Category Archives: Experimental

Early Works – 1966 to 1973

Early works -1966 to 1973 (1964 thru 1973)  Dance works were created by Maida Withers in Washington, DC prior to establishing Maida Withers Dance Construction Company  as a not-for-profit federally tax-exempt organization in 1976  Performers included dancers from the community and ...

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, ...

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 ...

In a World, Somewhere,Where There are NO Repetitions

IN A World Somewhere Where There Are No Repetitions is a poem and visual script created and performed/spoken"live" by Alex Caldiero, performance poet, with dancers  improvising as directed by the script, as follows: In a World Somewhere Where There Are No ...

Apocalypse Fatigue

https://vimeocom/1081479749 12-minute live performance in Bunker Fridays, Washington, DC, May 2, 2025 Artists came together at this highly charged, chaotic political time in the history of America,  to speak openly about Apocalypse Fatigue​! Maida Withers, legendary dancer, choreographer, activist performs “live” at  Bunker ...

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 ...

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 ...

One Minute Wander

  [embed]https://vimeocom/78919495[/embed] 2000 - Following an interview regarding her new dance work-in-progress, Utah Spirit Place Spirit Planet Tukuhnikivatz, Maida Withers was asked by filmmaker Linda Lewett to extend the interview into a "nature" performance by the creek near Maida's ...

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 ...

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 ...

Psychedelic Dance

(1968-1969)  Psychedelic Dance was created by Maida Withers with GW undergraduate dancers performing  A new technique involved oil, cake coloring mixed in water, in a clear glass mixing bowl  This projection technique was made possible with water, coloring, and oil ...

Laser Dance: Quest-Domain (no laser)

(April 28, 1985) Quest (Part I) and Domain (Part II) and Dialogue (Part III) National Dance Week, Dance Fest '85 Glen Echo Park, Washington, DC Preview of opening sections of upcoming Laser Dance, world premiere, at Lisner Auditorium,  June 5 & 6, 1985, with ...

Washington Project for the Arts – Performance

(1975 - ) Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) was founded in 1975 by the art impresario Alice Denney, organizer of the legendary NOW Festival in 1966  Artists joined in cleaning out the bird dung in a vacated building that was ...

Sky Cathedrals – Media Project (Film 15:00)

Sky Cathedrals (Film 29:56) https://vimeocom/105145824 (1986) - Collaboration of Maida Withers, choreographer, with Adam Peiperl, Kinetic light sculptor Maida's choreography created for Laser Dance (Quest, Domain/Dialogue, other) is combined with kaleidoscope images by Adam Peiperl, Kinetic Light Sculptor Funded by GWU UFF ...

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 [embed]https://vimeocom/258150770[/embed] 2018 DIGG - a fiercely intimate multimedia performance experience created and ...

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, ...

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 ...

Thin Holes / BYU Residency

1976 - Thin Holes, a new work created during a three week summer dance residency:  Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company (Maida Withers, John Bailey, Brook Andrews) and John Driscoll, composer/musician, engaged in a three to four week residency ...

FareWell and Hell-O

Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero Maida Withers 2008 Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero and Maida Withers performed together at the Utah Arts Festival   Alex performed live on the stage with Maida on the  Salt Lake City Library  Theatre Stage  spontaneously reciting and creating text and projecting ...

Hilda Thorpe Tribute – Artists’ Studio Performance

December 4, 1999 - Birthday tribute to Hilda Thorpe at her Artists' Studio in downtown Alexandria, Virginia Maida collaborated with Thorpe, a brilliant American painter and sculptor - part of the illustrious Washington Color School - on several projects engaging the ...

Dance / Music Columbus Museum of Art

Past Informtion in red deleted: https://maidadancecom/works/changing-the-system/  TITLE  DELETED FROM THE WEB 1974 - The performance at the Columbus Museum of Art was during the public celebration of the change of the name from Gallery of Fine Arts to Columbus Museum of Art, ...

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 ...

Prologue – Cowboys and Indians Play by Maida Withers

[embed]http://vimeocom/100928731[/embed] 1992 - Short solo dance and written text spoken by Maida Withers - a view of the west as a cowgirl and the great granddaughter of pioneering settlers in Utah  Presents that wit that underlies many of Withers' works - ...

Catching Butterflies and Other Things That Move

[embed]https://vimeocom/91520288[/embed] Videos - Phase Tracing, Phase Tracing I, Phase Tracing II movement phrase materials related to creation of the complex choreography in Catching Butterflies and Other Things That Move References: https://maidadancecom/works/phase-tracing-movements-title/ https://vimeocom/90693028 https://vimeocom/90679290/ Catching Butterflies and Other Things That Move: 1979 - "Fast paced dance of ...

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 ...

Time Dance (1984)

1984 - Restaging choreography of 1976 version of Time Dance  for performance in Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre  The square was adapted to a very large diamond rather than the original square space at Mt Vernon HandChapleand many other changes occurred  ...

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 ...

Dance/Sound Events: Tin Tabernacle Series

1973 - 1974  Maida Withers Dance Construction Company presented five evenings, Dance/Sound events, the Tin Tabernacle Series,with sculptor/musician, John Driscoll, in a very large and dome-shaped building, fondly, referred to as Tin Tabernacle Tin Tabernacle was a large GWU gymnasium with ...

Evening of Poetry and Dance I

1977 - Give the Dancers Castenets: The first evening-length collaboration of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company with performance poet, Chasen Gaver,  Dance Project, Adams Morgan, Washington, DC with Sculptor, Edward LeBoe; Architect, Terry Rosenheck Chasen Gaver  wrote new poems and selected ...

Evening of Poetry and Dance II

1978 - Baby It's About Time! an absurd and outrageous social commentary event performed by dancers with Washington, DC's most controversial performance poet, Chasen Gaver  Chasen Gaver performed his poems sometimes using small hand-held instruments  Performing in cabaret style, he ...

In Earth’s Belly Deep – an emergence myth

"In Earth's Belly Deep" - Aerial Dance, Emergency Myth, 1990 Mark Thompson, Cecily Carsky-Miller & John Lancaster 1990 - "It is my desire to bring to life, through dance, music, and visual imagery, the extraordinary physical and spiritual powers experienced when visiting ...

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)

2002 - Original title:  A River Runs Deep; São Paulo, Brazil) Multidimensional dance, computer art, new music based on the mythology and power of the Amazon Rainforest - Spirits of the Rainforest Created in São Paulo, Brazil during a three-week residency ...

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, ...

Time Dance (1976)

1976 - Quartet based on structure of pulse and accumulation  The dance begins with finger snapping the pulse and dancers continue the finger snapping off and on during the first 10 minutes The pulse appeared in the movement or as ...

SandS CycleS

https://vimeocom/463079035 See the full 30:00 minute movie below 1991 - Dance and environment film shot on location at White Sands, New Mexico and Coral Dunes, Utah  by Verable Call Cluff and edited by Cluff refrencing the Hero's Journey described by Joseph Campbell, ...

Phase Tracing

(1978) - Phase Tracing, an evening-length work, a collaboration with Ron Kuivila, experimental sound artist  In the performance, dancer's movements make inaudible sound audible with movements of the body or movement of silver strips of polyethylene/mylar strips hung from ceiling ...

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 ...

Stall. (Stage Performance)

[embed]https://vimeocom/64802075[/embed]   1981 - Stall an evening length collaborative performance of dance, sound sculpture, and music choreographed by Maida Withers; a rotating loudspeaker installation by John Driscoll, composer/sculptor, Phil Edelstein, rotating loudspeaker animation, with dancers from Maida Withers Dance Construction Company  Charmed ...