Laser Dance: World Premiere, FCAC-TV

Original Performance on June 6, 1985

(1985) June 6 and 7
LISNER  Auditorium /  Washington, DC

Evening-length space odyssey:
Quest   Domain   Rites   Dialogue   Departure*

*Laser Dance (above) – shot on 16 mm film due to the low level light on stage required for laser  beams3 collaborators portrait Maida Withers                            Bob Boilen                                      Rockne Krebs
Choreographer                Composer Synclavier II                         Laser Artist
This historic space odyssey, choreographed by Maida Withers,  takes place inside a ground-breaking visual installation, on stage and above the audience, of multi-colored argon laser beams created by world renowned, ground breaking laser artist, Rockne Krebs, with unique Synclavier II music by Bob Boilen.
Dance Construction Company Dancers, Brook Andrews, Eric Bobrow, Dale Crittenberger; Liliana Fortna, Larry Graves, Jean Ann Michie, Susan Short Bensinger, Stephanie Simmons, and Maida Withers
Lighting Director, William (Bill) DeMull
Costume Designer, Lilliane Fortna
Stilts, Brook Andrews and Rockne Krebs
Photographs, Rockne Krebs
Film and Video Director, Linda Lewett
Film and Video Producer, Fairfax Cable Access FCAC-TV, Dance Construction Company
Cameras, Matthew Dibble, Linda Lewett, DeWayne Coats, Edgar Cheetham
Editors, Linda Lewett, Paul Caffrey, Maida Withers
Presenter, District Curators, Inc.
Producer, Bill Warrell, District Curators Inc;  Maida Withers Dance Construction Company
Star laser with fog“Laser beams, to be seen must be in darkness, or an environment like dry ice, others. This created challenges for the dancers in partnering choreography, using long wooden poles, other aerial moves.”

For this epochal work, laser beams originate from upstage center projected toward  and shifting using 50 reflecting mirrors placed on the Lisner Auditorium walls.   When the beams are interrupted (by the human body (walking on stilts or holding stilts), the visual grid (installation of beams) is altered on stage and above the audience in the house.  The interrupted light beams also trigger sounds, part of the sound installation and score by Bob Bolen, which features the Synclavier II electronic instrument.  This riveting score generously enhances the narrative in the stunning choreography by Maida Withers for the company of nine dancers.

“The space odyssey was one of several works  that reveal my curiosity about man/woman on planet earth, but more about life in  ‘the universe.’   Laser and Laser Dance, in the 1980s, was a myth of sorts, where dancers appear from somewhere and occupy the ‘installation,’ then exit.  Laser was new at the time of Laser Dance.  The FDA spent almost 6 hours the day of performance approving the laser installation.  It was essential to ensure that no beams would impact the dancers’ eyes or the audience.  As dancers, we covered our bodies with costumes and shoes, and we wore protective goggles.  This was an extraordinary “mythic” existence.”  Maida Withers

Performing in laser beams is a challenge.  The beams need darkness or an atmosphere in the air that allows the laser beam to be seen, to be visible.  This aspect created difficulties in taking photos  but most difficult for video taping of the production. Rockne Krebs shot many of the photos with a large, historic, camera.  FCAC collected as much usable footage as possible considering the light challenges of laser.  Laser DanceLaser Drawing – Rockne Krebs
Laser_Group Center_light blue beams
Dancers wore goggles in sections that included laser beams. The US Government agents were in the dress rehearsal all day before the opening  to determine if the laser beams were safe for dancers but also for the viewing audience since the laser grid traveled into the audience and bounced off mirrors positioned to create an astonishing overhead display in the theater house.  Dancers were on stilts in some segments so they could alter (with interaction) the laser-line configuration above the audience.
Blue laser lights form X-Slide4.
Dance RedBlue4.
Stilts4.
Stilts in intense blue.  Stilts made it possible for dancers to block the high laser beams.

Sm LaserroCastbm;pTIF
Brook Andrews, Larry Graves, Eric Bobrow, Dale Crittenberger, Maida Withers, Stephanie Simmons, Susan Short, Jeanne Ann Michie, Liliana FortnaPromotional photo - MRW with fist clench arch B&W.Maida Withers in costumes designed by Liliana Fortna, dancer

Sm Laser Promol Photo Male Female elbows & goggles B&WLiliana Fortna and Eric Bobrow

For viewing choreography, without laser beams, visit the following:   https://maidadance.com/works/laser-dance-quest-domain-dialogue/  

The above photo was shot during a pre-concert public presentation in Lisner Auditorium with Rockne Krebs, Bob Boilen, and Maida Withers along with the cast of dancers who engaged in conversation and live performance abouts the creation of Laser Dance:


Laser Dance: Quest, Domain, Dialogue sections of choreography were performed without the laser installation:
*National Dance Week, Dancefest ’85, at Glen Echo Park, Sunday April 28, 1985. (Photos, only)
*Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, three performances in 1986 were followed by Virginia State sponsored tour.
https://maidadance.com/works/laser-dance-quest-domain-dialogue/
https://vimeo.com/92363777

notes: llAYOUT NOT WORKING..
Too much information appears on the MaidaDance directory WHEN LOOKING UP name of the dance… (What is NOTES? WHY DOES ALL THE WRITTEN INFORMTION COME UP FOR THIS WORK?)

What the press is saying

"Laser Dance...combines technology and movement in complex and wondrous ways...beautiful green beams creating a constantly changing sculpture through which the dancers cavort, both on feet and on stilts...all makes for one of the more ambitious and original arts events in this city's recent past. Pamela Sommers, The Washington Post Pamela Sommers
"It's a bold, imaginative, frequently striking, decidedly space-aging enterprise. If, in the end, it remains something of an enigma- its intentions and theme elusive, the logic of its unfolding only intermittently convincing..."

"The multiple media of "Laser Dance" are interdependent and interactive. As the dancers move,flanked by the lasers and surrounded by an ocean of sound, their bodies intercept the light beams, and thereby trigger prerecorded shifts in the synthesized music."
"The laser structures had a brilliance and atmosphere of their own, at once intense and ghostly, static and shimmering, suggesting now a cosmic corral and then an intergalactic cathedral of light; there was also something ominous about them, like Darth Vader's sword." Alan M. Kriegsman
"Tripping the Laser Fantastic"
Dancing with a laser beam is no easy matter. That's what choreographer Maida Withers and the eight other members of the Dance Construction Co. have discovered during their six-month collaboration with laser artist Rockne Krebs." "For starters, you can't always see the beam, even when your hand or leg is passing directly through it. Then there is the "intensity" factor, requiring the dancers to wear protective clothing and goggles. To make things even more challenging, the goggles affect depth perception and the ability to pick up green and blue hues." "These hardships, though, are more than worth it when the result is a work like Laser Dance. The evening-length piece, which will be performed Friday night at Lisner Auditorium, combines technology and movement in complex and often wondrous ways. Krebs' beautiful green argon laser beams reflect off a number of mirrors, creating a constantly changing "sculpture through which the dancers cavort, both on foot and on stilts. Accompanying this wealth of visual stimuli is composer Bob Boilen's dramatically pulsing score, a mix of taped passages performed on digital synthesizer and live contributions by Boilen and ex-Urban Verbs member Robert Goldstein. It all makes for one of the more ambitious and original homegrown arts evening in this city's recent past." Clay Warnick
General and long ariticle about Maida Withers - an interview during the time Laser Dance was being constructed.
"Maida has identified the "raw physical motion" of dancers as the central force of her work. She structures this in intricate ways. Dancers are her main collaborators, but she has often asked poets, visual artists and musicians to contribute to building a piece.
..."Movement flows out of me excessively rapidly. I have more movement than I can choreograph. I work knowledgeably. I know how I want it done. My instinct is always just to become enamored in the work, and not necessarily how well it is going to work for the audience.
..."In reflecting back, sometimes I get really choked up, and I wonder what I have done and what this means. If it means anything."
Anne: "It is impossible to imagine how much dance would actually have been available to Washington audiences over the last couple of decades without Maida. Through her long association with George Washington University shehas brought many important artists here for workshops and performances - artists like Yvonne Rainer, Meredith Monk and Kei Takei. She has supported many local artists, both through collaboration and by offering her energies to productions. Her own experiments over the last ten years have also helped to educate audiences in the political and choreographic challenges that concerned other artists. The works have ranged from scripted improvisations with humanitarian themes to taut abstractions. Her curiosity has taken her to Theodore Roosevelt Island, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Holy Rood Cemetery in Washington, where she was investigating environments and find audiences." much more Ann Pierce
Maida Withers, D.C.'s Dance Revolutionary.
"What I want to create is tomorrow!" Kim Marshall
"In recent years Maida Withers has been occupied with finding positive relationships between artists and technology. Laser Dance for the Dance Construction Company (Lisner Auditorium, June 13) is her most ambitious and risky collaboration to date. Dazzled by the potential of laser beams as a new light source, Withers initiated the project with famed laser sculptor Rockne Krebs and composer Bob Boilen. As the dancers in sleek red spacesuits and protective goggles, move through Krebs' three-dimensional light structures, they trigger Boilen's synthesizer score. There were moments of great beauty when green light beams and fog, heavy metal sounds and questing movement seemed on the verge of a new synthesis. The dancing featured intricate partnering, a treacherous stilt ritual as well as dreamy dippings and glidings." Sali Ann Kriegsman
Laser Dance: A step into the interarts arena.
"With the premiere of Laser Dance last Thursday night at Lisner Auditorium, a collaborative effort between Krebs (laser sculptor), choreographer Maida Withers and musician Bob Boilen, Washington art has stepped resoundingly into an interarts arena which until now has been almost exclusively the domain of the New York avant-garde."
"This movement (second movement) opened with the dancers awkwardly traversing the stge on red and blue stilts. This was followed by a series of rightly choreographed interactions here the stilts were employed in a number of imaginataive ways: now appearing to be weapons, now musical instruments, now extensions of the dancers themselves."
"The best part of the show took place over the heads of the audience where Mr. Krebs' lasers created immense at's cradles, pentagons, and hostly pyramids of green light. gazing up through these, one's ears full of the weird, driving music, the viewer was transported. Unfortunately, one's attention was also transported from the activities on stage." Michael Welzenbach
Tripping the Laser Fantastic (Weekends Best)
Krebs beautiful green argon laser beams reflect off a number of mirrrors, creating a constantly changing "sculpture" through which the dancers cavort, both on foot and on stilts." "Accompanying this wealth of visual stimuli is composer Bob Boilen's dramatically pulsing score, a mi of taped passages performed on digital synthesizer and live contributions by Boilen and ex-Urban Verbs member Robert Goldstein. It all makes for one of the more ambitious and original homegrown arts events in this city's recent past." Pamela Sommers
'The lasers light will emanate from behind the stage, guided by six mirrors located at various sites throughout the auditorium. Working with such a powerful instrument requires certain precautions, Krebs must file his plans with the Bureau of radiological Health. cerain sets inthe house will be cardoned off. And then there's the performers' safety to consider. The beam is not intense enough to burn the skin,but it is certainly intense enough to burn the eyes. As a result, the dancers will wear protective goggles, which have their own drawbacks - they eliminate green-blue light, at times depriving the dancers of depth perception and other visual amenities." Pamela Sommers

Artists and Collaborators
Dancers
Laser Sculptor, Design
Composer and Musician / Synclavier II
Light Design
Costume Design
Video and Film Director
Video Editor
Video Editors
Choreographer
Stilts
Production Facilities
Film and Video Director
Presenter
Producers
Other Performances