(the above film will be replaced by a 2025 update by Linda Lewett ON MRW Z DRIVE LINDA TRANSFER……2025

(2009) April 13 – 23 Documentary Film (29:20) Cholula, Mexico shot during Performátic, an International Forum of Contemporary Dance and the Art of Movement, in 2009 on the campus of the Universidad De Las Americas, Cholula and Puebla, Mexico.   Maida Withers was a guest artist for the 2009 festival that includes international artists from Europe and Latin America as well as choreographers from Mexico. The highly regarded festival is under the direction of Mayra Morales and Ray Eliot Schwartz, profesores de Danza en la Universidad de las Américas Universidad de las Americas Puebla. (2009 Performática: Foro Internacional de Danza Contemporánea y Artes de Movimiento).

Linda Lewett, ARTtvLLc, filmmaker and collaborator with Maida and the Dance Construction Company, creates a beautiful film of performances and interviews of artists/participants in Performatica 2009. Founders of Performatica  2009, Myra Morales and Ray Eliot Schwartz, introduce the festival and the philosophy.  Performatica is hosted at the Universidad de las Américas Pueblo (UDLAP), and Complejo Cultural Universitario (CCU) de las Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP).  Producers, Performatica 2009: Linda Lewett, ARTtvLLc and Maida Withers and Dance Construction Company

(Get film from MRW Z Drive)

The film, Performatica 2009, features excerpts of Maida Withers controversial work, FareWell to the End of the World As We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise, presented at Performatica, with live performance by Steve Hilmy, composer/musician, and Ayo Okunseinde, media artist.   In the film, festival participants from around the globe discuss their participation and performance at Performatica and also respond to the meaning of Maida’s controversial environmental work, FareWell: to the End of the World OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise.

Performance of Farewell, a stage work, features Maida Withers, solo dancer, Steve Hilmy, composer/musician/ interacting in real time with electronic music,  Ayo Okunseinde, media artist creating an amazing visual installation in a projected environment on stage. This collection dramatically examines concerns regarding views of the future of planet earth and inhabitants.

Performatica 2009 – EVENT Listing @ maidadance.com.

Performatica commissioned Maida Withers to create an outdoor site performance with 18 dancers, participants from the Performatica festival. The performance took place in a large public space on the campus and included live music by Steve Hilmy.  View @ 23:14 to 27:25 on the Performatica video:  Tres Dias Encholula

Performance of FareWell at Performatica: (add #’s from MRW archives video delivered by LLewett – No access to Youtube in archives)

FareWell to the End of the World as we know it OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise (https://vimeo.com/6643827 (performance in Washington, DC)

Premiere USA performance of Maida Withers:  Fare Well to the End of the World or Dancing Your Way to Paradise:  https://vimeo.com/6643827

Performer’s Interviews:  Linda Lewett created film shorts of FareWell artists Maida Withers, dancer, Steve Hilmy, composer/musician, and Ayo Okunseinde, media artist:

Video’s of artist interviews:
https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-choreographer- https://vimeo.com/7113850 

https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-composer-steve-hilmy
https://vimeo.com/7346369

https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-media-artist-ayo-okunseinde
https://vimeo.com/711337

Maida Withers Photos shot in live performance:

What the press is saying

Not a press mention, but email from educator with ties in Verzcruz, Mexico: "The video you shared from your ARTtvLLC is powerful, "Farewell to the End of the World as We Know It," from Tres Dias in Cholula. I was impressed when listening to the young adults speak. It was heartening to hear one young woman articulate her understanding of human power to change things and connect that understanding with how we are shaped by the spaces we have been in and what has changed within us. I think that her voice was the perfect counterpoint to Maida's who kick-started things with her dramatic statement, "I don't recognize my Earth, my people, my country." And to think these three days in Cholla Puebla took place in 2009. Wow! (Viewed in 2025) Mary Leventhal