2003 – Stacy Palatt, GW Master of Arts in Dance, interviews Maida on the role technology has played in Maida’s work as an artist and collaborator and Maida’s views on the possibilities of dance and technology. Maida was one of the earliest choreographers to engage with technology. Maida insists her first serious work with technology is when she wrote the music for French Horn and had it recorded on the “blue” 5″ DISC for a solo dance she created and performed as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University where she was studying dance and theatre. Maida questions “why” she didn’t have the French Horn played live. Live music, created for the works, is a hallmark of Maida’s career.
Several dance works are covered in the lengthy interview:
Laser (1982)
Families Are Forever (1982)
Turf (1982)
Stall (1981)
Laser Dance (Duet) (1971/72)
Phase Tracing (1979)
White Mansions (1975)
Dance of Auroras – Fire in the Sky (2001)
3-D Dance (2002)
Maida on Maida in the Universe (2003)
Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest (2002) (2010)
2002 – Maida Withers collaborates with Dan Sternklar, 3D filmmaker and inventor, to create 3D Dance / Future View, a 3D film of an improvised site performance that resulting in the film short (4:04 time). Dan Sternklar, 3D camera specialist in Maryland, shot the performance for the film with his homemade 3D camera.
For the 3D film, Maida Withers, Nicholette Routhier, and Tommy Parlon danced on a stage set of pipes and platforms at Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, Washington, DC. The resulting film, 3D Dance, was presented to the public as an important feature of the DC 8th International Improvisation Plus+ Festival, December 6 & 7, 2002. Original music was created and performed by distinguished DC saxaphone artist, Peter Fraize. For the film presentation, audience members were provided 3-D glasses for best 3-D viewing.
Daniel Sternklar: Creative Business Growth Facilitator, Interactive Video, Custom AI Applications, DFY Podcasts, Virtual/Augmented Reality / Mobile Apps, OpenInsight & Revelations
Peter Fraize: Musician/saxaphone artist performs on many projects with MWDCCo, GWU music professor.
Tommy Parlon: Dancer, choreographer creating and performing in DC and Maryland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT1-TFGQpFA
Nicholette Routhier: Sophisticated dance artist, Los Angeles, California, GWU dance alumni, international social/poliical projects.
2002 – Tania Fraga, Brazilian Computer artist, created original virtual art worlds that became projected environments/installations on stage for the dances – Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest (Brazil, 2002) and Hekuras – Spirits of the Rainforest (GW, 2010).
The virtual worlds go under the earth (worms), into a virtual river (Negra with pink dolphins), and become helicopter-like trees, etc. The worlds are intense in color, stunning in the diversity of motion, playful with intriguing, and create magical realms in space.
These virtual worlds are interactive in real-time with the dancers by the use of a wireless mouse. Dancers manipulate the virtual worlds as they are performing/dancing or when they are standing in the wings.
The project was originally commissioned for Brazilians to participate in a Congress in Africa, but that program was cancelled so Hekuras remained only a work-in-progress with an informal presentation in Sao Paulo at the Universidad Anhembi Morumbi.
Tania Fraga, Computer Art, Sao Paulo Brazil
Cyberworlds in Progress – Hekarus Project
2002 – Original title: A River Runs Deep; São Paulo, Brazil)
Multidimensional dance, computer art, new music based on the mythology and power of the Amazon Rainforest – Spirits of the Rainforest. Created in São Paulo, Brazil during a three-week residency with Brazilian Professional dancers ( Wilson Aguiar, Marines Calori Andrea Fraga, Beth Bastos, Suia Ferluto). Tania Fraga, computer artist and scholar, created original computer art based on the Amazon mythology about the Rainforest. Original music was used with the permission of Magda Pucci, Brazilian composer. Hekuras was originally planned to be part of a Brazilian exhibition internationally that was cancelled. So, Hekuras was never completed but was performed at Universidad Anhembi Morumbi in 2002 as a work in progress. This video includes two aspects:
(1)rehearsal that shows the dance with the computer art;
(2) rehearsal without the computer art.
In 2020, Rainforest Awakens, a real-time interactive performance by Maida Withers and Tania Fraga, was built around 8 of the VIRTUAL worlds from Fraga’s Hekuras installation.
2002 – Maida created and performed a duet with Lotta Lundgren, dancer from Sweden, for the concert Five Views – 5 Companies that was produced in the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre, May 3 and 4, 2002 in Washington, DC.
Investigation of Late was research as Maida was preparing for her evening-length one-woman solo, Maida on Maida in the Universe. Some elements from Investigation of Late (computer stream-of-consciousness writing, projection, and interaction of choreography, chance, and uncertainty) continued into Maida on Maida in the Universe, a dance about the similarities in the artist’s life and the theories of the origin and demise of the Universe.
Program including Investigation of Late: Maida produced Five Companies – Five Views in association with GW Department of Theatre and Dance. This is in keeping with the view that artists should collaborate to bring about opportunity in dance when few producers/presenters are present. Independent curators provide the opportunity to select artists that are of interest and who are in need, possibly, of support. Five Dance Companies in the Festival: Clancy Works Dance Company; Mills/Buckley Works; Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company; Kista Tucker Dance Company
2002 – Maida Withers was commissioned to create an event for the Corcoran Gallery of Art Gala Benefit, Going Beyond, an Odyssey, Friday, February 22, 2002 for over 900 guests. Eighteen dancers, men and women, were dressed in turtle-neck long white dresses with slits up each side to the hips. Dancers from Maida Withers Dance Construction Company and guest performers along with Membrane Ensemble roamed and performed throughout the gallery for the entire Gala event. MWDCCo dancer’s hair was frosted in silver and dancers wore long white arm bands and extreme makeup to create a “vogue-ish” atmosphere. Tish Carter had been invited by Withers to join in making part of the work. Carter created a scene of dancers on white tables with raised white umbrellas.
2001 – Quartet with political overtones about patriotism. Dancers wore red, white, and blue jackets. Jim Levy, keyboard, Peter Fraize, saxophone; Ben Takis, percussion. DC 7th International Improvisation Plus+ Festival Gala Opening, Marvin Theatre, November 30, 2001, Washington, DC
See DC 7th Intl Improvisation for more information.
2001 and 2002 – Dance was an early commentary on surveillance technques coming into lives of everyday people.
Women’s trio with projected real-time interactive images originating from the wireless video camera worn on the chest of dancer, Kerry Joyce. First performed in GW’s DanceWorks and then for It’s New to Me Series, Gunston Theatre, Arlington, VA coordinated by Jane Franklin Dance.Premiere performed in 2001 and an excerpt performed January 11-12, 2002 for the It’s New to Me Choreographers Showcase coordinated by Jane Franklin Dance (Arlington Country Cultural Affairs Division).
Adam Peiperl, visual artists, added photos of these dancers to his virtual sculptures to interesting effect.
Nicholette Routhier Kerry Joyce performing movements from Surveillance with sculpture by Adam Peiperl.
2001 A Four Part performance:
I: “The Sun/Virtual Sun”
II: “Solar Wind Towards Magnetosphere” III: “Magnetic Storm Seen from Above” IV: “View from the Earth”
“A poetic journey through space using real-time interaction with cyber worlds and movies and images of the sun and the aurora seen as a natural phenomenon.”
An evening-length work of dance, music, and visual presentation. A groundbreaking poetic voyage in space from the Sun through Earth’s auroras, the mystic luminaries of the arctic and Antarctic skies also known as the northern and southern lights. In it’s vision, Dance of the Auroras reclaims the connections between science and art, between technology and the natural world. This eloquent and innovative performance draws its audience into a ritual both ancient and new. Dancers using the wireless mouse alter and manipulate in real time large-scale projected cyber worlds, 3-D animations by Tania Fraga, computer artist. Movies and images of the Sun and the Earth’s auroras from orbiting spacecraft and special ground-based cameras are featured along with music performed live by the Global House Band, Oslo, Norway. Dance of the Auroras premiered at The Northern Lights Festival in Tromsö, Norway, January 27, 2001 and in Washington, DC at Lisner Auditorium, a 1500 seat theater, on February 15 and 16, 2001. MWDCCo collaborated with Kannon Dance Company to perform in St. Petersburg, Russia with Kannon dancers performing Part III.
*Film created by Maida Withers shot in Finland and Norway doing research on Earth’s Auroras; see: American Scandinavian Foundation – see below Data to Dance.”
A public presentation was given at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Albert Einstein Planetarium, Washington, DC the week prior to the premiere in Lisner Auditorium. The evening featured scientist presentations from NASA and other space agencies in Colorado and a performance by dancers with live interactive virtual worlds by Tania Fraga, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event was sold out. It was a powerful moment for both the audience and the Dance Construction Company.
#7 DISPLAY
Object Label (184 words) Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky (2001) Concept, Choreographer and Artistic Director, Maida Withers Concept, Graphic design, Implementation, VRML programming: Tania Fraga Composer and Musician, Øystein Sevǻg and the Global House Band – Elin Odegard, Maria Sevǻg, Ole Marious Melhaus, Øystein Sevǻg, Rune Arnesen, Zotora Nygard, Øystein Sevǻg, Oslo, Norway Principal Dancers, Maida Withers, Adrienne Clancy, Alexander Kukin (Russia), Iwona Olszowsky (Poland), Joseph Mills, Kerry Joyce, Lauren Sharp, Lyndsey Karr
GW and community dancers, Alexis Major, Alesia Mastromichalis, Andrea Stitler, Candice Gessin, Crystal Faison, Deidre MacDiarmid, Jane Jerardi, Kisty Shimabukaro
Video, Linda Lewett; Video Installation, David Liban
Hand-painted Costume design and execution, Claudette Lopez
Photographs and Poster Design, Adam Peiperl
Animation/Photographs/Images – global support
Sources: http://maidadance.com/works/data-to-dance-dance-of-the-auroras/ https://vimeo.com/5611892 (28:30) http://maidadance.com/works/dance-of-the-auroras-fire-in-the-sky/ https://vimeo.com/102399026 (17:45, excerpts) https://taniafraga.art.br/computer_art/Aurora2001.html
Full production performed at Nordly’s Festivalen, Tromsø, Norway, January 27, 2001; Lisner, Washington, DC, February 15, 2001; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum / Albert Einstein Planetarium, February 14, 2001; St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk, Russia, 2003; Part I at Renato Russo Cultural Center, Brasilia, June 2001; Part III, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2000; Dance Place, Washington, DC, October 1, 2000
Tania Fraga created the above assemblage of Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky
2000 – Maida Withers Dance Construction Company was honored to be invited to perform as part of the Dance Place 20/20 Visions Anniversary Concert celebrating 20 years of sponsoring and presenting dance. In the year 2000, Dance of the Auroras was just being created for the premiere in 2001. This video, edited by Linda Lewett, features excerpts from three work-in-progress segments:
Virtual Virgins: a trio by Lyndsey Karr, Lauren Sharp, and Jane Jerardi based on the myth that the Auroras are virgins dancing in the night sky (Virtual Innocence);
Le Sol: a solo by Joseph Mills that was never included with this specific choreography in the 2001 stage work;
Shaman: a solo by Maida Withers that also did not appear with this choreography in the 2001 version of Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky that premiered at Lisner Auditorium. Music by J. L. Adams, Frifot, Kurki-Suonio on this video was not part of the final Aurora 2001. (2:10 minutes)
2000 – Following an interview regarding a dance work-in-progress, Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz, Maida Withers was asked by filmmaker Linda Lewett to extend the interview into a “nature” performance by the creek near Maida’s home in Arlington, Virginia where the interview took place. The interview was for the Dance Place 20th Anniversary Celebration promotional video. This video short is part of the very long period begun in the 1980s of Maida’s participation in the global movement to develop environment consciousness.
Linda toured with Maida to Russia on two occasions to document performances and residencies in Russia. Linda was the producer of a dance show, an ongoing series on dance, on Fairfax Cable during the early stages of Maida’s work. Linda was instrumental in documenting many of the early and important projects of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company.
2000 St. Petersburg, Russia (April 2000) Residency with Kannon Dance School and Company, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Maida Withers created Part III Magnetic Storm of Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky with Iwona Olszowska, dancer from Poland, and Sasha Kukin, dancer from Russia, and Vincent Cacalano, USA/Netherlands, during a residency sponsored by Kannon Dance Company. (April 3-24, 2000) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vincent drank dirty water and became ill. Subsequently, the trio was performed as a duet not a trio.
Kannon Dance inaugurated the Dukabrezkov Theatre with this concert performance. USA and other dancers actively scrubbed the stage and assisted in transformation to a small beautiful theatre for dance. The theatre was eventually taken over by Mariinsky Ballet Company, St. Petersburg, when Mariinsky took control of the building to expand the Company’s operation.
Maida video documented this performance but at this time it is not included in the archive.
This duet contined to be part of the evening-length stage performance, Dance of the Auroras – Fire in the Sky, performed in Washington, DC at Lisner Auditorium.
▪ Premiere Part III Dance of Auroras, Dukabrezkov Theatre
December 4, 1999 – Birthday tribute to Hilda Thorpe at her Artists’ Studio in downtown Alexandria, Virginia.
Maida collaborated with Thorpe, a brilliant American painter and sculptor – part of the illustrious Washington Color School – on several projects engaging the works and materials of Hilda Thorpe (Sky Cloud (1992), celebration (1996).
Thorpe was a prolific artist who did not start working professionally until she was nearly 40, and had raised three children. She was one of the few females who was part of this visual-art movement of the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. She taught many upcoming artists. Although her pieces appeared in South American and North Africa, her work was shown predominantly in the Washington area, at such locations as the Phillips Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gallery K. In DC. (Wikipedia). Thorpe was a versatile and much-heralded artist who taught a generation of metro Washington, D.C. artists. Contemporary multimedia artist Barbara Januszkiewicz recalls Thorpe’s combining music, dance and art “happenings in her studio.”
Maida was invited, by Hilda, to celebrate Hilda’s life and art with a performance in her studio in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Thorpe graciously opened her attic and other storage areas for selection of her art works to be used for the event. Hilda encouraged dancers to hold and cherish her hand-made paper/painted objects and her functional objects from her art works. Hilda was a fearless woman. She passed away just one year following this performance after a dinner party at her home to celebrate her birthday.
Photos were taken of the dance artists during the performance: Giselle Ruzany, Maida Withers, Reggie Crump, Jonathan Modell.
Hilda invited friends to her home for a special birthday celebration. She retired to bed earlier because she was feeling tired. When I left, about midnight, I called up the stairs, Goodnight, Hilda. I love you. Hilda passed away in the middle of that night. We were deeply saddened and rejoicing in our final ceremony. – Maida
1999 – Jey Young Kim, Korea, Mandy Yim, China, Sarah Slifer and Maida Withers, USA improvised in a concert performance November 15, 1999, for the K.A.C. International Exchange Modern Dance Festival in Taejon, Korea. Classical Korean musicians played for the performance.
The performance also featured Maida Withers and Sarah Slifer performing Nevertheless / Tenderness, a duet about the relationship of an older and younger woman.
The Festival celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the City of Taejon. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, Washington, DC, wrote a letter of congratulation that was published in the program along with a letter from Hong Sun Kee, Mayor of Taejon Metropolitan City. President Chung Ang University, Lee Jong Hoon, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President George Washington University, offered congratulatory letters/remarks.
The festival featured:
Jey Young Kim – Taejon City Contemporary Dance Company
Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, USA
Mandy Yim – Y-SPACE Dance Company, China
Kwang Ja Cho Traditional Dance Company, Korea
Chee Bin Moon Ballet Company, Korea
Partners honoring the 50th Anniversary celebrating the founding of Taejon City, Korea
Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of Washington, DC
Cho Yong Kook, Taejon City Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations of Korea
Hong Sun Kee, Mayor of Taejon City, Korea
Lee Jong Hoon, President Chung Ang University
Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, President George Washington University
1999 -Three dancers with MWDCCo perform choreography involving falling and not falling while stories about falling were told by audience members invited to come to the microphone and tell the story during the performance. The trio had it’s world premiere in the United Nation’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ouro Preto, Brazil during the 31st Festival de Inverno, July 12 – 17, 1999. The Ouro Preto Theater, historic landmark, had a steeply raked stage that made falling down incredible dramatic but when fall up the incline a struggling and a somewhat hilarious experience. In Brazil stories were told in Portuguese. For the most part, dancers were not aware of what made the audience laugh. About 30 people lined up to tell his/her story.
Maida Withers documented only the first half of the performance with a video camera in Ouro Preto from the stage wings since she was in a dance work following Pitfalls. That is the perspective shown in the film here. In addition to the formal performance, Sarah and Reggie improvised at night in the 2nd floor store windows on the main street, Bobadela Street (extremely steep hill) of this ancient mining (gold rush) town, Ouro Preto.
Pitfalls was performed in Rio de Janeiro on the tour at Casa de Cultura – a center for the arts. Giselle Ruzany, dancer, and Jonathan Modell, percussionist, were on their honeymoon on the tour in Brazil.
The idea came for this dance when Maida, rushing out the front door of her house without tying her long shoe laces, was plummeted to the cement porch with her nose to cement with her shoe laces still stuck in the door when she slammed it shut in her rush to work.
Nose to Cement (see posting on the web page) was the original choreography for a large group of dancers. Very little choreography was included in the Pitfalls trio. Sarah Slifer and Reggie Crump (Monstah Black) Reginald Crump, Maida Withers, Giselle Ruzany, Sarah Slifer (sit) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Tour
