(the above film will be replaced by a 2025 update by Linda Lewett)

(2009) Documentary Film (29:20)
Taped in Cholula, Mexico during Performática: International Forum of Contemporary Dance and the Art of Movement in 2009.   Linda Lewett, filmmaker and collaborator with Maida and the Dance Construction Company, creates a beautiful film of performances and interviews of artists/participants in Performatica 2009. Founders of Performatica 2009, introduce the festival and the philosophy.  Performatica is hosted at the Universidad de las Américas Pueblo (UDLAP), and Complejo Cultural Universitario (CCU) de las Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP).

The film, Performatica 2009, features excerpts of Maida Withers controversial work, FareWell to the End of the World As We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise with live performance by Steve Hilmy, composer/musician, and Ayo Okunseinde, media artist. In the film, festival participants from around the globe talk about their participation and performance at Performatica and also respond to the meaning of Maida’s controversial environmental work, FareWell.

Performatica commissioned Maida to create an outdoor site performance with 18 dancers from the festival. The performance took place in a large public space on the campus and included live music by Steve Hilmy (@ 23:14 to 27:25 on above film).

Linda Lewett created film shorts of FareWell artists Maida Withers, dancer, Steve Hilmy, composer/musician, and Ayo Okunseinde, media artist: 
https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-choreographer- https://vimeo.com/7113850 

https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-composer-steve-hilmy
https://vimeo.com/7346369

https://maidadance.com/works/fare-well-comments-by-media-artist-ayo-okunseinde
https://vimeo.com/711337

Producers for Performatica 2009: Linda Lewett, ARTtvLLc; Maida Withers and Dance Construction Company

See Performatica 2009 listing as an EVENT  @ maidadance.com.

Maida Withers Photos shot in live performance:
FareWell to the End of the World as we know it OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise

What the press is saying

Not a press mention, but email from educator with ties in Verzcruz, Mexico: "The video you shared from your ARTtvLLC is powerful, "Farewell to the End of the World as We Know It," from Tres Dias in Cholula. I was impressed when listening to the young adults speak. It was heartening to hear one young woman articulate her understanding of human power to change things and connect that understanding with how we are shaped by the spaces we have been in and what has changed within us. I think that her voice was the perfect counterpoint to Maida's who kick-started things with her dramatic statement, "I don't recognize my Earth, my people, my country." And to think these three days in Cholla Puebla took place in 2009. Wow! (Viewed in 2025) Mary Leventhal