*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 Fridays, Washington, DC…. Apocalypse Fatigue – online, interactive, stunning performance, May 2, 2025, 4 to 5 pm. Maida Withers, founder of Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company, collaborates with Randall Packer, visual media, composer, founder of Third Space Network / Bunker Friday’s.
We rise NOT because it is not easy We rise because it is the ONLY thing left worth doing. We gather NOT because we are certain of victory. We gather BECAUSE the act of gathering itself is a victory against the isolating machinery of despair. (Packer)
In the face of a torrent of apocalyptic news and collapsing realities, Maida embodies our struggle in a defiant act of resistance: a symbol of reclaiming our dignity, our democracy, and our right to stand against despair. Randall has assembled a dramatic visual spectacle of images of Los Angeles fires, Elon Musk’s rants of jubilation with disturbing symbolic arm gestures, Trump and Zelensky in the White House, a belittlement moment captured on television for the world to see.
Maida WithersMaidaMaida with Elon Musk / Hitler RANTWorld On Fire!
Screen shots by Maida Withers Flyer design by Randall Packer *45-minute discussion with Maida about dance and the arts in DC following video.
Artistic Support *Maida Withers, Dance Artist, Collaborator, Activist, Dance Construction Company. *Randall Packer, Visual Media, Composer (digital music), Technical Production, Text, Founder of Bunker Fridays & Third Space Networks *Phyllis Hecht, Presentation Assistance, Bunker Fridays & Third Space Network
Resources: maidadance.com/ Online collection (web page/archive): Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company, Washington DC (founded in 1974).
http://thirdspacenetwork.com/ Fridays 2025, at 4PM ET, live from the UNDERGROUND STUDIO BUNKER IN WASHINGTON, DC, provocateurs and instigators from the arts and beyond are brought together online for a lively critique of events and situations as they unfold: through performance, music, satire, poetics and creative dialogue.
Following the performance, Maida Withers entertained questions from Randall Packer and members from the 85 patrons joining in the “live” chat, online. Questions focused on politics and the history of performance and the arts in Washington, DC. The very interesting dialogue is not available with this video. Maida was active on the Board of Directors as Program Director for 8 years with the famous Washington Project for the Arts, one of United States earliest interdisciplinary organizations … and continues today – over 50 years since its founding.
Bunker Fridays is a studio of technology that allows Randall Packer to broadcast weekly a program with guests. The online location provides interactive opportunity (chat) for guests to engage in open discussion. The original audio for the interview segment had feedback. Corrections are being made.
Washington, DC is a world capitol for politics. Consequently Maida has mined many locations in this amazing city for site specific performances and public engagement: Sunday Maneuvers, Theodore Roosevelt Island National Park; Monuments, Iwo Jima, US Marine Corps War Memorial; Wet and Wonderful in Washington, DC; National Plaza, Connecticut Avenue between the White House and the Capitol Building; White Mansions, Holy Rood Cemetery, Georgetown, DC. Matrimony …. to Sink or Swim, Hilton, Capital Hill Hotel Pool; Seeing Jazz Move, Smithsonian International Museum; ICEBERGS: Glacial Drift, National Building Museum; others.
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
HISTORY EXHIBITION – September 23 – October 23, 2022 Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company, 1972 to 2022.
Timeline / Video Displays / Video Wall / Evacuations / Artifacts
Music by Steve Hilmy https://vimeo.com/769498522
IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION – September 23 – December 10, 2022 New work: Maida Withers collaborates with Robin Bell, guerilla political projection artist in Gallery 1; music designed by Steve Hilmy https://vimeo.com/769535102
SCHEDULE of EVENTS
OPENING EVENT: September 23 Extended music performance by Yoko K. Sen, electronic composer/musician.
Premiere of Embrace the Moment by Jennifer Clark Stone and Megan Thompson with live music by composer/musician Yoko K. Sen. Beauty and the Beast by Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine) music: Tchaikovskyi; Bee Gees; Haddaway; dance solo based on the poem ‘New Russian Ballet” written at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, March 31.2022. In this dramatic performance Anton partners with a movable ballet barre. Can the ballet still be a cover for the lawlessness, anti-humanism and imperial habits of the Russian elite?
Panel – “Dance in DC – 50 years….What happened?” Jessica Denson, Host.
Meeting directed by Lauren Onkey, GWU Chair of the School of the Arts & Design. DC Expert Dance Panel: Lucy Bowen McCauley,Carol Foster, Laurel Victoria Gray, Nancy Havlik, Kelly King, “Baba” Assane Konte, Lisa Traiger, Maida Rust Withers. Panelists expressed observations about dance in DC during the 50 year period of the exhibition.
GALA CELEBRATION, Friday, October 7 Exhibition with Performance John Driscoll, Steve Hilmy, Bob Boilen, Composers/Musicians
Tania Fraga, Computer Art (Brazil)
Alex Caldiero, Performance Poet
Anthony Gongora, Tzveta Kassabova, Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine), Giselle Ruzany, Sarah Slifer Swift, Jennifer Clark Stone, Megan Thompson, Maida Withers, Dance Artists.
00:04 John Driscoll, music with electronic objects/instruments
02:22 Alison Janega and Julia Chodyle, GW dancers improvise in Bottled Water Dresses on the stairs and throughout the galleries
04:21 Immersive Gallery 1 (no performance)
05:38 Exhibition – South Atrium (no performance)
07:11 Tzveta Kassabova, improvisation performance on dance films, Tzveta I & Tzveta II
19:20 Giselle Ruzany and Tania Fraga, MindFluctuations: HER 25:20 Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine) and Tania Fraga (Brazil), MindFluctuations: Blackness – UnderWorld 31:13 Anthony Gongora and Tania Fraga,, MindFluctuations: Monster Within 36:20 Maida Withers and Tania Fraga, MindFluctuations: Offering
Performance Program Part II / Video:
03:15 – 09:22 In A World, Somewhere, Where There are No Repetitions: Alex Caldiero, performance poet, on microphone, performs with dancers Anthony Gongora, Tzveta Kassabova, Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine) Giselle Ruzany, Sarah Slifer Swift, Jen Stone, Megan Thompson 10:13 – 22:43 Duel/Solo: Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine); (Maria Callas ???add vocalist 23:00 – 35:15 Pillow Talk: Alex Caldiero, performance poet, on microphone with dancers Giselle Ruzany, Tzveta Kassabova, Anthony Gongora, Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine), Sarah Slifer Swift, Megan Thompson
PANEL DISCUSSION: Saturday, October 8 Artists Public Forum “Experimental Art – the Future” performances (live), discussion. (check for accuracy)
CLOSING EVENT, December 10 @ 1:00 – 5:00 pm Maida Withers and Robin Bell welcome guests to join them in Gallery #1 (immersive installation) Livestream music by Jerry Busher Artist Talk – Maida Withers with Robin Bell for discussion and reflection related to LEGACY
*All artworks and archives provided by Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company are reproduced courtesy of the artist and collaborators.
LEGACY EXHIBITION andPERFORMED INSTALLATION, challenges assumptions of history and culture while envisioning the possibilities of dance in the museum through interactive programming based on the history and philosophy of an experimental dance company – Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company. LEGACY explores how images from the past, create new contextual meaning when the past becomes the future, a journey into the mind of an experimental dance artist emboldened and fascinated by technology. LEGACY explores and supports the transformation of consciousness through the arts.
LEGACY is a moving exhibition celebrating the life and work of pioneering choreographer/dancer, Maida Withers, and the Dance Construction Company and collaborators (dancers, musicians, computer artists, filmmakers, scientists, others). Experience the passion and vulnerability of life lived through dance and visionary creations of Maida breaking ground for over 50 years through dance, experimentation, and empowerment through cross disciplinary voices. Corcoran Flagg Building Galleries (Former Corcoran Gallery of Art) is the oldest/largest non-federal museum in Washington, DC with an astonishing history of exhibiting Washington, DC artists.
Gallery #1 A new immersive installation that highlights combining Maida and the Dance Construction Company’s extensive archive and political activist, Robin Bell’s projection work that explores the intersection of dance, visual art and social action. Engagement with politics, the environment, and social change drives the collaboration of activist artists, Maida Withers, multimedia art and filmmaker, and Robin Bell. Music is by Steve HIlmy, electronic music composer/musician. The immersive installation runs from September 23 – December 10, 2022.
South Atrium: large displays of dance and text on monitors, a video gallery wall
(Excavations), and a timeline installation, along with select artifacts (emotiv helmet, Bellow sculpture, bottled water dress, others, tell a fascinating story of captivating creativity that honors 50 years of innovative dance, dance making and activism, extreme environments, dance and technology, and new media/film. The history exhibition is scheduled from September 15 – October 22, 2022 in the spacious South Atrium.
Photos, Company works
ICEBERGS: Glacial Drift USA Maida on Maida in the Universe USA MindFluctuations: Metal Man Threhsolds Crossed USA and Moscow, Russia U Collision Course aka Pillow Talk
DIGG In Winds of Sand Coral Dunes, Utah Thresholds Crossed Moscow, Russia and USA
Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest Sao Paulo, Brazil Laser Dance
Dance of the Auroras…Fire in the Sky Norway, Russia, USA
60 Moves with Future Gaze Kyiv, Ukraine
The performed installation and history exhibition are made possible by Dance Construction Company comprehensive digital archives, media from stage works, improvisation performances, site-specific events, and dance films. Extraordinary dancers, musicians, computer artist, poet, others, perform live and online for the Opening, September 23, 2022, 5:30 to 8:00 pm and the Celebration Event, October 7, 2022, 6 to 9 pm. During the Opening, September 23, a distinguished panel of DC dance experts assembled by Jessica Denson, discuss “Dance in DC during the past 50 years….What happened? ” (Live and on Zoom); October 8, artist’s perform and discuss “Experimental Art…What is the future in our world today,” 2:00 to 5:30 (live and on Zoom). Other special events to be announced. Through the exhibition and installation, we want to inspire, entertain, build a sense of community, and deepen our understanding as the past becomes future. How does the past and present speak through dance?
The goal for LEGACY is to build support for dance through an experimental exhibition based on multidisciplinary dance works and, further, to build support for dance as a viable art form for inclusion in a dedicated exhibition space within the museum setting. LEGACY sets the stage, breaks new ground, for dance archives as a source for museum and gallery programming.
The significance of the Legacy Project resides in how live art of the past becomes relevant, again, through an innovative work that makes connection between historical materials and current issues, a conversation between the past, present, and future.
Dance Construction Company’s archive presents a fascinating perspective of performance through a distinctive collection of films, videos, photographs, and computer animation, images that originated from thought-provoking stage works, improvisation performances, site works, museum and gallery events. These works reveal an ongoing commitment to experimentation and collaboration with various art forms, artists, scientists, others. Interactive technology is a significant part of the legacy that features laser beams, new media, rotating loudspeakers, manipulation of computer art using a neural headset, and video installations.
The expansion and growth of archives is opening new artistic possibilities in the performing arts. New art forms will emerge as archives are filtered through the vision of creative artists. Archives, available to all through technology, will re-position dance within the larger visual culture and advance the commitment to performing arts as part of the exhibition space within museums.
The Legacy Project joins in the celebration of the art and artists of post-modern dance taking place in museums globally while bringing recognition to Washington, DC’s contribution through the celebration of 50 years of dance and performance by Maida Withers Dance Construction Company.
Artist Partners: dancers, composers/musicians, performance poet, designer
•Maida Withers, artist director, choreographer, performer, principal collaborator (DC)
•Robin Bell (2019-) political projection artist, principal collaborator (DC)
•John Driscoll (1974-) musician/sound artist, perform live music, included in immersive installation (Colorado)
•Steve Hilmy (1995-) musician/composer, perform live electronics, music included in immersive installation (Florida)
•Bob Boilen (1985) musician/composer, perform live; perform immersive installation (DC)
•Yoko K. Sen (2019-) composer/singer/musician, perform live (DC)
•Alex Caldiero (1991-) poet, performance artist, live performance (Utah)
•Tania Fraga (1998-) 3D computer artist, performs live MindFluctuations performance with dancers using Emotiv Helmet (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
•Anton Ovchinnikov – producer, choreographer, scholar (Kyiv, Ukraine)
•Anthony Gongora (2003-) dancer, choreographer, principal performer (MN)
•Giselle Ruzany (1995-) dancer, choreographer, principal performer (DC)
•Tzveta Kassabova (2011-) dancer, choreographer, principal performer (DC)
•Sarah Slifer Smith (1996-) dancer, choreographer (Massachusetts)
•Jen Clark Stone (1996-) dancer, choreographer (Virginia)
•Megan Thompson (2005-) dancer, choreographer (Virginia)
•Carl Gudenius (1990-) designer, exhibition design for Legacy (DC) Others to be announced.
LEGACY: 50 Years Dance on the Edge has been made possible by generous support from GW Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, and DC Commission for the Arts, and Corcoran Theatre and Dance Program. Important funding has been provided by 94 “Friends.” Special appreciation is extended to Dance Construction Legacy Friendship Circle: Liz Harter, John and Kathy Driscoll, Vinu Pillai, James Scolapio, Anonymous, and Aimee Fullman, Leesa Gagos, Stacy Palatt, Margaret Pastor, Jamille Wallick, and Mary H. D. Swift and family.
Exhibition Credits: Music: Steve Hilmy, John Driscoll; LASER DANCE costumes. Liliane Fortna (1985); MindFluctuations,Bellow, David Page (2015); MindFluctuations, Emotiv Helmet, Tania Fraga (2015); Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses, costume, Beth Burkhardt (1974); FareWell: Rising Tide bottled water dresses, concept/design, Maida Withers and Karen Cerkez (2009); Pearl, sculpture by David Vincent Magni, on loan from Zenith Gallery. Unless otherwise noted, all artworks & archives provided by Maida Withers Dance Construction Company and are reproduced courtesy of the artist and collaborators. Museum Studies: Avery Barth, Sarah Farver, Margaret Hudak, Matthew Lynch, Sophie Muro. Performing artists: Musician/Composers: John Driscoll, Steve Hilmy, Yoko K. Sen; Tania Fraga; Computer Art; Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero, Performance Poet; Anthony Gongora, Tzveta Kassabova, Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine), Giselle Ruzany, Sarah Slifer, Jen Clark Stone, Megan Thompson, Dancers.--------“““` `
Information About Key Organizational Partners and Individuals Maida Withers, a powerful performer, known for innovation as a choreographer. As Artistic Director, she created over 100 distinctive projects with extensive international programming. Works reveal her activism in the arts, leadership in interactive technology and evening-length multimedia narratives. Awards: Cultural Envoy, Nairobi, New Delhi; Life-time Achievement Award, Festival in the Desert, Las Vegas; DC Mayor’s Award for Distinctive Contribution; Research Channel Film; Pola Nirenska, Great Cultural and Artistic Contributions; NEA Awards – Visual Arts in Performing Arts, Choreographer’s Fellowship, Inter Arts; DC Commission on the Arts, others. Performances: Thresholds Crossed, Moscow; Rolling Thunder, UN Earth Summit, Brazil; FareWell, Croatia; Orbit, IMZ Screen Festival, Vienna; Stone Circle, Tokyo; Utah*Spirit Place*Spirit Planet*Tukuhnikivatz, NYC. Local performances: Kennedy Center, Lisner, National Theatre, Dance Place, Corcoran Gallery, Air & Space Museum; others. Maida has created work and perform globally since 1996 when she made her first trip to Russia for the Volgograd national dance conference. She has created work and performed in over 20 countries. Maida is a Professor, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Theatre and Dance Program, Washington, DC.
Maida Withers, Choreographer, Dancer, Scholar
Robin Bell, founder of Bell Visuals, an award-winning editor, video journalist, installations and multimedia artist in Washington, DC, who works on creative, political and public interest projects. Robin developed a unique style of live video collage which he has performed at the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection in DC, Central Park Summer Stage, NYC, and Hollywood Bowl, LA. He was lead video editor for Fareed Zakaria’s PBS TV show, Foreign Exchange. Robin’s commitment to social change through the dissemination of information via video, sound and image is present throughout his artistic career. In 2005, Robin co-produced Operation Ceasefire, an anti-war concert on the national mall. His feature length documentary, positive Force: More than a Witness: 30 years of Punk Politics in Action, premiered in 2014. His 2017 projection, Emoluments Welcome, on the Trump Hotel in DC garnered media attention from BBC, CNN, New York Times, L.A. Times, Huffington Post and Hyperallergic, others. Robin Bell and Maida Withers
John Driscoll is a composer /sound artist who is a founding member of Composers Inside Electronics (CIE) and collaborated on David Tudor’s Rainforest IV starting in 1973.He is a member of Composers Inside Electronics since 1973 and collaborated with David Tudor and CIE on 150+ performances of Tudor’s Rainforest IV. He has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe with: CIE, Phil Edelstein, Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Maida Withers Dance Construction Co., Stephen Petronio Company, and as solo performer. His work has focused on robotic instruments, music for dance, and compositions and sound installations for unique architectural spaces. He has exhibited at the Fridman Gallery (NY), the MoMA (NY), Museum of Modern Art (Warsaw), Museum der Moderne (Salzburg), Lyon Biennale, Subtropics (Miami), and Univ. of Maryland (College Park). He has collaborated with Phil Edelstein on numerous works including their recent sound installation Cluster Fields and also Rainforest V (variations 1-4) which resulted in acquisitions in the collections of: MoMA (NY), Museum der Moderne (Salzburg), Arter Museum (Istanbul) and MAC (Lyon).His current work is sound installations with Cecilia Lopez (multiple robotic rotating loudspeakers).
Steve Hilmy, composer, musician, and professor, born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied composition with William Albright at the University of Michigan and with Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Chen Yi at the Peabody Conservatory. Hilmy has been on the faculty of The George Washington University Music Department since 1992, where he is Director of the Electronic and Computer Music Studio. He has won awards from such organizations as the Southeastern Composers League, ASCAP, BMI, the Peabody Conservatory, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts, including First Prize in the Philip Slates Memorial Composition Contest for “Icarus Falling” (piano and electronics, 1989); the Gustav Klemm Prize for Composition from the Peabody Conservatory in 1991; 2nd place prize in the Prix d’été II composition competition at Peabody Conservatory for “Us” (tenor saxophone and electronics, 1999). He has created works, performed and toured internationally with the Dance Construction Company for over 15 years. Steve Hilmy, Electronic Composer/Musician
Alex Caldiero makes things that appear as language or pictures or music– and then again, as the shape of your own mind. Born in the ancient town of Licodia Eubea, near Catania, Sicily, he immigrated with his family to the United States at age nine. Raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY. He attended Queens College in Flushing, NY. Apprenticed to the sculptor-poet Michael Lekakis and the poet-bard Ignaziu Buttitta; clandestine student and friend of experimentalist N.H. Pritchard. Caldiero has traveled thru Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey and Greece collecting proverbs, tales, and folk instruments. Author of 5 books; co-founder of Arba Sicula, the society for the preservation of the Sicilian language, traditions. He is co-recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and from Utah Performing Arts Tour; recipient of Best Poetry Award from the Association for Mormon Letters, and the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Award for Literature. He is senior artist in residence at Utah Valley University. Alex Caldiero, Poet / Sonosphere, Scholar/Philosophy Professor
Anton Ovchinnikov (Anton to submit bio for this occasion) Anton Ovchinnikov – performer, choreographer, national dance innovator and organizer of the annual international dance festival Zelyonka FEST in Kiev, Ukraine. Black O!Range dance theater, established by Ovchinnikov in 2008, is recognized as one of the most distinctive and original dance projects in Ukraine. This independent dance production company, continues to be the vanguard of the Ukrainian dance scene. In 2016/2017 Ovchinnikov was selected to participate in the CEC Artslink residence in the USA in New Orleans. The Ukrainian Contemporary Dance Platform managed by Anton Ovchinnikov supports young Ukrainian choreographers, integrates contemporary dance into the modern cultural life of Ukraine, and is a national center of contemporary dance.www.zelyonka-fest.org
Bruce Hucko freelance photographer, author, art educator and radio producer whose primary work focuses on art, indigeneity and the environment. Landscape of the American West and its relationship to people figure largely in all of his work. Recognized by the Rockefeller Bros. Fund as one of 30 leading art educators in the USA (1984); received the Rockefeller Fund Award for Excellence in Arts Education. 15 books exclusively feature his photographic work. Media credits include National Park Service slide shows for Arches National Park and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. His book, Where There Is No Name for Art: The Art of Tewa Pueblo Children (School of American Research Press, 1997) received a 1998 Southwest Book Award and 1997 Carey McWilliams Award given by Multicultural Review Magazine as “the best book of the year on the U.S. experience of cultural diversity. Hucko’s photographs are featured in MWDCCo’s Utah*Spirit Place*Spirit Planet*Tukuhnikivatz at Lincoln Center (1996).
Tania Fraga Brazilian computer artist, architect, scholar; Ph.D. in Communication and Semiotics, Catholic University, Sao Paulo; Vice-president, Sao Paulo Institute of Mathematics and Art. Until 2003 Tania was Professor and Coordinator of the Graduate Studies of the Art Institute, University of Brasilia. Visiting Scholar at the Computer Science Department, George Washington University, Washington DC, in 1991/1992, 2010, and 2011. She was Artist-in-Residence, 1986, at Bemis Foundation, USA, Fulbright Commission grant. Her works have been exhibited extensively in Brazil. Research is related to virtual reality and the creation of artworks looking for the integration of affection among humans and virtual and physical objects through computer technology; integration of computer based artworks with neural technologies. Her computer art is featured in Company dance works: MindFluctuations, Hekuras: Spirits of the Rainforest, Dance of Auroras– Fire in the Sky. http://taniafraga.art.br; http://taniafraga.wordpress.com/
Tania Fraga, Computer Artist, Scholar, Brazil
Bob Boilen has also been an electronic musician for 40 years. His sound installation at the Smithsonian Museum of American History was one of the first to use digital sampling technology. He composed opening music for the Sackler Museum, performed live film scores at the Hirshhorn Museum, composed music for the Maida Withers Rockne Krebs collaboration Laser Dance and is a founding member of Washington D.C.’s groundbreaking band Tiny Desk Unit. Bob currently performs, produces, and creates music with the band Danger Painters and as a solo artist creating ambient works. Bob Boilen is also the creator of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series, which hosts well-known and emerging artists for intimate performances filmed at his desk at NPR. He is also the creator/host of NPR Music’s All Songs Considered, one of NPR’s first original online shows and one of its’ very first podcasts. He also directed NPR’s All Things Considered for 18 years. Bob Boilen is also the author of “Your Song Changed My Life.” The book asked musicians Jimmy Page, David Byrne, St. Vincent, Carrie Brownstein, Philip Glass, and 30 others to talk about the song that altered their life. Bob Boilen, Composer/Musician, Author
Linda Lewett 20+ years of experience producing arts and entertainment, documentary, and promotional programs. After graduating with honors from American University in Film & Video, Linda honed her skills as a staff producer for Fairfax County from 1985-1990. On the weekends, she produced and directed Metro Dance/Arts, a series of 4-camera switched dance concerts, winning numerous national awards for local programming. She has conducted scores of interviews in the USA and abroad, and accompanied MWDDC on tour to Russia in 2005 and 2006, and to Mexico in 2009. In 1990, she formed ARTtv, LLc in Washington, DC to provide media services to cultural institutions and artists, and relocated to New York from 2002-12. She served on the boards of Dance Films Association and Washington Project for the Arts, and has won industry awards including a Silver Medal in the NY Festival for Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women, produced in HD for WETA-TV in 1999. From 1999-2002, she was the producer/director of the Martha Graham Legacy Project for the Library of Congress; and received a PEW Charitable Trusts Dance Media Fellowship, and production grant from National Institute to Preserve America’s Dance. Her interest in science, philosophy, and the arts coalesced into the Minds Project, an interlocking series of short films that was awarded a 2007 NEA Arts on Radio & Television grant. Linda has been a powerful partner with Maida and the Company for over twenty years, traveling abroad as part of the artistic team in Russia and Mexico, and producing more than eight dance videos featuring the company.
Linda Lewett, New Media, Filmmaker
Giselle Ruzany born in New York City and grew up in Rio de Janeiro, from the age 3 to 23, before returning to the US. She has been immersed in art and culture from a young age while visiting family in Europe. Art and Dance has been part of her life receiving performance and choreographic awards at an early age of 12 as well as terra-cotta sculpture prizes by age 18. She has been dancing professionally since 1987 and teaching dance from an authentic model since 1990. In her journey, she is grateful to have found Maida Withers which has been a force and guide in Giselle’s artistic life since 1995; with Maida Wither’s Dance Construction Company, Giselle has performed in Paris, New York, Seattle and all over DC. Giselle is presently a professor at GWU. She is a licensed professional counselor with a private practice in Woodley Park where she works from an embodied foundation, treating trauma, depression, anxiety and other psychological and somatic symptoms, for more information you can check www.gestaltdance.com. Giselle is a GWU alumni, a MA graduate from Naropa University, with a post graduate degree in Gestalt Therapy and a certificate in EMDR. More recently she has graduated from Lesley University with a PhD in expressive arts therapy. You can see some of her work at www.gestaltdance.com/en. She is a published writer, and choreographer where she combines her two passions of psychology and dance. She has two sons and a supporting husband that allows dance to keep evolving in her life. Giselle Ruzany, Choreographer, Dancer, Scholar
Anthony Gongora is an interdisciplinary artist who is compelled by driving curiosity and imagination to create. His ongoing quest to fully explore and understand life has been expressed through his fingertips on computer keyboards, canvasses and clay, and also through the soles of his feet dancing on stages that traverse the globe. Gongora is a choreographer, performer, visual artist and educator, currently teaching at The University of the District of Columbia as an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Art in the school of Mass Media Visual & Performing Arts and also at the George Washington University Department of Theatre and Dance. He has received several awards for his choreography, which has been performed in venues such as Joyce SoHo, NYC; Dance Center of Columbia College, Chicago; St. Mark’s Church, DanspaceProject, NYC and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Performance experience includes dancing with the companies of Troika Ranch (NYC), Mordine & Company Dance Theatre (Chicago), Maida Withers Dance Construction Company (DC), Jan Erkert & Dancers (Urbana) and Bob Eisen Dance (Chicago). Anthony Gongora, Choreographer, Dancer, Sculptor, New Media
Jen Stone – living in Bluemont, Virginia, is a dance artist, a mom, a yoga teacher, a farmer and now a Lead Elementary Montessori Guide. Life is good! She has danced and created with many dance artists all over the world: Jen Stone and Megan Thompson Dance Project, Maida Withers, Daniel Burkholder: The Playground, The Zen Monkey Project, This Body This Earth, David Dorfman, Cyrus Khambatta, Amy Pivar, Joy Kellman, and the east coast contact improvisation community. She attended The North Carolina School of the Arts for two years of high school and two years of college. After returning from NYC, she received her BFA in dance from the Virginia Commonwealth University in 1995 and her MFA in dance from George Washington University in 2012. Jen has been lucky to have the support of her parents to follow her heart wherever that took her, and family and friends who have always showed up to enjoy the ride. Jen performed with Maida Withers Dance Construction Company: Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz, Lincoln Center Great Dance in the Bandshell (1996), and on tour in Las Vegas; TsEKh Moscow residency to create Thresholds Crossed (2005); premiere, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC and toured toMoscow and Krasnoyarsk, Russia (2006).
Megan Thompson – dance artist, co-founder of the Jen Stone and Megan Thompson Dance Project and director of the Dance Program at Old Dominion University. She completed her BS in Dance at the University of Wisconsin, her MFA in Dance at the University of Maryland and holds certifications in Pilates, Yoga and Extreme Moves. Megan’s choreography has been curated and presented nationally and internationally at festivals such as the DUMBO Dance Festival (NYC), Mid-Atlantic Choreographers’ Showcase (Richmond, VA), The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Scotland), The Isadora Festival (Russia), PANPAPANPAYLYA (Australia) and Performática (Mexico). In her research, Megan explores interdisciplinary and innovative methods of art-making with a focus on performance and interactive technology for unconventional formats and environments. Recent immersive installations and site-specific works have been presented in Norfolk, VA at The NEON Festival, The Chrysler Museum of Art and The Hermitage Museum and Gardens and internationally at The Ocean Dance Festival in Bangladesh. Megan and Maida first met at the Isadora Festival in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia where she performed in LENIN, Withers site work in the Lenin Museum and continued in performance with MWDCCo in the TsEKh Moscow residency to create Thresholds Crossed (2005); premiere, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC and toured to Moscow and Krasnoyarsk, Russia(2006).
Tzveta KassabovaTzveta Kassabova is a Bulgarian-born choreographer, costume designer and installation artist, named one of the ’25 to watch’ in 2012 by Dance Magazine. At different times she has been a gymnast, physicist, and meteorologist. As a dancer, Tzveta has been part of Ed Tyler, Sara Pearson/Patrik Widrig and David Dorfman Dance companies, and has performed in works of Mark Haim, Nancy Bannon, Maurice Fraga, Zoltan Nagy, Joshua Bisset, Netta Yerushalmy, Bill Young and Colleen Thomas, among others. Her work as a choreographer has been presented at St. Mark’s Church (NYC), CSPAC(MD), Dance Place (DC), Kennedy Center( DC), Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (UT), Test!0 (Croatia), NBU (Bulgaria), Judson Church (NYC), Mahaney Center for the Arts (VT), Reston Art Center (VI), Bennington College (VT), Dixon Place (NYC), Mulberry Street Theater (NYC), University of Michigan (MI), Andy (MI) among others. One of her signature works, Opposite of Killing, commissioned by Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company has been selected to be performed at a four-week tour to South Korea and Mongolia in May 2018 as part of DanceMotion USA (a dynamic cultural diplomacy program for international exchange initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, administered by The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)).
Tzveta Kassabova, Choreographer, Dancer, Scholar
Carl Gudenius, production designer has been designing scenery and lighting for dance, theatre, and special events since 1976 and working as an art director and production designer for television since 1989. Designs include Spirit of America, WWII: Tribute to a Generation, 50th Anniversary of the Korean War and the Army Band Holiday Concerts for the US Army; POTUS Diplomatic Podium and graphic design for The White House. Theatrical, scenic and lighting designs have been seen at Washington Theatres: Olney Theatre, Interact, Folger Shakespeare, Metro Stage and the Washington Stage Guild (Resident Designer). Television credits include work for ABC (including Nightline and Good Morning America), ESPN, CNN, PBS (including In Performance at the White House) and C-SPAN. His corporate design work includes hundreds of shows and events for such clients as Terminix, Schlumberger, Accenture, Pfizer, Sony, HP, MasterCard, Choice Hotels and Barnes & Noble. He has designed for and toured with DTSBDC.
Carl Gudenius, Set Design, Exhibition Design, Scholar, Professor
IN A World Somewhere Where There Are No Repetitionsis 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 Repetitions is the script/text, typed on legal sized paper. Each dancer carries, reads, and manipulates the paper during the performance. Dancers follow the “stop and go” of the script that is partially spoken and then the text starts over, and stopping until finally the dancers have crossed from one end of the space to the other following the verbal text of the script being spoken live by Alex Caldiero, performance poet.
https://vimeo.com/760844815/ Pillow: (23:00 to 36:28)
PERFORMANCES: 2022 – LEGACY: 50 Years on the Edge, exhibition and immersive installation, GALA Celebration, October 7, 2022 in the North Atrium of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, Washington, DC. In a World Somewhere Where There Are No Repetitions was performed by dancers associated with Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company: Anthony Gongora, Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine dancer), Tzveta Kassabova, Giselle Ruzany, Sarah Slifer Swift, Jen Clark Stone, Megan Thompson.
This work is available for viewing in Part II:
https://vimeo.com/760844329/ (locate with group holding papers)
2023 – Brigham Young University artist residency (BYU): Maida Withers reconstructed her original performance score to Alex Caldiero’s poem, In a World, Somewhere, Where There Are NO Repetitions, with Brigham Young University Dance Program dancers. Alex Caldiero, performed live with the BYU students in the BYU Museum of Art, Janalee (Janice) Emmer, Director. The performance, Friday, November 3, 2023, took place at the conclusion of a week-long residency of Maida Withers, hosted by Marin Leggett, Dance Faculty and sponsored by the prestigious BYU Dance Program. No video is available. BYU dancers names to be added.
There was no video documentation.
Embrace the Moment is a beautiful, interactive, female duet created by Jen Clark Stone and Megan Thompson, with Maida Withers. The “responsive” duet premiered September 23, 2023 for the OPENING EVENT of LEGACY: 50 Years of Dance on the Edge, an exhibition and immersive installation featuring the work of Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company at Corcoran School of Arts and Design Galleries in downtown Washington, DC.
Jen and Megan have collaborated and performed duets they created for many years. The partnering work of touch and acceptance of weight reveals the longevity of the relationship of the two mature and sophiststicated dance artists. Embrace the Moment offered the large Opening Night crowd a close-up view and touching engagement with dance. Music was performed live with composer Yoko K. Sen, Washington, DC electronic instrument and vocals.
View the dance on Part I documentation of LEGACY: https://vimeo.com/760844329/
This film by Maida Withers, choreographer, and Robin Bell, filmmaker, captures a portrait of young dancers, alone on screen for one minute, in Spring 2021 when COVID-19 was slowing down in the United States, but dancers were still having feelings from extreme changes in life and dance during the past year. Music was composed for each one-minute dance by Steve Hilmy. The film concludes with dancers performing together borrowing gestures and feelings from each other’s dance portraits.
History of Film
2021 Film by Maida Withers, choreographer/filmmaker, and Robin Bell, filmmaker/visual artist, with original music by Steve Hilmy, in collaboration with GWU dance faculty, Erica Rebollar and Anthony Gongora, and GWU dancers. The dancers are listed in the order of their appearance on screen: Alejandro Arango, Grace Eberts, Zoe Warren, Cate Alvaro, Anthony Gongora, Aaron Mancus, Erica Rebollar, Anthony Gongora, Paige Valego, Anthony Gongora,Lisa Roberts. Costumes by Adalia Tonneyck; Assistant Stage Manager, Sophia Young. For the premiere, the finale was performed live, on ZOOM, April 22, 2021 with technical support of Carl Gudenius. The making of the film occurred in Spring 2021 during the serious global COVID-19 pandemic.
The Film was presented in the following film festivals:
Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 19, 2021 , CIA. ARTESÃOS DO CORPO DANÇA-TEATRO, Virtual Film Festival.
Toronto, Canada, October 18, 2021, Toronto International Dance Festival, Toronto, Canada
Dear Maida,
The Linked in connection reminds me of how important to me your presence at GW has been. Let me wish you Merry Christmas, and offer the attached as a little gift.
Very best,
Jonathan
Mini-Ode to a Dancer
The greatest painters and the greatest poets
Knew that art is crafted in a trance:
Botticelli’s circle, cosmic angels,
Yeats: “How know the dancer from the dance?”
Maida Withers graces our college
Both with movement and with friendly glance;
She’s the place’s soul, warmth radiating,
Choreographing us into a dance.
Are things providential? Or determined?
Are they, au contraire, the merest chance?
Take from earth, from heaven, and keep stepping,
Crouching, flying, in eternal dance.
Are we body only? Only soul?
We are both, and that’s why there’s romance.
Maida: Such a gift as yours instructs us
That we all are dancers in the dance.
Jonathan Chaves
Professor of Chinese
The George Washington University
Rome Hall 468 801 22nd St. NW
Washington DC 20052 USA
2020 Tukuhnikivatz Film (39.58) Edit from original (1:03:45)
Film festivals: to view and download Tukuhnikivatz use password: filmfestivals1313 For discussion of Tukuhnikivatz premiere presentation in Sao Paulo Brazil visit: https://youtu.be/vywdsBCnRII/
“I returned to the area of my birth with dancers to find a story embedded in the rocks and deserts of Utah and the Four Corners Area of the Southwest.” (Maida Withers)
“My works, especially those created on location (a site) are deep collaborations and interdisciplinary processes involving dancers, visual artists, computer artists, performance art, scientists, poets, and others who join in the discovery of what is possible.” (Maida Withers)
2020 – Tukuhnikivatz – Film (39:58)
Reedited as a film from the original film installation created for projection on the 60′ x 60′ Band Shell as part of the evening-length multimedia production Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors GREAT DANCE in the BANDSHELL.(https://vimeo.com/8077130 (1:03:45)
Dancers were filmed on location at Muley Point and Butler Wash, Canyonlands, Arches, Utah and other locations in the Four Corners Area of the Southwest, USA; earth slides by Photographer Bruce Hucko. Tukuhnikivatz has been edited and shortened for submission to film festivals under the names TUK I and TUK II.and TUK (Tukuhnikivatz). Maida’s family was involved in early activities regarding the Colorado River and Tourism, in 1925 building the Kaibab Lodge (also known as VT Ranch) 10 miles from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
#2 Tukuhnikivatz(1996) La Sal Mountain Range, Utah
Concept, director, dancer: Maida Withers
Video: James Byrne and Verabel Call Cluff
Dancers: Timothy Harling, Cristy Lamb, Emily Ojala, Maida Withers; Will Goins Moreau (dancer and Cherokee vocals)
Composer: Brent Michael Davids, Mohican Nation Musicians: Blue Butterfly Group, Brent Michael Davids (Mohican Nation), flutes and percussion; Will Goins Moreau (Cherokee), vocals and drum; Dasha Hlavenka, violin and percussion; Joe Myers, acoustic and electric guitars
Photographer: Bruce Hucko Editors: Stefani Altomare-Sese, Jamille Wallick, Maida Withers
Guide: Joe Pachak Sponsors: Sunny and Hardy Redd, LaSal Ranch; GW TV; KUED TV; At the Canyon’s Edge; Canyonlands Field Institute; Forest Service; US Department of Interior.
Concept / Director / Choreographer: Maida Withers
Music Director: Brent Michael Davids, Mohican Nation
Earth Photographs: Bruce Hucko
Kinetic Light Sculptor: Adam Peiperl
Camera: James Byrne and Verabel Call Cluff
Editor: Jamille Wallick, MRW; Original Editor -Stefani Altomare-Sese
Production of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company
Dancers: Will Moreau Goins, Timothy Harling, Cristy Lamb, Emily Ojala, Maida Withers
Musicians: Brent Michael Davids, Mohican Nation, Crystal Quartz Flute; Melissa Angel, Double Bass; Will Moreau Goins, Vocalist; Dasha Hlavenka, Violin; Joe Myers, Classical Guitar.
Tukuhnikivatz (Ute: Tukuhni-kivatz) is a name given by the Ute Nation to a perfectly triangular mountain in southeastern Utah, a future gathering place of the ancients at end time..
Supported, in part, by Sunny and Hardy Redd, GW Television, Joe Pachak, Bruce Hucko, Tony Anderson, Craig Law, Cristy Powell, Becky Knoff, Maida and Arlen Withers, DCCo Board of Directors, Nancy Tartt, Paul Caffrey, Yordanos Baharu, KUED Television, At the Canyon’s Edge, Canyonlands Field Institute, NASA, USDA forest Service, US Department of Interior,
Brent Michael Davids
Bruce Hucko Will Goins Moreau
Adam Peiperl’s Kaleidoscope images by permission of Prime Lens Productions Inc. from the video of Barbara Mitchell’sSpectrasphere
Maida Withers
Copyright (c) 2020
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Viewer Comments -Tukuhnikivatz 2020 Premiere for Visoes Urbanas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
COMMENTS FROM VIEWERS WHO SAW THE FILM ON YOUTUBE
“What an astonishing video. There were moments when the shadows of the dancers on the canyon wall felt like watching the ancients in real time. How stunning the symbology was. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I’m always amazed at your work. Keep it coming.” John Driscoll, Composer, Inventor, Sculptor
“Timeless work, Maida. It really brought back memories. Thank you.” Martha Peiperl (Adam Peiperls wife). (marthapeiperl@gmail.com)
Dear Maida, “I just finished watching TUKUHNIKIVATZ. Brilliant! Wonderful. Thank you!
I am always amazed at the scale and breadth of your work and how it resonates. It frustrates me that I have never seen any of it LIVE. Looking forward to talking about it all and everything else.Will also watch the new Vimeo. Let’s make a talk date. Love, Jacki Apple (jaworks1211@gmail.com) https://www.jackiapple.com/index.html 310-836-2771 h 310-621-2771 m https://fabrikmagazine.com/peripheral-visions/
Maida, Just watched this stunning piece – so important to reach to the source in the times we are now living. Covid is a call to wake up to the circumstances we have designed into being and to quit rehearsing the negative. May we all arrive in the learning field. xDody (Movement specialist in LeCoq Training at Shakespeare ACA, GW; Director, Friend). Dody DiSanto dodydisanto@gmail.com
10/26/20 “Maida, I was able to watch the “Tuk” film last night–Thanks. I was wondering when most of the dance footage, filmed in S. Utah, was actually filmed? Anyway, much of it was quite beautiful. I remember particularly the footage of you in profile, positioned in contours of the natural rock formations. Those images by themselves would make stunning ‘poster’ pictures. My mind focused on those primitive ‘native art’ images found on some of the rock facings and the relationship of those images to the dancing in silhouette and shadow dancing when it would become very ‘sticklike.’ An interesting closure might be to slow the dancing shadows to a complete ‘stop’ and then transition (i.e. ‘crossfade’) back to those primitive ‘native art’ images which were introduced early on in the film…Thanks again for the work and sharing it with a broader audience. Best, wd P.S. there was a blue-green line of added light as an overlay to the lower portion of some of the nature/natural footage in the latter part of the film that, in my humble opinion, had no business being there—w_demull@yahoo.com (Lighting Designer for MWDCCo for many years).
Dear Maida, The performance yesterday online was beautiful and transformational. The film was breathtaking, and I was especially taken by the silhouettes as hieroglyphs, and the eagle blended with you. I can’t believe that you grew up in a landscape like this. The YouTube transmission was perfect. (Afterward, I was able to see the chat for just five minutes because of my own errors with a new iMac.) I often think of your transplanted Russian family during these crazy times in the U.S., and I especially hope that your 10 year old grandson is long over his high fever. Can’t wait to see your student performances Dec. 1-3; I would love to be able to watch. If you’re ever on campus and I can visit, please let me know. I’m always up for taking a walk or standing/sitting outside. I am guessing that the moldy Building J is totally off limits. Love, Liz Harter (liz.harter@gmail.com) (Top Librarian, GW Gelman; Friend of Dance and Contributor).
“Hi Maida, thank you so much for sharing this! i loved watching this beautiful film, congratulations. it continues to be such a strange and scary time to be here on earth, but i continue to be grateful for the technologies that allow us to continue to create and share our work. i wanted to share with you a dance & music film that i made in montana in august: it is a modular 2-part performance, and we encourage folks to view the two videos simultaneously (in two browser windows), or one may choose to toggle between them or view them sequentially. if you are interested in watching, the links are below. i hope you are well otherwise! how is everything at gw this fall? with love, Lydia Mokdessi (GW Dance Alum; NY Dance Artist; Graduate School in Interdisciplinary Art for future). lydiamokdessi@gmail.com) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH_TYnIrEUI&list=PL05msXvP8-
“Hi Maida Yes, we’re all well, thanks. Fiasco is right – I almost don’t dare hope some relief is in sight, post-election. I’m so pleased that you continue to keep me on your list. I couldn’t make the event yesterday, but I just watched the film. First, I’ve always loved the amplitude of your dancing – so luscious and fierce, muscular and sexy. And then the time travel between ancient places and modern digitization. Sorry I couldn’t hear the conversation – was it recorded? – although waiting for translations on Zoom must be an added frustration. I’m keeping busy – partly because my filmmaking skills are useful in this era when live dance is rarely presented. 3 projects since April – see below, in the order they were made, but no obligation to watch. And TWO NUTCRACKERS IN NOVEMBER, God save me.
Dancing is an Old Friend https://vimeo.com/421004737/494b21e7a6
Out of Ruin https://vimeo.com/462163193/7501f6845c
A Different Day https://vimeo.com/467559385/1f674b8647
You retire? Never.Please.xx marta.renzi@gmail.com
Marta Renzi, Recognized Filmmaker; Dancer
Dear Maida How are you? miss you so much. I hope you are safe and healthy! wonderful to hear from you, thank you for Share your work with me, You did very great work, You are my hero! ! ! ! ! I saw your interview on VIMEO, you are so wisdom and beautiful, I like your red lipstick! ! ! ! I would like share one of my flim with you call dancing with the third grandma. many love from wen hui
于2020年10月25日周日 上午8:34写道：Brilliant dancer and choreographer in Beijing, China. (wenhuidance2@gmail.com)
“Thanks so much for this, Maida. I watched the live stream. It was simply beautiful.” Maury Peiperl (Professor, Economist, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; Son of Adam Peiperl, Collaborator).
COMMENTS FROM VIEWERS WHO STAYED FOR THE “CHAT”
For discussion of Tukuhnikivatz premiere presentation in Sao Paulo Brazil visit: https://youtu.be/vywdsBCnRII/
Dear Maida. How much joy, emotion and learning in these two days together. May we be closer and closer. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and conversations. We continue until the 1st day with the festival and know that your incentive was fundamental to make this edition online. A big hug. Ederson Producer: Visoes Urbanas. ederson@ciaartesaosdocorpo.art.br
“Maida: What an astonishing video. There were moments when the shadows of the dancers on the canyon wall felt like watching the ancients in real time. How stunning the symbology was. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I’m always amazed with your work. Keep it coming! John Driscoll (jdshadow@gmail.com) Also: Hello Tania. Maida mentioned you are in LA. Is that correct? We are up in Los Gatos outside of San Jose awaiting the birth of our first grandson. Let me know what phone number you are using and perhaps we can set up a call or zoom. Best regards John
Hello!! Maida, I loved spending that time together, and just entirely mesmerized with the work that you shared!!!! I loved hearing some of the stories behind it, and what a gift to have some of your other collaborators there for the conversation and sharing. I admire you, and feel very very fortunate to have crossed dancing paths with you in this life. Big beijos from Brasil Dawn (Dancer with Ederson and Mirtes; Canadian/Brazilian, Translator extraordinary). (dawnfleming@expertize.com)
COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE BEFORE THE FILM SHOWING
“Thank you so much for the links and info about your film. I am going to put it on my calendar for tomorrow at 11AM LA time. Early for me to watch something on computer screen, but important to see. I am very interested in the subject and excited to see what you have done. I am going to pass the info on to a couple of people — Meredith Monk and Bonnie Marranca in particular. Also thanks for the Vimeo link so I can go back and watch it again if I need to take notes. And much success with the film. Amazing you could do this in the middle of COVID. Us “old ladies” continue to hang in there. We are tough and don’t give up. This has been a terrible year in such dark times. Let’s hope the madness will begin to be over in another ten days and the long process of recovery will be able to begin. Of course the virus isn’t going away anytime soon, and I expect to be stuck here in the house for another six months. As a high risk person I have to be extra careful so I don’t get to go anywhere and only see a very small select group of people that includes my immediate neighbors.” Jacki Apple (writer/critic. LA, California) 10/24/2020
” We where in NY until the summer and I did a SayTheirNames street project ( you can see it at the Instagram and website). Then I came to greeece and I isolate in Mýkonos Now I’m in Thessaloníki for a show Life is strange because we avoid the direct company and I don’t now today how the opening will be I did not see my Galleriste she had an operation. Lydia Venieri (visual artist, NYC, Mykonos, Greece Venieri@me.com
Hello Maida. I don’t know why I didn’t receive your e-mail with the title Sunday. Sorry about that. I can’t organize with the programmers of the Cultural Workshops the opening of the room earlier. Could we meet at 3:20 ? We would have 20 minutes to organize microphones, screens, etc. We initially thought of 30 minutes of conversation. Talk about your trajectory, about the creation exhibited at the festival, about the pandemic-political issue. About the subject of the conversation is very free. You can talk about any topic you want. If there is space and people interested we can open for questions.Dawn will do the translation.See you soon. Ederson / Brazil Visoes Urbanas Festival Producing Director
“HI Maida! Thanks for writing. So sorry I missed the first event (Rainforest Awakens), these are hectic times trying to balance the lockdown with the kids at home, plus work and everything else. I’ll try to get online for the Brazil event, but just in case I really appreciate you sending me the link to vimeo.,It’s really nice seeing you so active, hope to be able to work together sometime soon.Best! LuMaría Luján Oulton; Directora de Game on! El arte en juego Cofundadora del Encuentro Latinoamericano de videojuegos; Cofundadora de wowlat; Women in Games Argentina
Dear Maida, Thanks for saying that. Yes, your performance, classes, and time with your company was a highlight for me, too. I can only imagine that TUKUHNIKIVATZ at Lincoln Center. I agree that we are in denial about climate change, but fires, hurricanes, and floods are affecting enough people that denial is beginning to wane. I’ll definitely check out the Tukuhnikivatz link! Stay safe and well, Artemis Preeshil (Theatre and Dance Professor; Scholar who sponsored Utah Project at Utah State in 1990s).
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 George Washington University, LABART, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, CAPES
Authors | Autores:
Maida Withers (Artistic Director, Dance Construction Company, Washington, DC) Steve Hilmy (Composer/Musician, Florida), Tania Fraga (Computer Artist, Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Curators | Curadores: Maida Withers, Nara Cristina dos Santos, Tania Fraga
Eric Withers, technical production | produção técnica
Youtube live broadcast at | Transmissão live no Youtube em: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw274rzHP9t7muJG9zAW_aw
Rainforest Awakens is a real-time interactive performance. In it, three artists come together “live and online” to explore beauty and crisis in a visionary 3D Rainforest.
Maida Withers, noted dance artist, performs in iridescent 3D virtual worlds of Tania Fraga, a Brazilian computer artist, in a sonic forest of sound by Steve Hilmy.
The Corona Virus pandemic is seizing artists in their homes, demanding other forms of expression and communication using computers. Therefore, the artists conceived this performance looking for ways to deal with such a situation. Maida’s living room transformed into a choreographic space receives Tania’s virtual worlds manipulated online, in real-time, from Sao Paulo while Maida dances in Arlington, VA in front of a large white wall where she responds, also in real-time, to the virtual images in DC with live music by Steve Hilmy from Florida.
Rainforest Awakens é uma performance interativa em tempo real. Nela, três artistas se reunem “ao vivo e online” para explorar a beleza e a crise em uma floresta tropical 3D visionária. Maida Withers, notável coreógrafa e dançarina, se apresenta nos mundos virtuais 3D iridescentes de Tania Fraga, uma artista computacional brasileira, em uma floresta sônica de Steve Hilmy.
A pandemia do vírus Corona19 está prendendo os artistas em suas casas, exigindo outras formas de expressão e comunicação por meio do computador. Portanto, os artistas idealizaram esta performance buscando formas de lidar com tal situação. A sala de Maida, transformada em espaço coreográfico, recebe os mundos virtuais de Tania manipulados online, em tempo real, de São Paulo, enquanto Maida dança em Arlington, VA em frente a uma parede branca onde responde, também em tempo real, as imagens virtuais com a música ao vivo de Steve Hilmy da Flórida.
Comments from viewers (email):
“Congratulations Maida for this innovative performance. I would never have known this was not a performance stage. The music was hauntingly beautiful, the virtual worlds were captivating and Maida you at the center, as always, were the expressive soul giving form to the energies of the earth. Thank you so much for sharing.” Aimee Fullman (Professor, GW Dance Alumni, Chair, MWDCCo Board). 10/21/2020 aimee.fullman@gmail.com
“Awesome Maida! I agree that you would never have known that you were all working from different locations. It was really beautiful – loved how it all came together. Congrats,” Alison Beesley (Accountant, Non Profit; MWDCCo Board) alison_beesley@yahoo.com
“OK…again! DITTO! DITTO1 DITTO1 Nancy Tartt
“I’m a few minutes behind on the stream, but this really is very cool. And not just for the Age of COVID – this work was innovative and expressive in any time. Looking forward to the future! Greg Hunter, Arlington, VA (Lawyer and MWDCCo Board)
Artists come together “live and online” to explore beauty and crisis in a visionary 3D Rainforest!
Maida Withers, noted dance artist, performs in iridescent
3D virtual worlds of Tania Fraga, Brazilian computer artist, in a sonic forest of sound by Steve Hilmy
This occurred during the Corona Virus pandemic in Maida’s living room with Tania in Sao Paulo manipulating the virtual worlds in real time while Maida was dancing in Arlington, VA with music by Steve Hilmy in Florida.
Maida Withers – Washington, DC choreographer, dancer, activist, filmmaker and founder of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. Maida has created over 100 distinctive works involving a process of experimentation, innovation and collaboration, works that reveal her interest in social and political issues and in juxtaposing performance and interactive technology. Maida has created works in Washington, DC and internationally for stage, museums, galleries, buildings/architecture locations, and specific environments. Maida and the Company have toured to over 20 countries, engaging in various projects in Russia, Guatemala, France, The Netherlands, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil, Finland, Venezuela, Mexico, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, others. http://maidadance.com
Tania Fraga – Brazilian compuuter artist, architect, and designer. In her work, she creates sensitive and poetic interactive three-dimensional domains presented as virtual and material realities. They result from the integration between art and science and show glimpses of their relationship with numbers. Therefore, they explain their dynamic harmonies, their implicit relationships, their infinite variations, their topological weaving, their becoming, for they are sensitive expressions of a sublime and transcendental universe of dreams expressed through mathematical correlations. With considerable academic training, compulsive creativity, extensive awards, she has participated in exhibitions, shows, conferences, and publications around the world, for the past 43 years. Glimpses of her work may speak for themselves. http://taniafraga.art.br
Steve Hilmy – Washington, DC / Florida, electronic composer/musician. Steve received his Bachelor of Arts, 1984, George Washington University; Master’s of Music in Composition, 1991, Peabody Conservatory of Music, John Hopkins University. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he studied composition with William Albright, University of Michigan; Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Chen Yi, Peabody Conservatory. Hilmy is on the music faculty, George Washington University (1992-present), where he is Director of the Electronic and Computer Music Studio. Awards include: Southeastern Composers League, ASCAP, BMI, Peabody Conservatory, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, including First Prize in the Philip Slates Memorial Composition Contest for “Icarus Falling” (piano and electronics, 1989); Gustav Klemm Prize for Composition, Peabody Conservatory (1991); 2nd place prize in the Prix d’été II composition competition, Peabody Conservatory for “Us” (tenor saxophone and electronics, 1999) Steve is well-know to Washington audiences for his riveting creations as a resident composer with Maida Withers Dance Construction Company.
Monster Man (7:29) (2015)
Excerpt of dance from MindFluctuations, evening-length work co-authored by Anthony Gongora, choreographer and dancer, supported by Maida Withers, artistic director (MWDCCo – Washington, DC), and Tania Fraga, 3D computer artist (Sao Paulo, Brazil).
MindFluctuations: Monster Man
Choreography and performance by Anthony Gongora
Concept (Maida & Anthony & Tania)
Costume by Maida Withers
Sculpture/Metal Mask by David Page
Virtual images (including urban photograph) created by Tania Fraga
Moster Man places emphasis on the challenges for men to achieve the role often outlined for them in society.
The visual projection features a photo, shot by Tania Fraga, of metal and other images of cars in an elevated parking garage.
Helmet (photograph above) was NOT worn by Anthony during Monster Man due to the metal headdress worn by Anthony Gongora during this section of MindFluctuations. The helmet was worn by another company dancer offstage near Tania Fraga to influence the computer.
RedWhiteBlueBlack&Orange: The ART and DANCE of Resistance
THE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ART Washington, DC presents
January 20, 2019 USA: Maida Withers, Dance Construction Company UKRAINE: Anton Ovchinnikov, Black O!Range! Dance USA: Erica Rebollar, Rebollar Dance
USA: Yoko K. Sen, Sound Artist
RedWhiteBlueBlack&Orange: The DANCE of Resistance
Art and Dance of Resistance – Washington, DC
International dance and sound artists join together during these fragile and tumultuous times to perform choreography and improvisation with an edgy sensibility in a global context. Dancers perform dance and improvise text related to 11 performance scripts. The sections are influenced by the site locations and the political/social climate of the performance location (international, etc). The Art and Dance of Resistance was the first performance to be given in the Center for Contemporary Political Art (CCPA). The Center is the first research institute and exhibition space in the United States devoted to the study, patronage and strategic use of political fine art. The current exhibition. Political Art from the 18th Century to the 21st, features art with implicit or explicit political messages from Soviet Union, Asia, and the USA. Art and Dance of Resistance was largely based on extreme political art works exhibited at the time in the CCPA. Many of the works were from the collection of Charles Krause, former war correspondent for the Washington Post. Many of the paintings selected were collected in Russia, Ukraine, art work about Cuba from artists in Viet Nam, others. The section with artist simultaneously telling crisis stories but stopping before the conclusion of the story created intrigue and imagination. Another section where artists held their breath and finally released into defeated or violent response was also challenging to the audience. The audience was asked to participate in
responding to the request: NO MORE and also MORE. This brought the audience together in commitment.
VISOES URBANAS Sao Paulo, Brazil presents
April 5 – 7, 2019
USA: Maida Withers, Dance Construction Company
UKRAINE: Anton Ovchinnikov
USA: Erica Rebollar USA: Steve Hilmy, Electronic Composer/Musician
April 6 @ park at the historic Municipal Theatre inAnhangabau April 7 @ Casa das Rosas
Dance of Resistance – Sao Paulo, Brazil
Maida Withers, Concept, Director; Dancers: Maida Withers (DC), Erica Rebollar (DC); Anton Ovchinnikov (Ukraine); Composer/Musician: Steve Hilmy, present Dance of Resistance at VISOES URBANAS INTERNATIONAL DANCE & PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL / SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (14TH SEASON), April 5-7, 2019 “DANCE OF RESISTANCE” was a new version of RedWhiteBlueBlack&Orange. The Dance of Resistance featured political issues relevant to Sao Paulo and Brazil that were presented/expressed both in movement and in text. The Dance of Resistance was performed in two
specific venues in the center of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil:
*April 6, 2019: the premiere performance took place in the elaborate area leading to the prestigious Municipal Theatre inAnhangabau, a leveled setting featuring historic sculptures and natural gardens. The Theatre is a spectacular historic building for opera, dance, and theatre.
*April 7, 2019: performance at the historic Casa das Rosas estate and gardens. The Festival has been in existence for 14 years and is very popular as a high quality street festival. The audiences are very large and
demanding.
Promo video, Anton Ovchinnikov; Documentary & Photos- Denise L. Seals, Slingshot Video
Maida Withers, Erica Rebollar, Anton Ovchinnikov: Visoes Urbanas,Sao Paulo, Brazil
Maida Withers – performer, choreographer, activist, filmmaker and founder of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company (1974). Maida has created over 100 distinctive works involving a process of experimentation, innovation and collaboration, works that reveal her interest in social and political issues and in juxtaposing performance and interactive technology. Maida has created works in Washington, DC and internationally for stage, museums, galleries, buildings/architecture locations, and specific environments. Maida and the Company have toured to over 20 countries, engaging in various projects in Russia, Guatemala, France, The Netherlands, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil, Finland, Venezuela, Mexico, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, others. Maida is a Professor in the Corcoran School for the Arts and Design, Washington, DC. http://www.maidadance.com
Anton Ovchinnikov – performer, choreographer and organizer of the annual international dance festival Zelyonka FEST in Kiev, Ukraine. Black O!Range dance theater, established by Ovchinnikov in 2008, is recognized as one of the most distinctive and original dance projects in Ukraine. This independent dance production company, continues to be the vanguard of the Ukrainian dance scene. In 2016/2017 Ovchinnikov was selected to participate in the CEC Artslink residence in the USA in New Orleans. The Ukrainian Contemporary Dance Platform managed by Anton Ovchinnikov supports young Ukrainian choreographers, integrates contemporary dance into the modern cultural life of Ukraine, and is a national center of contemporary dance. www.zelyonka-fest.org
EricaRebollar, Washington, DC
Erica Rebollar founded RebollarDance in 2003, a modern dance collaborative where multi-genre artists can make innovative work. RebollarDance received funding from the Art Council of Fairfax County, Kennedy Center’s LDCP grant, Culture DC’s Mead Theatre Lab Program, and space grants from ADI and Dance Place. Nominated for two Dance Metro DC Awards, RebollarDance was highlighted as “Season Pick” in City Paper and Washington Post, along with a feature in the “Arts and Power” issue of DC Magazine/Modern Luxury. Hailed as “exactly what the District needs”, RebollarDance received a 2013 Dance Metro DC Award for “Excellence in Choreography” and is a recipient of the prestigious Pola Nirenska Award for “Outstanding Contributions to Dance”. www.rebollardance.com
Yoko K. Sen –sound artist Washington, DC Yoko K. Sen produced the albums, “012906” (2016, Asahra Music), which was nominated for “Best Album in Electronica” by the 6th Independent Awards (2006), and “Heaven’s Library” (2011), for which she received the Washington Music Association Awards for “Best Electronica Artist” (2011, 2012). Yoko was an artist-in-residence at Strathmore, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and Saga Artist Residency (Eyrarbakki, Iceland), and a Citizen Artist Fellow at The John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Yoko’s work on transforming the sound environment in hospitals has been featured in BBC, Fast Company, and US News and World Report, and her initiative “My Last Sound” was selected as “Top Idea” by Open IDEO End of Life Challenge, presented in India, Brazil, Romania and Netherlands. As a self-proclaimed “sound alchemist,” Yoko aspires to create music, which is, to quote Beethoven, “the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life.” http://www yoko.muhttp://www.sensound.space
Steve Hilmy – Composer, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Viseos Urbanas Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil). Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Steve received his Bachelor of Arts, 1984, from George Washington University, and his Master’s of Music in Composition, 1991, from Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University. He studied composition with William Albright, University of Michigan and with Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Chen Yi, Peabody Conservatory. Hilmy has been on the faculty of George Washington University Music Department since 1992, where he founded the Electronic and Computer Music Studio. He has won awards from Southeastern Composers League, ASCAP, BMI, the Peabody Conservatory, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and First Prize in the Philip Slates Memorial Composition Contest for “Icarus Falling;” Gustav Klemm Prize for Composition, Peabody Conservatory (1991); and 2nd place prize in the Prix d’été II composition competition, Peabody Conservatory for “Us” (tenor saxophone and electronics, 1999).
USA / UKRAINE
CHOREOGRAPHY: MAIDA WITHERS, USA – ANTON OVCHINNIKOV, Ukraine
ELECTRONIC COMPOSER/MUSICIAN, STEVE HILMY, USA 60TH GALA ANNIVERSARY of the NATIONAL EXHIBITION CENTER OF UKRAINE WORLD PREMIERE “60 MOVES with FUTURE GAZE” “scattering the ruins of the past for the sake of the future.”.
Site Performance – July 6, 2018 @ 5:00 to 6:00 PM 17 Ukraine Contemporary Dancers National Exhibition Center of Ukraine
The National Exhibition Center, an architectural pearl, includes 180 buildings, 20 of which have the status of historical and cultural monuments of Ukraine.
Maida Withers, noted Washington, DC choreographer, and Anton Ovchinnikov, ZelyonkaFest founder, Kiev, co-created “60 MOVES with FUTURE GAZE,” a site-specific performance featuring 17 Ukrainian contemporary dancers and live electronic music composed and performed by Steve Hilmy, USA, in honor of the 60th ANNIVERSARY GALA CELEBRATION of The Historic National Exhibition (Expo) Center, Kiev, Ukraine – Friday, July 6, 2018. “60 MOVES with FUTURE GAZE, a dance production of Black O!Range, Kiev,” was created during a 15-day residency in the studio of the Les Kurbas Centre and on the grounds of the Expo Center.
Why Dance? Why this dance now? Why in Ukraine?
“60 MOVES with FUTURE GAZE” explores the relationship between architecture and the human body in order to better understand how architecture affects our identity and patterns of behavior. What do we feel today, being surrounded by the ideology of the past – a past deeply embodied in architecture? And who are WE – the people who have lived in times of dramatic change, who are still in the process of self-identification – scattering the ruins of the past for the sake of the future. This collaboration about Stalinist architecture and the human body occurs at a most timely moment for USA and Ukraine engagement.Most Ukrainians still live in an environment of Soviet architecture which was built during the days of Stalin and Khrushchev. It is well known that architecture was the embodiment and reflection of the dominant ideology and state policy. Houses in the era of Stalin were built to inspire respect for the state system, to express confidence, optimism, faith in the victory of the Soviet system and lifestyle. That day is now past but the architecture continues and can be re-envisioned by the new Ukraine – the passionate and innovative spirit of youth – thus the 60 MOVES project.
History of the Idea:
The idea of creating this performance was announced by artistic director of Black O!Range Dance Production, Anton Ovchinnikov. In 2016. Anton proposed creating a cycle of site-specific performances called “Revitalizing the Past – Creating the Future”. The proposal included the creation of street performances, with the background of the Stalinist architecture of the City of Kiev, which have significant artistic and historical value. Anton approached Maida Withers, USA choreographer, as a collaborator based on her 21 years of collaborative projects in Russia. In the first performance of the cycle, the two choreographers set the task of investigating the relationship between architecture and the body in order to understand how architecture can influence a person, identity and patterns of behavior with a look to the future of Ukraine.
Maida’s participation in the project was made possible, in part, by the generous support of The George Washington University, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences – CCFF; Maida Withers and The Dance Construction Company; and Zelyonka-Fest.
Jeannine Mjoseth and Steve Hilmy Steve Hilmy, composer/musician,
Anton Ovchinnikov, dancer & choreographer
Maida Withers, choreographer Steve Hilmy, Composer/Musician
“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)
2018
DIGG – a fiercely intimate multimedia performance experience created and performed by pioneering dance artist Maida Withers – an excavation of the current political landscape revealing a kaleidoscope of emotions, antagonisms, and suspicions. In DIGG there is a union of dance, emphatic gesture, vocal music, video, and text. Experimental vocalists, Audrey Chen (Berlin) and Phil Minton (UK) perform “reality-piercing” vocals. A captivating installation by filmmaker Linda Lewett and photographer Diane Falk features surrealistic footage of dancers shot in the 14th Century Monastery on Solovky Island, Russia coupled with intriguing and provocative photographic creations by Falk. DIGG is framed by Withers’ many tours and projects in Russia since 1996.
DIGG premiered inWashington DC at Dance Place, in a joint concert with Maida Withers, DC, and Kei Takei, Tokyo, February 10 & 11, 2018. DIGG is a sequel to Withers’Thresholds Crossed(2006), a multimedia opus “A fusion of East and West that explores the events, ideology and humanistic issues that engage notions relative to current political climate and conflicts.”
” In “DIGG” Withers dives into issues of Russian identity during this moment of political confusion and conflict.” Washingtonian Magazine
DIGG reflects Maida’s interest in timely and thought-provoking interactive technology. Dance film footage in DIGG was shot in the Solovky Archipelago and the dungeons and alcoves of the 14th Century Solovetsky Monastery in northern Russia, site of the first Soviet-Era Gulag experiment. Memories of Solovky are sobering, still, as are the unexpected events of politics today.
“There are times when words are inadequate to describe what one has seen. That’s often, if not always, true when it comes describing dance. Encapsulating a dance viewing experience is an incredible challenge. The performance of two powerhouses Maida Rust Withers and Kei Takei defies words. But as I’m limited to words here, I’ll just have it give it my best effort.” Critical Dance, C. Morgan
“COLLABORATORS
*Maida Withers – Concept, Choreographer, Performer
**Audrey Chen – Experimental vocals, performer
**Phil Minton – Experimental vocals, performer Linda Lewett – Filmmaker & Projection Design Diane Falk – Photographer Set Design – Lorenzo Cardim Kristen Lamb – Shadow Figure Linda Ryan – Shadow Figure
Ben Levine – Lighting Design
Stage Manger – Danny Debner
Communications Director – Billy Andrews
*Maida Withers, a powerful and commanding performer, is known for her daring and innovation in choreography. Maida has created more than 100 diverse works for stage, site, and film – dances laced with wit, humor and mythic intrigue. Maida and the Dance Construction Company performances include: Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; Lincoln Center, Great Dance in the Band Shell, NYC; Luna Theatre, Moscow; Beam Theatre, Tokyo; Go Down Center, Kenya: Nordly’s Festivalen– Tromso, Norway; others. Museum projects include: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Renwick Gallery, National Building Museum, Washington, DC; Lenin Museum, Krasnoyarsk, Russia; Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo; National Exhibition Center of Ukraine, Kiev, others. As a US State Department envoy and through US Embassies, tours include Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Poland, Germany, France, UK, Norway, India, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, among others. Withers dance films have been shown in the US, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and Germany.
Audrey Chen and Phil Minton
For most of the last forty years,Mintonhas been working as a improvising singer in groups, orchestras and situations, in various locations worldwide. Some composers have written pieces that especially employ his extended vocal techniques and improvisations. Chen’swork delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is extremely personal and visceral. Her playing explores the combination and layering of the homemade analog synthesizer, preparations and traditional and extended techniques in both the voice and cello. She works to join these elements into a singular ecstatic personal language.
Motion Capture Lab_GW School of Engineering, James Hahn, Director wtih PHD Students
DIGG PERFORMANCE / TOURS
A multidimensional performance, DIGG, is available for touring in the USA and abroad in 2018 and 2019. DIGG is a series of integrated segments that allow for inserting new segments appropriate to the performance location and updating to the most current global political events. Diane Falk, Photographer
Booking Contact Maida Withers, Artistic Director; m.withers@verizon.net
Billy Andrews, Communications Director; dcco@maidadance.com
USA 703-300-4634 (mobile); 202-994-0739 (office)
Promotional information and photos provided.
Technical Specs DIGG is comprised of 19 integrated scenes. The original version of DIGG is 45 minutes in length. The number of scenes can be modified to shorten DIGG for festival settings or shared concerts. Theatrical lighting Light plot is available. Projection QLab is used for the management of the projections comprised of film and animated photographs. Objects Provided by the artist or purchased on tour. Experimental Vocals: Performed live or recording.
No More Ping Pong Balls Performance Intervieux: Maida on Erica The life of Erica Rebollar, birthday girl and celebrant, exposed through an unclassified, no boundaries interview setup configured in a unexpected disorganization by dance artist friend and provocateur, Maida Withers. Please throw your ping pong ball if you perceive Erica is telling an UNTRUTH or a TRUTH in the interview. The performance concludes when there are “No More Ping Pong Balls.
ERICA and FRIENDS: 40 and Up! Joe’s Movement Emporium and Erica Rebollar present a rare opportunity to experience original modern dance choreography by eight nationally and internationally acclaimed choreographers over the age of 40, organized by RebollarDance, on June 17-18, 2017.
In 40 and UP!, Erica Rebollar of RebollarDance partners with nine national and international eclectic professional artists over 40 years of age to celebrate the works, wit and wisdom of age. Featuring the best choreographers from the DC/Baltimore area plus critically acclaimed out of town guest artists, 40 and UP! features work exploring everything from entangled lovers in Eurydice by Macolm Shute to empty promises in Giselle Ruzany’s Dry Cleaning. Featured choreographers joining Erica Rebollar include: Helanius Wilkins, Sharon Mansur, Carol Hess-Vait, Dan Kwong, Sandra Lacy, Jack Kirven, Giselle Rusany, and Malcolm Shute. Maida Withers
(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 with an added element to their improvisation on technique moves such as live music improvisers, adding objects, improvising with themselves improvising the movement material projected into the performance, with the final event taking place in the Flagg Building of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. The public was invited to these four presentations during the semester. In this course the movements were devised and taught by Maida Withers, but the students improvised on that material. The movements were “typical” technical aspects of Withers interest/style.
Corcoran Flagg Building, Washington, DC (Former Corcoran Gallery of Art)
Robin Bell and Maida Withers
Steve Hilmy, Electronic Composer/Musician
Alex Caldiero, Poet / 
Anton Ovchinn
Bruce Hucko, Photographer, Author, Educator
Bob Boilen, Composer/Musician, Author
Linda Lewett, New Media, Filmmaker
Giselle Ruzany, Choreographer, Dancer, Scholar
Jen Stone, Choreographer, Dancer, Educator
Megan Thompson, Choreographer, Dancer, Educator
Tzveta Kassabova, Choreographer, Dancer, Scholar
Carl Gudenius, Set Design, Exhibition Design, Scholar, Professor
anas Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil). Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Steve received his Bachelor of Arts, 1984, from George Washington University, and his Master’s of Music in Composition, 1991, from Peabody Conservatory of Music, Johns Hopkins University. He studied composition with William Albright, University of Michigan and with Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Chen Yi, Peabody Conservatory. Hilmy has been on the faculty of George Washington University Music Department since 1992, where he founded the Electronic and Computer Music Studio. He has won awards from Southeastern Composers League, ASCAP, BMI, the Peabody Conservatory, and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and First Prize in the Philip Slates Memorial Composition Contest for “Icarus Falling;” Gustav Klemm Prize for Composition, Peabody Conservatory (1991); and 2nd place prize in the Prix d’été II composition competition, Peabody Conservatory for “Us” (tenor saxophone and electronics, 1999).
Anton’s Choreography
