(2010) December 10
Alwin Nikolais Centenniel Celebration Concert, Hunter College, New York City, New York

“It was an honor to  perform on the 100th year celebration concert paying tribute to the creative genius, Alwin Nikolais – American choreographer, dancer, composer, musician, and teacher.  Nikolais was guest teacher for the University of Utah summer dance workshop in Park City, Utah organized by Joan Woodbury and Shirley Ririe.   It was a privilege for me to participate in the Nikolais classes.  Lucas Hoving, principal with the Nikolais company, was teaching at the University of Utah as well.  Years later, I was invited to teach at the Nikolais School, New York City, during  a Sabbatical Leave from George Washington University.  Deep gratitude to the Nikolais dance family for this important celebration.” Maida Withers

(2010) December 10  FareWell – Tipping Point, a solo by Maida Withers, one of the guest artist participants for the Alwin Nikolais Centenniel Celebration Concert in New York City, New York.  FareWell –Tipping Point was choreographed by Withers for Jadee Mitchell, Washington, DC in 2008. For Tipping Point, music is created and performed live by Steve Hilmy, electronic composer/musician, with a dramatic visual installation by Ayodamola Tanimowo Okunseinde projected on the stage floor and backdrop.  FareWell – Tipping Point was the second work in the FareWell series of works about global environment concerns, specifically for this work, the melting ice bergs – the north and south poles.  In Tipping Point, the dancer recites poetry by noted poet, David McAleavey, and asks somewhat unanswerable  questions to the audience.   

Segments of FareWell: Tipping Point choreography became part of the opening section of  Withers evening-length solo, FareWell:  To the End of the World as we know it OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise, the  final  work in Withers’ FareWell series of dances.

Tipping Point features excerpts of poems by David McAleavey, noted Washington, DC poet.

Shimmering Fragments
These sheer stripped-down shapes
will not last. The birds roosting
on those rocks won’t last.

the bird soaring in the sky
hunts for what’s missing

These sheer stripped-down shapes,
these cliff-like mountains of ice,
orphans in space-time

Ice cliffs must crumble
icebergs must vanish: you must
change your life.   Of course.

(additional poems in the archives)

(2008) April 26 Withers premiered FareWell – Tipping Point (see * below) at  Laban / Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS) international Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Tipping Point, part of Withers FareWell series, references the crisis of global warming demonstrated most vividly in the Arctic and Antarctica, continents of ice on our planet that are rapidly disappearing. Steve Hilmy, electronic composer creates and performs the haunting music. Ayo Okunseinde’s new media installation of art and nature is projected on the white floor and backdrop to swallow the performer in the water/ice (not included in Withers performance above).

(2008) June 3 at 7:00 pm (May 17 to June 4)   Withers performed FareWell –  at the GoDown Center, Nairobi, Kenya during a Dance Construction Company residency as Cultural Envoys, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.  Steve Hilmy performed electronic
music. Duet only with Wendell “Secrets Kept” 

(2009) April 13 – 25 Performatica International Festival, Puebla/Cholula, Mexico.  No exact date for MRW performance of FareWell. Possibly April 19 for FareWell and April 24 next to the last day of the Festival for the Withers directed SITE work on campus.

(2009) May 22 FareWell: The End of the World as We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise.  Amazing Earthfest, Kanab, Utah.  Program – Friday, 7:00 pm to 9:00 am crescent Moon Theatre.  Composer/muisician, live, Steve Hilmy and visual installation, live, Ayo Okunseinde.

(2010) July 30/31 Dance in the Desert Festival, College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada.  Maida was honored to receive the Dance in the Desert Award for “lifetime service of Dance as an art form”.  (public recognition on stage at the performance).  Maida performed FareWell: The End of the World as We Know it OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise at the summer festival.

Note: The original FareWell: Tipping Point was choreographed by Withers for Jadee Mitchell. (https://maidadance.com/works/tipping-point-jadee-mitchell)

Tipping Point features Poems by poet, David McAleavey:

Shimmering Fragments:
These sheer stripped-down shapes
will not last. The birds roosting
on those rocks won’t last.

Shimmering Fragments:
the bird soaring in the sky
hunts for what’s missing

These sheer stripped-down shapes,
these cliff-like mountains of ice,
orphans in space-time

Ice cliffs must crumble
icebergs must vanish: you must
change your life.   Of course.

(additional poems in the archives)

.