1977 Is this a real date?////  See docs.

*1978 Evening of Poetry and Dance: (or Dance Project October 18, 1981)??? Part II  Dance Project, Adams Morgan area, Washington, DC. Dance City was the second of two performances, absurd and outrageous social commentary events, performed by Dance Construction Company dancers with Washington, DC’s most controversial performance poet, Chasen Gaver.  Gaver performed his poems often accompanying himself using hand-held instruments (tambourine, others).  Performing in cabaret style, choreography was created and staged around Chasen as the center piece. Performances cautioned – ADULTS ONLY.  Dancers were beginning to use text during stage performance.

Maida’s recollection regarding Part II: ‘”A strong reference to religion and the church creating controversy over issues related to women, gay men, AIDS, others at the time.  ‘I remember dancing with a pillow tied to the rope around my waist…’ “

Maida Withers

Added page out of place put here for holding from MRW:  don’t use.

1978 – Baby It’s About Time! an absurd and outrageous social commentary event performed by dancers with Washington, DC’s most controversial performance poet (maybe first RAP artist), Chasen Gaver. Chasen Gaver performed live his own poems sometimes using small common sound instruments while the choreography was created and staged around him as the center piece – cabaret style. Performances cautioned – ADULT ONLY performances.

At this time, dancers were beginning to use text on stage during performance.

Evening of Poetry and Dance I, 1977

Act i: Sounds “The poems in this set are constructed around rhythms and rhymes in an attempt to appeal to the sense of movement in the art of dance. (Poems (see file) Sounds; Dance City; Does Your Family Have the Money; Le Boheme; Your Guess is as Good as Mind (ropes and pillows); Man/ipulation; Life Under My Umbrella; Love Poem for Richard Pryor; Sonida Rico; Z Name Eez….Claudine (pajamas and robes); In Search of Nikki Butane;

Intermission

Act II: Daddy! “The poems in this set are more concerned with social comment, and rhythm and rhyme provide the medium through which the message is directed.” (Marlene sings Daddy!; Poems: Daddy; After 10 (masks); The Oracle at Phila-Delphi; Funk Junction; Freak Accidents; Midge (mannequin); Snap, Crackle, Poppers; Sales Talk; Give the Dancers Castanets; ENCORE: DISCO.

http://maidadance.com/works/evening-of-poetry-and-dance-ii/  (1 or 11)?

Maida’s notes….not in right order here.

Michael Kriegsman review is Sunday October 19, 1981:  Dance Project…..Jan Van Dyke studio theatre.

“A series of wacky vignettes, devised and performed jointly with poet Chasen Gaver, provided amusingly waspish.  The four Dance Construction Company dancers, directed by Maida Withers, found consistently apt eccentricities of rhythm and shape to suit Gaver’s kinky, ironically needling verse.  The words and movement offered complementary angles of vision, rarely usurping each other’s focus.”

What the press is saying

"A series of wacky vignettes, devised and performed jointly with poet Chasen Gaver, provided amusingly waspish. The four Dance Construction Company dancers, directed by Maida Withers, found consistently apt eccentricities of rhythm and shape to suit Gaver's kinky, ironically needling verse. The words and movement offered complementary angles of vision, rarely usurping each other's focus." Alan M. Kriegsman, Washington Post

“Performance poetry springs from the mind of Chasen Gaver, a 24-year old Wasington poet who, along with others of similar persuasion, is adding an important dimension to the style and sound of American poetry. Gaver, along with other artists uses what performance can provide – sounds, rhythms, props, costumes- to create an experience of poetry that the written word itself cannot achieve. In a sense, it is the performance that is the poem here, and the written word is the main scaffold of that experience.” (not based on the dance and poetry performances). John N. Yanson