | 21 de outubro, 2020, 06h30 PM (EDT) – 19h30 (BRT) Support | Apoios: The ...

Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky: Science and Art

  (2001) Public presentation of aspects of Dance of the Auroras - Fire in the Sky  was  sponsored by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the large domed Albert Einstein Planetarium, Washington, DC the week prior to the premiere of the ...

LEGACY: 50 Years Dance on the Edge

MAIDA WITHERS AND THE DANCE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LEGACY: 50 Years   Dance on the Edge Corcoran School of Arts and Design, Corcoran Flagg Building Galleries 500 17th Street NW, Washington, DC LEGACY_Exhibition Booklet (click) HISTORY EXHIBITION - September 23 - October 23, 2022 Maida Withers and the ...

Art Soiree – Club Dancing

[embed]http://vimeocom/83694925[/embed] 2012- Maida Withers Dance Construction Company was invited to perform at a rock party at an extreme and very large dance club on the DC/Maryland border - Nate Bond, Giselle Ruzany, Maida Withers  The sponsors presented very curious events to ...

Naked Truth – Tzveta Solo With Film Installation

[embed]https://vimeocom/73873364/[/embed] 2012 - Tzveta Kassabova performs with Film Installation of Tzveta dancing her solo from Naked Truth as part of Involuntary Encounters Event in Dorothy Betts Marvin Center: An evening of diverse dances by dance artists, friends and former dancers with ...

Naked Truth – Tzveta Artisphere Solo

[embed]http://vimeocom/31281607[/embed] 2011 - Tzveta Kassabova performs an excerpt of her solo from the 20 minute trio, Naked Truth, for Maida Withers Films at Artisphere Theatre, Arlington, VA  Artisphere, an unusual curved stage in a large theatre with the seats moving upward ...

Offering

[embed]https://vimeocom/192285756[/embed] Offering (05:56) (2015) Solo from MindFluctuations, a work created and performed by Maida Withers, co-authored with virtual worlds created by Tania Fraga,  3D Computer Artist, Sao Paulo, Brazil Offering Choreography and performance by Maida Withers Costume by Maida Withers Music by John Driscoll and ...

Monster Man

Monster Man (7:29) (2015) Excerpt of dance from MindFluctuations, evening-length work with choreography co-authored by Anthony Gongora, supported by Maida Withers, artistic director (MWDCCo - Washington, DC), and Tania Fraga, 3D computer artist (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Monster Man Choreography and performance by Anthony ...

Thresholds Crossed Duet – Norilsk, RUSSIA

(2006) Russian arts producer, Luba Kusovnikova, invited Maida to present the duet from Thresholds Crossed, with Russian dancers Konstantin Grouss and Ananstasia Oleynik, in Norilsk, Russia for the Indigenous Conference: Integrity of Cultural Space – the Notion of “Border” in ...

Re-Re Voltaire – WPA 35th Anniversary – H Street Revitalization

2010 - May 10, 17, & 24, 2010:   Re-Re Voltaire (Cabaret Voltaire) WPA sponsored a site event on H Street in celebration of their 35th Anniversary that  take place  in a vacant lot next to Gallery O/H at 1354 H ...

Catalyst (UnDress)

2011  Anthony Gongora and Tzveta Kasabova, MWDCCo dancers, danced throughout  American University's Katzen Center for the Arts, Washington, DC  while taking clothes off and putting clothes on (no nudity) while doing a complex male/female duet for the Washington Project for ...

DIGG – a provocative excavation of the current political landscape

"Withers has created a work that spans the human experience of witnessing modern American politics: anxiety, fear, anger, nervous laughter and resilient hope"   Cassie Patterson (2018) "Withers is a dance legend" Carmel Morgan (2018)  https://vimeocom/390858979 (2018) February 10, 11 DIGG - a fiercely intimate multimedia performance ...

ICEBERGS: Fault Line

Small Format Contemporary Dance Festival Curator:  Ekaterina Zharinova Yekaterinburg History Museum Yekaterinburg, Russia (2016) ICEBERGS: Fault Line August 26, 2016 @ 7:00 pm Solo performance: Maida Withers Panel Discussion: August 28, 2016 at noon Maida Withers premieres ICEBERGS: Fault Line, a loosely structured solo based on MWDCCo site work, ...

Dance and Politics: Couch Conversation

2016 DANCE AND POLITICS: COUCH CONVERSATION & PERFORMANCE   International choreographers and activist artists, Maida Withers, Washington, DC, and Annika B Lewis, Denmark, engage, irreverently, in dialogue and performance exploring questions of politics and culture, today, in the USA and Europe           "Out of ...

Anonyty / Parts Unknown

Photos by Shaun Schroth 2015 Anonyty explores the intimate boundary between our physical and digital identities, by bringing to life digital people that interact in our real world through movement and dance - a collaboration of Maida Withers and Brian Kane, ...

Chain of Events – Kennedy Center

          Video, Kennedy Center Archives:  http://wwwkennedy-centerorg/explorer/videos/?id=M6136&type=A December 8, 2014 - Chain of Events sheer imaginative fallout of movement Presented by Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Date/Time:  December 8, 2014 at 6:00 to 6:50  pm, FREE Location: Kennedy Center Theatre Lab; 2700 F Street, NW Washington, ...

MASQUERADE BALL – Blind Whino (40th Anniversary Celebration)

[embed]https://vimeocom/111740161[/embed] [embed]https://vimeocom/111806662[/embed] 2014 - In celebration of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company’s 40th anniversary, Art Whino presented a Masquerade Ball at Blind Whino: SW Arts Club, full of mystery and surprise This full sensory experience combined performance art with experimental dance, live ...

Collision Course: Gala Opening (Smith Center Healing & Arts)

[embed]https://wwwflickrcom/photos/103468415@N07/14219371009/[/embed] [embed]https://vimeocom/108083587[/embed] MWDCCo performed an "pillow dance," improvised for the Gala Opening of the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in their renovated gallery at 1632 U Street, NW, Washington, DC  Dancers Nate Bond, Tzveta Kassabova, Anthony Gongora, and Giselle Ruzany ...

Dance In – Art Museum of the Americas and OAS

[embed]https://vimeocom/105550414[/embed] 2001 - Dance In - an evening-length site performance at the Art Museum of the Americas and site work in the Garden of the Organization of American States in Washington, DC with 30 Washington, DC dance and music artists that ...

FareWell: Comments by Choreographer Maida Withers

[embed]https://vimeocom/7113850[/embed] 2009 -  FareWell - To the End of the World As We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise! was presented at Performatica: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporanea y Artes del Movimiento, San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, 2009  During ...

FareWell: Comments by Composer Steve Hilmy

  [embed]https://vimeocom/7346369[/embed] 2009 FareWell - To the End of the World As We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise! - a shortened version of the evenng-length work was performed by Maida Withers for Performatica: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporanea y ...

FareWell and Hell-O

Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero, performance poet Maida Withers, choreographer/dancer (2008) FareWell and Hell-O Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero and Maida Withers performed together at the Utah Arts Festival, Salt Lake City Library Theatre Stage, a riveting "wake up call!" Alex and Maida have a substantive history of working ...

Hekuras (Visual Installation)

2002 - Tania Fraga, Brazilian technology (computer) artist, created original virtual worlds that became projected environments/installations on stage for the dances - Hekuras - Spirits of the Rainforest (Brazil, 2002) and Hekuras - Spirits of the Rainforest (GW, 2010) and ...

Interview – Dance and Technology

https://vimeocom/695056450 2003 - Stacy Palatt, GW Master of Arts in Dance, interviews Maida on the role technology has played in Maida's work as an artist and collaborator and Maida's views on the possibilities of dance and technology Maida was one of ...

Shocked and Odd – Live Art (Russia)

(2005) and (2004)  Shocked and Odd "Live  Art" improvisation events that took place in two countries, Russia and American, that encouraged  extreme movement and character concepts (2005) The Russia performance was part of the programming for the International Festival of Modern Dance ...

Solovky Island, Gulag Residency, Russia

[embed]https://vimeocom/429686550[/embed] 2004 - Solosphere Project took place on Solovky Island,  White Sea of Russia - Art Angar Contemporary Center for Art (Hanger for the blimp that transported food and materials to the Gulag:  Maida Withers and Anthony Gongora, dancers, Linda Lewett, ...

Cuba – Santiago de Cuba: In the Eye of the Beholder (Short Film 10:00)

2007 - This informal film short reveals Maida's brief engagement with the people and culture in Cuba Sensual dance, jazz music, voodoo, religion, and revolution are part of the Haitian-Afro-Cuban culture of Santiago Maida visited Cuba for ten days, February 5-10, ...

Cuba – Havana Today – 2007 (Documentary Short 8:39)

2007 - Maida visited Havana from her stay in Santiago de Cuba and made this simple record of the sights and sounds on the streets of Havana, Cuba with her Sony mini-dv camera Fidel Castro was gravely ill on the ...

Africa Comeback Women-Film, Meru, Kenya (Film 9:40)

[embed]https://wwwyoutubecom/watch?v=a1nwnRYuHxQ[/embed] DCC Photos (many videos and photosneed a decision????_ 2007 - During a second trip to Kenya, Africa, Maida visited Meru at the invitation of Karambu Ringera, Kenyan political and social activist who was building a school, providing space and incentives for ...

Cuba – Trumpet Man – Inaudis Paisan Mallet (Film Short 7:08)

2007 - Maida visited Cuba for ten days, February 5 - 10, 2007 to study the dance/text/ritual of the Cutumba Ballet Folklorico Santiago de Cuba Jim Lepore, dancer/choreographer/professor, made this trip possible Beloved and revered trumpeter, Inaudis Paisan Mallet, plays and ...

3D Dance / Future View (Film 4:04)

[embed]https://vimeocom/93154449[/embed] 2002 - Maida Withers collaborates with Dan Sternklar, 3D filmmaker and inventor, to create 3D Dance / Future View, a 3D film of an improvised site performance  that resulting in the film short (4:04 time)  Dan Sternklar, 3D camera specialist ...

Sphota Probe with Alex Caldiero

2003 - Alex Caldiero performance poet, scholar, author (Salt Lake City, Utah) performs live his poem, Sphota  Probe, with dancers  Maida Withers and Katia Chupashko  Katia performs Thresholds Crossed SOLO (Katia Chupashko) created Maida Withers using a vertical standing casket ...

Collision Course a.k.a. episodes 1-2-3 (Artisphere)

2011 - Three sections of Collision Course - aka Pillow Talk  (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3) performed at Artisphere, a museum and performance center in Arlington, Virginia, October 21, 2011 The Dome Theatre features a full size film curved ...

InVoluntary Encounters

2012 - Maida Withers Dance Construction Company and guest artist choreographers and dancers from NYC, Boston and Japan create an interactive event of dance, live video feed, film, and electronic music that features improvisations by choreographers who perform and a ...

FareWell: Comments by Media Artist Ayo Okunseinde

[embed]https://vimeocom/7113378[/embed] 2009 - FareWell - Interview of Ayo Okunseinde about his work with Maida presented at Performatica: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporanea y Artes del Movimiento, San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, 2009  During our residency Linda Lewett interviewed Maida Withers, choreography/dancer, ...

Dance of the Auroras – Virtual Virgins, Le Sol, Shaman

2000 - Maida Withers Dance Construction Company was honored to be invited to perform as part of the Dance Place 20/20 Visions Anniversary Concert celebrating 20 years of sponsoring and presenting dance  In the year 2000, Dance of the Auroras ...

A Moving Interview, Maida Withers, Argentina

Note:  Maida had traveled many times to Brazil, starting with the United Nation's Earth Summit in 1992  She discovered that the price to fly to Argentina was very affordable from Brazil, so that instigated her travels there Lujan Oulton, with ...

Under the Radar: Modern Dance in Russia with Maida Withers

2003  Documentary Film -  Interviews about post-modern dance in Russia  in 2003 Documentary shot  in St Petersburg, Russia  Maida Withers was a guest artist for Summer Dance Workshop, OPEN LOOK  Linda Lewett, filmmaker, shot the video and Maida Withers asked ...

Thresholds Crossed – Gulag / Art Angar (Film 3:51)

SEE LARGE PHOTOS on web page FLICKR 2004 - Political dance film,  shot first half of Part II of Thresholds Crossed duet of Maida Withers and Anthony Gongora  Shot in unique Soviet Era architectural structure, Solovky Island Russia on the White ...

Faces of the Fallen (World War II Monument)

2004 - World War II Memorial Site Event created by Maida Withers with six  dancers from The George Washington University Department of Theatre and Dance, Washington, DC Faces of The Fallen - A Moving Tribute National World War II Memorial & Lincoln Memorial Washington, DC Also ...

FareWell – Rising Tide

[embed]https://vimeocom/6834436[/embed] 2009 - a dance work that is part of the FareWell project, a series of several dances, examines the rising of our oceans and the pollution of the seas and waterways with plastic water bottles and other debris and chemicals ...

FareWell: Parched Earth – Remembrances from Tomorrow (Kenya, Africa)

2008 -  A dance project that took place in Nairobi, Kenya at the GoDown Center for the Arts  The dance work, Parched Earth, was created in collaboration with nine Kenyan dancers (six men and three women) during a three-week residency ...

FareWell: Tipping Point (Jadee Mitchell)

[embed]https://vimeocom/6815207[/embed] 2008 -  Multimedia solo originally created by Maida Withers, choreographer for Jadee Mitchell, GW dancer Tipping Point refers to the crisis of global warming demonstrated most vividly in the Arctic and Antarctica, continents of ice on our planet that are ...

FareWell: The Others – Uncertain World

2007 - A brash but intimate improvisation performance, Fare Well: The Others (Uncertain World) was the first investigation event related to the Fare Well project - environmental change  A brash and hilarious, but intimate, improvisation performance Dancers: Maida Withers, DC, Wendell ...

Chroma

2013 - Late Night Expressions at Joe's Emporium for various art forms (dance, comedy, performance art) MWDCCo dance and music Improvisation performance with a script centered on lime green and orange objects (chair, marley strip, electrical cord, others) that was danced ...

Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky, DC

  [embed]https://vimeocom/102399026[/embed] [embed]https://vimeocom/102248165[/embed] 2001  A Four Part performance: I: "The Sun/Virtual Sun" II: "Solar Wind Towards Magnetosphere" III: "Magnetic Storm Seen from Above" IV: "View from the Earth" "A poetic journey through space using real-time interaction with cyber worlds and movies and images of the sun and the ...

MindFluctuations

MINDFLUCTUATIONS DANCE, NEUROSCIENCE, VIRTUAL ART, LIVE MUSIC A Java 3D application drives the participants within a metaphorical virtual reality journey World Premiere / Lisner Auditorium March 19, 2015 Washington, DC [embed]https://vimeocom/126002412[/embed] Trailer: MindFluctuations (6:29) Click to view Full-length Performance (1:22:33) Below:  Select MindFluctuations Sections performed independently [embed]https://vimeocom/192285756[/embed] Monster Man: https://vimeocom/128670434 [embed]https://vimeocom/128670434[/embed] Woman: https://vimeocom/129210568 [embed]https://vimeocom/129210568[/embed] MindFluctuations, a groundbreaking collaboration between ...

Maida I – Portraits on Screen (Film) (2:54)

[embed]http://vimeocom/32236928[/embed] Maida Withers; Ayo Okunseinde, Photographer; Anthony Gongora, Video Maida Withers; Ayo Okunseinde, Photographer 2011 - The camera is turned on Maida Withers in this study of motion and the force of nature by Ayodamola (Ayo) Okunseinde Maida I and Maida II are part ...

Maida II – Portraits on Screen (Film 2:54)

2011 - Film short featuring Maida Withers in a whimsical struggle for artistic enlightenment and risk taking with animation by Callison Slater  Shot in the Bella Faccia, Inc television studio as part of Withers' Dance Portraits on Screen Series The concept ...

Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest (Brazil)

[embed]https://vimeocom/77462030[/embed] (2002) Hekuras: Spirits of the Rainforest, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Anhembi Morumbi University)  (Original title:  A River Runs Deep, São Paulo, Brazil) Project conceived by Maida Withers, USA, and Tania Fraga, Brazil Maida's motivation came from MWDCCo involvement in Brazil for the United ...

Families Are Forever Part III: Veiled Threat

[embed]http://vimeocom/43991482[/embed] [embed]https://vimeocom/35583218[/embed] 2012 - Veiled Threat is the name given to Part III of Families are Forever  Veiled threat reveals the delicacy of the relationships in families The familiarity of family members gives the members power based on the intimate knowledge they ...

Electronic Bodies

2013 - Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, Anthony Gongora, Giselle Ruzany, Maida Withers and guest, Felipe Oyarzun (Chile) were joined by experimental composers/musicians, John Driscoll, New York, and Steve Hilmy, Washington, DC, to present Electronic Bodies, an evening of dance ...

Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest (USA)

[caption id="attachment_4670" align="alignnone" width="4600"] 2010 - Hekuras - Spirits of the Rainforest was first created in São Paulo, Brazil  (2002) with Brazilian dancers during a three-week residency  The version presented in Washington, DC  maintained some of the thematic movement materials, ...

FareWell: To The End of the World as We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise

2008 - FareWell to the End of the World As We Know It or Dancing Your Way to Paradise "FareWell is a modern Greek-style tragedy, delivered by a warrior goddess" Ballet-Dance Magazine, Carmel Morgan [embed]https://vimeocom/6643827[/embed] Dance Place Performance:  http://vimeocom/17018474 Trailer:  https://vimeocom/15561322 TOURS:  2008-2012 World Premiere:  Zagrebi Festival! Zagreb, ...

Collision Course a.k.a Film/Installation

2012 - Evening length film, featuring poet Alexander Caldiero and surreal visual images of clouds, flying pillows, other  The  stunning video is compiled from projected images, a visual installation created for and projected during the evening-length multimedia performance, Collision Course ...

Collision Course – a.k.a. Pillow Talk (Film Short 7:24)

Note:  Film Short - site specific project not part of Collision Course aka Pillow Talk choreography for evening length stage work  But it was part of the PILLOW CYCLE of dances   Maida was invited to present a "site work" for ...

Data to Dance: Dance of the Auroras-Fire in the Sky

2009 - A fascinating documentary on the creation of Dance of the Auroras - Fire in the Sky - a poetic odyssey through space from the Sun to Earth Showcasing an evening-length performance of dance, music and virtual art, this international project ...

Freedom of Information – 24 Hour Dance

[embed]https://vimeocom/473593512[/embed] 2008 - 24-hour endurance event with Maida blindfolded and with ears plugged In response to the ongoing US military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, Miguel Gutierrez, NYC, invited artists across the country to participate in Freedom of Information 2008 The ...

Thresholds Crossed (Stage Performance)

2006 - Part I, II, III, IV:   A fusion of East and West that explores the events, ideology and humanistic issues that link the US with the former Soviet Union and contemporary Russia over four decades of time Colored by ...

LENIN

005 - Evening-length political work created by Maida Withers for the historic Lenin Museum  in Krasnoyarsk Russia with 13 Russian dancers along with Nikolai Shchetnev and three American dance artists The work was first titled, "Memorium"  The work was part ...