(2006) April  13 to 21  Maida Withers: A Choreographer’s Life – a retrospective of photographs, video, and costumes that showcases Maida Withers and her history as artistic director of the Dance Construction Company along with local and international collaborators.  The exhibition celebrates work created over four decades when Withers began to perform and choreograph in the mid -1960’s in the nation’s capital.  Her ground breaking work parallels the development of the arts in Washington, D.C. and the post-modern genre nationally.  The exhibit culminates with displays of propaganda art and other items related to the process involved in the creation of her latest work, Thresholds Crossed, in D.C. and Moscow, Russia.

Maida Withers: A Choreographer’s Life is staged in conjunction with the world premiere of Thresholds Crossed at the 1500 seat Lisner Auditorium in downtown Washington, DC.  Thresholds Crossed is a dance theatre work by Withers featuring dancers from Russia and the United States that explores the events, ideology, and humanistic issues that link the United states with the former Soviet Union and current Russia.  This project marks the 30th anniversary of the D.C.-based Dance Construction Company.

The exhibition was the site of the after concert celebration of the opening performance of Thresholds Crossed with Russian and American dancers at 8:00 pm April 21, 2006 in Lisner, Auditorium, Washington, DC.

Below:  Excerpts of diverse dances by Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company, 1974 – 2006

Dances referenced in Maida Withers: A Choreographer’s Life

GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs Hosts Conversation with Visiting Dancers from Russia, April 12, 2006:
When: Wednesday, April 12, 2006. 6:00 to 7:30 pm
Where:  Elliott School of International Affairs, Lindner Family Commons
Address:  1957 E Street NW, Room 602, Washington, DC
Who:  Hope M. Harrison, Associate Professor of History and International Affairs and director of GW’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, and Maida Withers, professor of dance and artistic director, Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, will host a conversation with five Russian dancers on their country’s history.
Russian Dance Artists:  Konstantin Grouss; Anastasia Oleynik; Nikolai Shchetnev, Ekaterina Zharinova (Russians); Vitalii Sozoniuk (Ukraine)

The April 12 discussion is a part of the series “History, Memory, and the Politics of the Past,” sponsored by GW’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the Elliott School of International Affairs.

What the press is saying

"I have always been political, and living in D.C., we eat, live and breathe politics," says Maida Withers, who celebrates the 30th anniversary of her Dance Construction Company this month with the premiere of Thresholds Crossed. The piece, which grew out of her 10 (yes, 10) residencies in Russia, brings together five dancers from Russia and the Ukraine with five American dancers. Thresholds Crossed, she says, is about "the violence of war, love of country, passion for freedom, and sorrow for loss - a journey into places where thresholds are crossed." Experimental music and film will complete the picture. A retrospective exhibit of Withers career will be viewable in the theater's Dimock Gallery, April 21, Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington, DC Kate Mattingly