Thin Holes / BYU Residency

Classes, Experimental, Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Group Choreography, Improvisation, Installation / Visual, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Live Music, Original Music, Post Modernism, Residency, Site Work

1976 – Thin Holes, a new work created during a three week summer dance residency: Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company (Maida Withers, John Bailey, Brook Andrews) and John Driscoll, composer/musician, engaged in a three to four week residency at Brigham Young University. During that time, students took classes and eventually completed two performances for the general public.

Thin Holes was the title of one work (no documents found, as yet).

One performance took place in the large Physical Education gymnastic facility on the lower campus near the football stadium. The large, high ceiling, gymnastic room featured climbing ropes, and every conceivable device for gymnastics. In this site-specific work, dancers performed in the various spaces using the equipment in diverse ways. Chairs for the audience were in many specific and different locations. Events were taking place throughout the space. When an audience member wanted to move from one location to another for viewing, they raised hands and requested transportation and two or three dancers would come to the aid of the audience member and carry them in varied fashions (moving dances) to a new location.

For the second performance the audience was located in the highest building on the “upper campus” (perhaps the Joseph Fielding Smith tower) where the audience looked down on the sidewalks and slightly large cement paths/roads for delivery trucks, cars, etc. Dancers performed on those transportation sidewalks wearing skates, on bicycles, skooters, and any device for transport. Various formations emerged. This was, of course, a very “site specific work.”

John Driscoll, a sculptor turned electronic music initiator, created music/sounds for both public events. John was an influential associate of MWDCCo since the founding in 1974. He was a sculptor turned electronic music initiator who built instruments for performance. He performed on several occasions with John Cage. See John Driscoll’s collaborator’s data…. https://maidadance.com/collaborators/john-driscoll/

The year is correct, summer 1976, but the exact month and dates not yet confirmed. There is a current search for documentation.

This was an “extreme” and diverse residency…much fun and enthusiasm by all. Maida was so honored to have been invited back to her alumni institution – graduating with a BS in Dance in 1958, the first degree in dance offered by Brigham Young University, Physical Education Program, with Geraldine Glover as the lead dance faculty member. Eight undergraduate seniors were instrumental in the Women’s Physical Education Program promoting/demanding/begging for this daring initiative with the female director of Women’s PE. Maida was influential through her position as head of the student dance organization, Orchesis.

Iwo Jima – US Marine Corps War Memorial

Site Work, Work

1976 – “In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775.”

MWDCCo with a permit to be on the grounds, dancers climbed the memorial for a brief performance, approximately 10 minutes in honor of those who had served to protect our freedoms.

Time Dance (1976)

Experimental, Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Improvisation, Live Music, Original Music, Post Modernism, Solo Choreography, Stage Works, Voice and Text, Work

1976 – Quartet based on structure of pulse and accumulation. The dance begins with finger snapping the pulse and dancers continue the finger snapping off and on during the first 10 minutes. The pulse appeared in the movement or as sound throughout the entire continuous performance. The dance had distinctive sections for concepts and choreography. The final section titled, 44’s, represented an accumulation of 8 count phrases contributed by each dancer. The sequence must begin with 1, and then 1/2 and then 1/2/3 and so on. You could stop/hold/arrest the movement on any given count, but you must come in on the count (up to 44) that has moved forward either by the other dancers or just keeping the pulse. There was a slow section and there was a “marking” section. The goal for each dancer was to take advantage of the unexpected ways to create choreography dropping in and out while changing locations on stage.

Choreography: Maida Withers and Company. Dancers worked collectively on concepts and choreography, directed by Withers. Each Company member had a solo they created with group accompaniment. One group section, dancer clustered together up stage, involved slow and difficult movements with cues for shifting speed – slow and fast. The ending, 44’s, challenged each dancer to accumulate from one movement to repeating one and adding, two, then returning to the first movement and adding to movement 3. Dancers could drop out by holding a count but had to track the counts to reenter on the exact accumulative point in the phrase of 44 moves.

Costumes by John Bailey: Tie-dyed layers of cotton costumes in shades of died sky blue, yellow, and water green. Each dancer had a leotard, cotton shorts and a T-shirt, long cotton tie pants, or a skirt. Clothes were de-accummulated (taken off during performance coming down to the leotard, only, during the end of the dance.

Maida Withers, Solo for Time Dance

First performance was live music created and performed by Steve Bloom, gong pulse and instruments (1976) using tape and live instruments and a synthesizer. For the second performance music was created by John Driscoll. This performance featured John reciting poems by Gertrude Stein (Sacred Emily); Geography and Plays by Dick Higgins (Cowboy Plays) “Foew & OMBWHNW”.

Premiere: Hand Chapel, Washington, DC. March 26, 27, 28, 1976. The second performance was in Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre (1977???) (1984) Music for miniature objects by John Driscoll. The third performance was on the steps by the Lincoln Memorial looking down over the Potomac River during Rush Hour (see photos), no music for this performance, except the sound of cars driving by the stairs.

Photo: Maida Withers, Solo, Time Dance

There is a script for the choreography in the early archival notes prepared by Cynthia Word.

Bog Works

Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Improvisation, Installation / Visual, Interactive Technology, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Live Music, Museums/Galleries, Original Music, Site Work, Technology and Dance

BOG Works: Maida Withers, dancer @ WPA (no existing photos of homemade speaker installation) Photo: Adam Peiperl
BOG WORKS: John Driscoll Instruments @ WPA

BOG WORKS: John Driscoll Instruments @ WPA

1975 – Friday, August 15, 1975
Home-Made Speakers and Dance Program:
Installation performance with MWDCCo and John Driscoll, electronic composer/musician/sculptor, in the open theater space of Washington Project for the Arts in the earliest location on G Street, Washington, DC, 3rd Floor performance space. John Driscoll built an installation of several diverse home-made (audio) loudspeakers hanging by ropes that extended high in the room to the arched roof ceiling (old opera house space) and close to the floor through the large renovated WPA space, Washington, DC. John was seated in the center of the open space and the audience sat there and along the periphery. Dancers moved among the loudspeakers, interacting with the space and the sound generated by John’s electronic music. The speakers could also move (i.e. swing back and forth; wind up and unwind the ropes to spin, etc). Dancers were also lighting designers by choosing to move the hanging battery-operated lights (turning them off and on, spotlighting other dancers) by swinging, rotating or focusing the light on dancers or the musician located around the space and on the elevated platform. The audience could move to new locations in the space to hear the sounds in a new way. Bog Works was an incredible visual and auditory spectacle!!!

Music: “Bog Works music, written and performed by John Driscoll, is an electroic/acoustical sound environment which utilizes a number of specifically constructed speakers, electronic speed-ontrolled tape machines and home-built circuitry for simultaneously modiying tape signals.” (John Driscoll).

Dancers: The work began with dancers wearing battery operated lights. The dancers had a loose, open script to accommodate physical interaction. Original MWDCCo dancers: Maida Withers, John Bailey, Brook Andrews, JoAnn Sellars, Betty Tittsworth”

Music, Three in a Row: The evening-length performance was a joint program lasting one hour and included a performance of Three in a Row, an electronic composition for custom-built electronic switching modules. These modules are played as a musical instrument by the switching of electronically generated and concrete sounds – music by Paul De Marinis and John Driscoll.

John Driscoll’s Bio / 1975: “BFA, MFA, has been involved in sculpture, dnce, filmmaking puppetry, air conditioning and intermedia. His present work with electronic systems for sound, movement and visuals include UNDER THE PUTTING GREEN, a two-year work in progress and BOG WORKS. He is presently performing with Pbnumbral Raincoast, David Tudor, and Maida Withers and the Dance Construction Company.”

John Driscoll Archive / Bog Works Document

White Mansions – Holy Rood Cemetery

Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Live Music, Metaphysical/Spirit, Original Music, Post Modernism, Site Work, Work

JoAnn Sellars, John Bailey, Maida Withers, Brook Andrews

WHITE MANSIONS – 1975
The first performance took place at the newly renovated Washington Project for the Arts space on 1227 G Street NW, Washington, DC in 1975. Dancers assisting in cleaning out the pigeon dung in the 3rd floor space, discovered a long piece of white silk fabric that inspired the characters and historic view of the deep SOUTH that are now gone – end of Gone with the Wind perspective. So, each MWDCCo dancer developed a character: Maida Withers was the death figure; Brook Andrews, Rhett Butler; John Bailey, Tom Sawyer; Betty Tittsworth, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; JoAnn Sellars, a fussy Southern Belle.

1975 – A 60 minute site specific performance at dusk in the historic Holy Rood Cemetery located in upper Georgetown in Washington, DC. Holy Rood is one of the oldest cemeteries (1832) in Washington, DC. White Mansions was performed in 1975, at dusk, for two evenings by Brook Andrews, John Bailey, JoAnn Sellars, Betty Tittsworth, Maida Withers, Ten additional community and university dancers and young children all dressed in white, appear to be occupants, of sorts, in the cemetery,

For the Saturday performance hundreds of yards of white stretch fabric had been installed through the trees and around the tombstones in the cemetery. Fabric was brought from Connecticut where Maida and JoAnn had been in a residency with Artists-in-the-Schools National Dance Program. The fabric was stolen from the cemetery overnight and unavailable for the Sunday performance consequently. A local radio station kindly broadcast a request for the return of the stretch fabric while inviting the DC audience to attend the event in the cemetery.

The long white piece of silk found at the WPA site served as a connector throughout the piece, White Mansions, as it became a wedding veil, a table for celebration, a wrap for death, other. Several children and adult performers were in the cemetery carrying flowers and playing in white clothes engaged as if they lived there, suggesting the continuity of life after death. Music: Marimba was performed live in the cemetery. (Musician unknown at this time). Church Bells in the neighborhood, playing, were a spontaneous addition to our event.

The cast departed the cemetery in a gold Rolls Royce leaving the audience in the cemetery in the dark…perhaps confronting his/her view of death.

The Washington Post covered the story in two full pages with large stunning images! This recognition was important introducing the public to Maida’s interest in “site specific work” as well as stage performances.
Betty Tittswork and Brook Andrews
Betty Tittsworth
Betty Tittsworth and Brook Andrews
John Bailey, Maida Withers, JoAnn Sellars

Cathy Borteck, group adults and children residing n the cemetery!

Video was shot, regrettably, on a reel to reel 1/2″ tape that had been used previously, which accounts for lines on the video from the old tape.

Pnumbral Raincoast and other performances

Site Work, Work

Washington Project for the Arts, Thursday, Feb 27, 1975 and Friday Feb 28, 1975 at 1227 G Street NW (Year in question).

Program:
Listening Out Loud John Driscoll (Steve Bloom, John Driscoll, Phil Edelstein)

Wild Song – Julie Schwartz (Thursday only)
NOMESPUS (Friday, only) Julie Schwarts (John Bailey, Steve Bloom, John Driscoll, Dee Kohanna, Marlene Elbin, Julie Schwartz)

Intermission

GOT Light / White on Wings: Directed by John Bailey with Steve Bloom, John Driscoll, Julie Schwartz, Phil Edelstein; Brook Andrews, John Bailey, Betty Tittsworth, Maida Withers

Put on the Music…Let’s Dance (1975)

Museums/Galleries, Voice and Text

1975 or 1976 – This performance took place at the Washington Project for the Arts on 1227 G Street NW, Washington, DC. The space was a very large space (third floor) with high ceiling and a red brick wall for a backdrop. It has been suggested that it was a portion of a former opera house. The audience entered on the first floor, moved through the art galleries to the third floor open performance space (3 stories high). There was a trap door in the center of the large open space that was used by the company in these initial performances.

Put on the Music was based on great film dance character prototypes and show business dancing of the 1930s and 1940s. An actress, Kay Sheppard, dancer, reminisces over memorabilia about her life as a stage dancer/actress of the 1940’s and her lover who is away, perhaps in the military at war.

The original version was performed in authentic period costumes. Characters were somewhat overdone and characters amplified for the intimacy of the cabaret-like setting at WPA. Dancers included Brook Andrews, John Bailey, Jean Isaacs, and Maida Withers with Kay Sheppard as the actress in the event – an army wife alone at home. The actress had props from the period such as photographs of a women with a male dressed in army uniform, books of the period, movie star photos, wall paper of the period, other. Ron Bailin called the dance competition and engaged the audience to clap to determine the “winner.” By the Light of the Silvery Moon was performed in drag – men and women switched roles and the men wore female wigs, petticoats, etc.

Choreography was created by the dancers under the artistic direction of Maida Withers. Some dances were choreographed by the group and were set while other dances had some set materials that were then improvised on during performance. The atmosphere was very much that of a cabaret setting.

Music was a collection of selections of period recorded music: Dexter Gordon, Milton Drake, Ben Oakland, Baby Dodds, Frank Ryerson & Grady Watts & Jimmy Eaton, Madden-Edwards, Ferdinande “Jelly Roll” Morton, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines. The actress read aloud rules of social etiquette of the period.

Choreographic sequence: Actress; Jive (quartet jiving to jazz); Java Runway (quartet modeling clothes); The Stomp (duet of men in Navy attire); Dreamtime (Blue Champaigne duet); Roseland ( Ballroom Dance Competition; Silv’ry Moon; Struttin’ (quartet – men as women, etc); Court House Bump (Brook sleuth solo); Rose Red (Maida Solo – the crave”) ; Finale (group dance routine).

Put on the Music was revived and performed May 7, 1977 for City Dance at Warner Theater, commissioned by City Dance and Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS). Choreography, Maida Withers and DCCo; New Costumes by Beth Burkhardt, designer and dancer.

2nd Cast: Dale Crittenberger and Susan Short Bensinger

Maida Withers Dance Concert Celebrates Founding of MWDCCo

Stage Works, Work

1974 – Maida Withers Dance Concert. MWDCCo applied for federal 501-C-3 tax-exempt status as a non-profit cultural organization in 1974. 501-C3 Status was achieved in 1976.

Dance Concert by Maida Withers included four dances and several dancers who became co-founding members of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. Admission was $2.50

Program
Bleepers
Laser Dance I
Passage/9
Dee’s Vocal Solo
Gestures (segment of what became Yesterday’s Garland and Yesterday’s Kisses)

Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses

Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Group Choreography, Live Music, Original Music, Post Modernism, Stage Works, Work

Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, Washington, DC

(Costumes in this video are simple leotards. I believe that was the original costume, but the film says 1975….must have been when the video was produced/posted???)

1974 Original Version:
Evening length performance – nostalgia coupled with absurdity – emotional gestures combined and exaggerated revealing insanity of personal emotional gestures. Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses (18 min of a 45 minute dance), created and performed November 1, 1974 by Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, and staged again in Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre June 3, 1975 as part of the three-week GW Summer Dance Workshop performance.

The original music is by John Driscoll playing miniature musical sound objects visible to the audience. Dee Kohanna performed extreme jazz vocal improvisations on stage and also in an orange wooden office chair hung above the stage (no legs on the chair, painted orange, and hanging high above performer on stage with 3 ropes making a triangle tied to the stage pipes.

Sequence of choreography (see notes in the choreography file): John Bailey Chair Solo; Dancers building “towers” with vocalist on chair without legs suspended in the air; male/female duet on chairs; male/female duet dressing and undressing on stools; group expression of emotional gestures (only one duet and group segment on video).

1974 Original Version: Dorothy Betts Marvin Theater

John Driscoll, Musician/Composer: found objects, electronics, Drums
John Driscoll, Composer / Musician
L
John Driscoll: performs with saw
John Bailey
Brook Andrews, Liz Lerman, John Bailey

JoAnn Sellars, Liz Lerman (behind), Brook Andrews
Liz Lerman, Brook Andrews

1975 Version:
Maida Withers, costume change from original with Design by Beth Burkhardt
For the second cast, costume design was by Beth Burkhardt. Her idea was to exaggerate the body of each cast member: Bailey – grey and brown wrestlers outfit; Brook, Charlie Chaplin baggy pants and tight white top with small bow; Maida, grey unitard with low plunging neckline and red flounce with low cut “V” to the breasts. Emily, gold leotard and arms length black gloves; JoAnn, salmon full pants to exaggerate her hips with a small tight maroon top. Light design was by Bill Demull,

See the news release of original performance 11/1/1974 and noted information on summer dance workshop flyer in 1975.

The work is built on unconventional ideas such as undressing on stage on a stool while thinking about other things (intended to break the sexual aspect of undressing) along with stereotypical emotional gestures of silent theatre and melodrama (wringing hands, hands pounding the heart, wiping the forehead, biting nails, etc).

The dance was originally in two parts. Each dancer has a very small solo that is accompanied by the group. Dancers have choices as to what they do during some of the solos.

This work came from a period of artists leaving the tradition of modern dance and creating a new world of movement and choices by dancers during the performance. Concept by Maida Withers; dancers/choreographers include Brook Andrews, John Bailey, JoAnne Sellars, Liz Lerman, and Maida Withers.

John Driscoll provided the sound/music with found objects and nonsensical sounds of a plastic tube whirring, a collapsible toy cow that moos, and some electronics.

Extreme vocal Improvisations were performed by singer, Dee Kohanna, sitting in a wooden desk chair with legs of the office chair removed. The chair was tied with roper that were tied in a triangular fashion to the theatreical pipes running above the stage.

The dance has distinctive dada-like characteristics.

The second cast in the 70s included Maida Withers, Brook Andrews, John Bailey, JoAnne Sellars, and Emily Burken.

Maida Withers, John Bailey (rear), Brook Andrewss

Maida Withers, John Bailey

1984 Version:
Reconstruction in building K in preparation for a lecture demonstration. Dancers included: Brook Andrews, Lilian Fortna, Larry Graves, Susan Short, Stephanie Simmons. (See review below).

2013 Version (GW reconstruction for DanceWorks)
A 15 minute segment of Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses was performed on GW’s 2013 Fall DanceWorks Concert in Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre November 14, 15, 16, 2013 with John Driscoll performing music live. Dancers include GW dance majors: Ian Cecceralli, Ben Sanders, Catherine McCormack , Rebecca Melvin, Nicole Calameta.
Locate video and photos

Dance/Sound Events: Tin Tabernacle Series

Experimental, Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Improvisation, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Live Music, Post Modernism, Site Work

1973 – 1974 Maida Withers Dance Construction Company presented five evenings, Dance/Sound events, the Tin Tabernacle Series,*with sculptor/musician, John Driscoll, in a very large and dome-shaped building, fondly, referred to as Tin Tabernacle.
Tin Tabernacle was a large GWU gymnasium with a curved roof of tin somewhat in the style of a World Ward II airplane hanger. The building (now torn down) was located behind the GW Law School building in what is now an open space quad – the space where student and others daily/nightly protested the Israel war on Gaza. In 1973, Tin Tabernacle was open all night for GW students for indoor soccer and other games. We were honored to have the University allow us the space and time to present Maida Withers and the Dance Construction in 5 evenings, Dance/Sound Events.
*Please note: “Charles E. Smith Center Tin Tabernacle Club” Photos of athletes are available there.

Each performance featured sound and dance but each event was structured with very different content. Often the performances include audience participation (i.e. each member of the audience stood on one of the numbers down the length of the room. Audience members navigated and moved across the floor on cue in the dance performance Events were constructed around the physical facility on many occasions. The audience was free to walk and move among the dancers and performers in the very large space. Audiences often participated without instruction once they figured out how to be part of the Dance/Sound events.

Please read the program announcement for five events (posted after the French Fried Potatoes event here):

An example script:
October 19. 1974
“No More French-Fried Potatoes.” based on a poem by poet Emmett Williams.
Script: A French speaking woman (name not available now) and an English speaking man, John Bailey, would each eat one french fried potato, cooked during the performance by John Driscoll who was wearing a shirt with the letters “Worker.” The female would make a statement (improvised / spontaneous) “Plus de _____” and the male would respond “no more _____.” This exchange continued for a long period with John Driscoll continuing to make French Fries. The event ended when the gentleman ate the last French Friend Potato, commenting, “No More French Fried Potatoes!”

Cast: John Driscoll, worker, frying french fries; John Bailey, eating and speaking in English; beautiful French speaking woman, eating a french friend potatoe and commenting/responding (forgotten name)

the last french-fried potato
the ultimate poem, version two
(as improvised by Robert Filliou and Emmett Williams during the exhibition l’aujourd’hui
de demain in the Musée Palais Saint-Vaast at Arras, March 20, 1964. performers
eat a french-fried potato before each improvised phrase. the poem lasts as long as the
potatoes hold out.)
no more hotdogs
plus de vrais amants
no more wives
plus d’ensilage de maïs
no more bellybuttons
plus d’éléphants
no more tomorrows
plus de beurre salé
no more stupidity
plus de lampes d’aladin
no more feelings of guilt
plus de ruches blanches
no more children
plus de sirènes
no more ontological critics
plus de rares classiques de ce ciècle
no more good intentions
plus d’immaterialisation
no more jealousy
plus de piles wonder s
no more knocking at the door
plus de listes provisoires
no more gin and tonic
plus de lèvres
no more money
5
ubuclassics ubu.com
ubuclassics ubu.com
the last french-fried potato emmett williams
6
plus de participation cosmique
no more personal appearances
plus de dindons
no more hot baths
plus de promenades
no more holes in my shoes
plus de camarades
no more bodhidharma
plus de collaboration
no more bad dreams
plus d’érotique d’abjection
no more sugarbeets
plus de nescafé
no more thelonious monk
plus de permis de pêche
no more prayers
plus de vieux linge
no more answers
plus de mimosas en fleur
no more inspiration
plus de greffes d’écorce
no more limited editions
plus de sémantique générale
no more turtleneck sweaters
plus de sang versé
no more cats
plus de filles d’acier
no more dishwashing
plus de tendresse
no more foghorns
plus de phénomènes paranormaux
no more todays
plus de plantes vertes
ubuclassics ubu.com
the last french-fried potato emmett williams
no more lack of money
plus d’amants isobares
no more toothaches
plus d’évolution
no more birds
plus de ceinture noires quatrième dan
no more letters to write
plus d’aujourd’hui
no more harpsichords
plus de tartines beurrées
no more czechoslovakian beer
plus de bateaux qui basculent
no more earle brown
plus d’albums de famille
no more big toes
plus de fantassins
no more carbon copies
plus de grenouilles
no more revolutions in art
plus d’asphyxie des racines
no more yellow roses
plus de demain
no more prison bars
plus de techniques de communication
no more marijuana
plus de choeurs des lavandières
no more bedroom slippers
plus de châtaignes bouillies
no more snoring
plus de murs fleuris
no more laughter
plus de vulves comme casse-noisettes
no more apples
7
ubuclassics ubu.com
the last french-fried potato emmett williams
8
plus de rideaux rouges
no more signal toothpaste
plus de tournesols
no more loving
plus de pattes foulées
no more can openers
plus de certitude infaillible
no more armpits
plus de fesses exquisement agiles
no more greek islands
plus de fenêtres ouvertes
no more questions
plus de petits cadeaux
no more cooperation
plus de wagons-lits
no more afterthoughts
plus de mayonnaise
no more underwear to wash
plus de dépassement de la problèmatique de l’art
no more hard ons
plus de menhirs
i have just eaten the last french-fried potato
il dit: je viens juste de manger la dernière pomme frite
i wonder who, way back in the dawn of history, ate the first
il dit: je me demande qui, dans la nuit des temps, a mangé la première
ubuclassics ubu.com
9
litany for marcel duchamp
PDF – Emmett book cover available on new media – MRW doesn’t know how to downlaod PDF)

PROGRAM DANCE SOUND EVENTS 1 thru 5: September 27 thru Octber 19, 1974

EVENT #1 and EVENT #2: SEE SCRIPTS AND ARTISTS

EVENT #3; EVENT #4; EVENT #5: SEE SCRIPTS & ARTISTS

Dance / Music Columbus Museum of Art

Experimental, Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Improvisation, Installation / Visual, Interactive Technology, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Live Music, Museums/Galleries, Original Music, Post Modernism, Residency

Past Informtion in red deleted:

https://maidadance.com/works/changing-the-system/ TITLE DELETED FROM THE WEB

1974 – The performance at the Columbus Museum of Art was during the public celebration of the change of the name from Gallery of Fine Arts to Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. General access information in 2025. https://www.columbusmuseum.org/

John Driscoll and Maida Withers Dance Construction Company performance featured music by John Driscoll based on the original score, Changing the System (1973) by Christian Wolff, famous inventive musician/composer. The Dance Construction Company also performed What Chester Makes the World Takes. (John has a program which states the Christian Wolff work is “Score for Resonating Instruments and Voices,” but John D thinks that is an error.

(John has a program which states the Christian Wolff work is “Score for Resonating Instruments and Voices,” but John D thinks that is an error.

Delete:
Following information is from original statements and would NO LONGER be included:
The event was part of the Gala Celebration of the opening of the contemporary wing of the Columbus Museum of Art (changed name). In addition to performing Changing the System, John Driscoll performed his work “Under the Putting Green – Version 4“. What Chester Makes the World Takes was also performed at the Gallery.
“I used an oriental temple gong that they had been using as a wastebasket, and before we left they almost gave it to me. Then someone realized what it was. ” John Driscoll (letter to MRW 2021 – A musical instrument for John’s work)

Possible New listing from flyer:
Changed to: https://maidadance.com/works/dance-music-columbus-gallery/

New Information for Page:
Improvisation
Fragments
Maneuvers
Etc… around, through
filling the space and time
of gallery spaces and art objects
Watertower

The afternoon will involve dance throughout the Gallery as well as performances of specific events at specified times in specified spaces.

The event was part of the Gala Celebration of the opening of the contemporary wing of the Columbus Museum of Art (changed name). John Driscoll and Maida Withers Dance Construction Company performance featured music by John Driscoll based on his original score, Under the Putting Green – Version 4 along with What Chester Makes the World Takes. Included in the performance was Score for Resonating Instruments and Voices by Christian Wolf, famous inventive musician/composer.

John, do you want to comment on your work in museusms?

MWDCCo as one of the earliest dance groups to perform consistently in museums.
That may have been due to the large number of federal and local museums in Washington, DC. The Dance Construction Company considers our museum work one of our leading initiatives….not performing stage works in a museum but the museum as an architectural and content location for creating new and specific work.

Dancers from Ohio State University dance program (group picture below) participated in the program as guest performers. Ohio State has one of the oldest and finest dance degree programs.

The museum performance occurred during Maida Withers’ Artist in the School two-week national residency in Columbus, Ohio. Maida was part of the original team for the newly designed National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts Artist in the School program. This was an important national movement to get all the arts in all the schools. Maida did two-week residencies in Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, others.

University of Ohio dancers.

John Driscoll Program

Last Lecture Series

Interviews, Site Work

1973 – The Last Lecture Series is a national program, an invitational opportunity to give a lecture on a subject of importance or interest. Maida chose to dance and talk about dancing and about things in life that an artist might dance about OR NOT. The performance was a combination of humorous stories and commentary while questioning the audience role in performance. Interaction with the audience, of course, is essential for any lecture. Taking a position OR NOT was an important issue; receiving and being open to questions another criteria of lecturing success. Crying or any other personal display of emotion is simply out of the question, but unfortunate as it may seem, that simply does not occur.

Jim Levy, jazz pianist and artistic companion for the dancing interview.

The public interview/performance took place in the Catholic Church at 24th and G Streets NW, Washington, DC.

Date not confirmed.

Dance Improvisation Performances

Museums/Galleries, Site Work, Stage Works

1972 – Starting in 1972, every six to 10 weeks, Maida Withers, Brook Andrews, John Bailey, and GW MA graduate students created dance and movement improvisation events in GW’s Building K gymnasium and Building J dance studio spaces and in sites around Washington, DC. John Driscoll became an important collaborator as a visual artist and sculptor working with electronic technology in creating sound with objects.

Improvisation continued to be an important aspect of experimentation on the founding of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company.

1979 – A series of scripted and improvised dance performance events with MWDCCo dancers and musician / sculptor, John Driscoll, creating and altering the performance space with sculptural objects and everyday items during the event.

1981 “MWDCCo presents a spontaneous, scripted evening-length, improvisation performance in GW’s Building K Theatre, December 6, 1981 and December 7, 1981.

Example of content: For one of the more memorable events, Driscoll brought a live fish on the end of a fishing rod and line. At was at these events that we asked the question, “Can the musician be a sculptor and a musician at the same time?” “Can the dancer fish and dance at once?” Many events were held in GW’s Studio K Theatre, Washington, DC. Many events took place in various locations in Washington, DC. For example one Sunday we performed in as many water fountains we could locate in Washington, DC. Performances were made without permits, generally….more like guerilla performances with found audiences and found locations.

Event/performances were serious artistic concerns during this experimental period with a desire to connect with audiences. Humor and nonsense were inevitable due to the constructions we created with objects, movement limitations, etc. No written record has been located for most of these events.

Improvisation performance and events have been an important consistent aspect of MWDCCo. Withers includes opportunity for improvisation in almost all choreographed dances. Withers feels if she can improvise in choreography why not all dancers? The definition of improvisation has expanded and clarified over the years. In addition to independent performances of improvisation, that skill is required in most rehearsals and is essential to the process of MWDCCo. It is a skill to be learned.

Improvisation events and dances are given names and are included with other choreography in the archives purposely due to our belief that it is a genre of art comparable to choreography.

From Movement to Dance: People, Creatures, Things

Eras, Films, Foundation Period (60s to 80s), Improvisation

1967 – Maida created this 16mm film as part of her educational engagement with dance for children. Maida was an active participant in the inauguration of the U.S.A. national Artist-in-Schools initiative that brought artists into public schools for curriculum development with teachers, principals, and children. In this film, Maida improvises ideas that might appeal to children. The film was produced and distributed by Mid-Atlantic Educational Institute in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Central Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory correspondence is in the files.

The presentation of the film was the result of the 16 mm transfer to a quick time movie file. The film is charming and simplistic.

Regrettably there is an audio hum that is not possible to remove.

Early works -1966 to 1973

Stage Works

1964 thru 1973 – Works were created by Maida Withers in Washington, DC prior to establishing Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. Performers included dancers from the community and MA and BA dance alumni or students at George Washington University. Regrettably, complete information (photos, programs, other) is not available at this time.

Maida danced with others such as Contemporary Dance Company of Washington, DC (see below) and Erica Thimey (one or two occasions).

1974 – Dance Concert by Maida Withers (the year MWDCCo became a group and began the process of applying for DC and federal 501-C-3 tax-exempt status as a non-profit cultural organization. 501-C3 Status was achieved in 1976. (See listing in works)

1973- Passage Nine; Choreography by Withers for 9 dancers doing 9 phrases to music for nine horns by Riegger and Davies; Premiere: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC (Brook Andrews;John Bailey; Carole Drake; Michael Kasper; Liz Lerman; Quincy Northrup; Lynda Spikell; Betty Tittsworth; Emily Waddams; ; Bill Hollingsworth; Music: Davies / Riegger ; Premiere, Lisner Auditorium. (Notes for the choreography are in MWDCCo files.)

1972 – Mass – A Fifth Generation Radiator Brought to Us on the Sabbath; A dance opera. Choreography: Maida Withers; Music: John Driscoll; Soloist, Sharron Beckenheimer (Rose); Premiere, Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, Washington, DC;

1971 – Laser I (Duet) First laser collaboration of Maida Withers with Rockne Krebs; Michael Killgore; Lynda Spikell (later Brook Andrews); Music: Harrison; Laser Installation – Rockne Krebs; Premiere: Marvin Theatre

1971 – Take Off; Airport Radio Tower Sound Score; Dancers: choreographed by Withers for six DC women dancers; Premiere, Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC. Dancers: Carolyn Tate; Rosemary Wells Shelley Chaffin Susan Eidson

l970 – Suite of Six: Ties That Bind, Here, There, Somewhere; Tic Tac Toe; Square in the Round, Balloons to you Too! Dancers: 1 man, 5 women; Music: Ramsey Lewis Trio / Badings / Gaburo / Dockstader / Partch; Premiere: Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, Washington, DC.

1970 – Maneuvers – A political statement of mass movement and arrest. Yvonne Rainer created a political work that asked the question, Why Are We IN Vietnam?” for GW students in summer as part of the 15 years of three-week summer dance workshops offered by Withers at George Washington University.

1969 – Invisible Dance – Dancing in such a way that you would generally not be perceived as dancing.

1968-69 – Psychedelic Dance. Oil was mixed in water and videotaped and projected on dancers in white attire. This dance was invited to be on Channel 4, NBC-TV. However when we arrived at the television station, the production staff insisted on manipulating the clear glass bowl holding the oil/water. Sadly, they did not have the skill of the practiced artist. The TV station refused because the artist was NOT a TV union member. The program went on with the stage hand manipulating the oil/water/color art work. See interesting notes in file about violence in America (Kennedy family, race, other.

1969 – 18 Hours of Invisible Dance with 15 minutes of Visible Dance ; 2 dancers; performance at the University of Maryland.

1969 – Malaise; A pervasive vulgarity; 2 men 4 women; Premiere – Music: Dixon; Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC (trio photo).

1968 – Media Message – A tribute of sorts to the writings of that employed bizarre and exaggerated organs (i.e. a mouth (lips) that moved up and down on hinges performed with two dancers each on the end of the lips; a large ear that enveloped the dancers body, etc. Inspiration from Marshall McLuhan’s the Media is the Message. Projections by Psychedelic Power and Light company; Large puppet-like costumes/set by Maida Withers (giant ear, movable mouth); Dancers: one man, four women; premiere: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC (Jim Bunting; Julie Hart) (

1967 – Silence; Premiere: 1 man, 5 women; Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC

1966 – Essays: Part I – Of the Mind; Part II – Of the Heart; Six women dancers; Premiere: Lisner Auditorium, Washington, DC Music: Foss / Lieberson; (Jim Bunting; Julie Hart; others);

1964 – Contemporary Dance Company of Washington, DC was founded by local professional dancers in the spring of 1964 to perform concerts, lecture demonstrations, and improvisations with local dancers, musicians. Dance artists included Kathy Mason, Sandra McLain, Naima Prevots and Maida Withers. Musicians included Joe Clark, Edward Cunningham, ad Lyn G. McLain. Our early work was on improvisation with music and dance. Eventually the group included Jan Van Dyke, Carol Surman, Barbara Katz, Nancy Tartt and others. Maida created a dance titled, MOD with colleagues, that took a humorous, yet surrealistic look at fashion and the changing of models to move rather than pose.