(2003) –  Maida on Maida in the Universe – Film Installation
A one-hour video was designed for large-scale projection on stage during the evening-length, one-woman show, Maida on Maida in the Universe.  The projected film installation features excerpts of performance and choreography by Maida Withers over a thirty-year period (1977 – 2002).  The visual installation included text  related to the question:  Is there a possible relationship of the creative process in the arts with select theories (notions) of the origin and demise of the Universe?  In Maida on Maida in the Universe, the audience was encouraged to ask questions and engage in dialogue with Withers during the performance.

VISUAL INSTALLATION – DIALOGUE
The stage set featured a desk, chair, and computer on stage where Wither’s thoughts about science, the universe, dance and creative process of the artists were being typed and simultaneously projected into the stage space, erased, then restated/retyped often making completely different sense as new words/thoughts are added to the sentences (science related). Keeping this spontaneous was an important choice – raising questions, deliberation, rather than a known text being repeated for each performance.

VISUAL INSTALLATION – NASA
The visual installation for Maida on Maida in the Universe includes images from the Hubble space telescope.  The images were provided by NASA and at the time, available on line: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/

VISUAL INSTALLATION – MWDCCO
“Photographs and video excerpts from the archives of Maida Withers and the Dance Construction company from 1977 to 2001 were selected for various reasons: significance of the work itself or the role of that work in the artistic life of the company. The selected images frequently honor important artist and dancer collaborators.  Often the choice reflects the quality of the image needed for large-scale projection on stage.  For me, the images reveal, at least in some small way, a connection to my values and demonstrate our rapidly changing culture.”  Maida Withers

Morning Edition TV interview (1977)
Put on the Music Let’s Dance (1977)
Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses (1974-75)
White Mansions (1975)
Iwo Jima Monument Event (1976)
Time Dance (1976)
Sunday Maneuvers at Theodore Roosevelt National Monument Park (1977)
Phase Tracing (1978)
Catching Butterflies and Other Things That Move (1979)
Woman See (198l)
Stall. (1981)
Families Are Forever (1982)
Turf (1983)
Wet and Wonderful in Washington, DC (1983)
Laser Dance (1985)
State of the Art (1986)
Obsession:  America’s Obsession with Sex (1987)
Earth Spirit Rising (1988)
Ledge (1986)
Sands Cycles Video (1992)
In Winds of Sand (1992)
Stone Ring (1995)
Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz (1996)
Nevertheless Tenderness (1997)
Pitfalls (1998)
Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky Video (2001)

Maida on Maida in the Universe premiered in Washington, DC, USA Capitol City, and many of the works in the projected video installation were performed in Washington, DC.  This possible connection to the audience of previous experience with the works on the installation was of interest to Withers in the live performance.

What the press is saying

EVEN AMONG the grandes dames of dance in Washington, it takes chutzpah
to put on a one-woman show about yourself, your life's work and your
place in the universe. But dancer, choreographer and George Washington
University professor Maida Withers claims it's all in good fun. "This is
sort of campy," Withers says. "It's humorous, putting myself on the spot
-- and it's intended to be ludicrous."

A one-woman retrospective, "Maida on Maida in the Universe" brings
together 30 years of Withers's dances, plus live electronic and trombone
music from composer Cam Millar, archival videos and photos of and by
Withers and images of the galaxy from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The
program takes place Friday and Saturday at GWU's Dorothy Betts Marvin
Theatre.

Withers, 65, who formed the Dance Construction Company in 1974, has been
pushing dance's technological envelope for decades. In the '70s, "Laser
Dance" included light sculptures by laser artist Rockne Krebs. "Bog
Works" and "Stall" experimented with moving loudspeaker installations by
composer John Driscoll. By the 1980s, Withers revisited "Laser Dance"
with original music by Bob Boilen, and she began collaborating with
visual artists, composers and her dancers, using video and computer
technology.

Her 1988 "Utah Project" featured dances videotaped outdoors and then
shown in a theater with art installations and live dancers. Later,
Withers joined with self-described cyber-world artist Tania Fraga for
"Aurora 2001, Dance of the Auroras/Fire in the Sky."

Withers says she's fascinated with the intersections between art and
science, technology and intuitive performance. "My works are so very
physical, very intricate, yet at the same time I like that juxtaposition
between the human and the nonhuman," she explains.

Most recently, that juxtaposition has become computer generated. Because
computers now play such an integral role in everyday life, this weekend
Withers puts a computer on stage into which she will type a stream of
consciousness monologue that the audience will see via stage
projections.

"I'm trying to look at how we as humans can be interactive with
technology," Withers says. Thus the choreographer seeks out
collaborators, musicians, videographers, visual artists and computer
artists who share her inquisitive nature. She also plans to take
questions from her audience during the performance.

"That's the interactive aspect, for me," Withers says. "I'm taking a lot
of risks -- revealing my ideas, my questions with society. I'm very
outspoken, very visceral. Looking at my life, I have this energy, this
passion. I'm not the punk I once was. This is the place I am at right
now. I don't know where I'll be tomorrow."

MAIDA ON MAIDA IN THE UNIVERSE -- Friday and Saturday at 8, Marvin
Theatre, 800 21st St. NW. Call 202-432-7328.

http://www.washingtonpost.com Lisa Traiger