Film and photographs location: Coral Sand Dunes State Park, Kanab, Utah and White Sands National Park Service, New Mexico

(1992) SandS CycleS (Film) (28:40) SandS CycleS – a poetic dance and environment film, an amazing land site process of creating art for the Earth and ecology. A poetic dance environment film shot on spectacular sand dunes at  White Sands National Park Service.  , New Mexico and Coral Dunes State Park, Kanab, Utah. The film is edited to the heroes journey’s described by Joseph Campbell: innocent martyr, orphan, caretaker, warrior, destroyer, magician, and the ruler…..  Concept/performance by Maida Withers in the harsh terraine.

Born in Kanab, Maida enjoyed Coral Dunes on Sunday afternoons, a magical, challenging, family play ground… And now, dancing with the Dunes.  White Sands, the worlds largest gypsum dunefield – off limits early morning –  a testing ground for United States defense systems, a powerful, exotic site for a dance for the earth film.

Maida improvised daily for one month in a spontaneous discovery process of possibilities each day on the dunes.  “Rare plants and desert creatures” – engaging partners.  After all “She is a visitor!” “She is daring!”  Moving winds, fatigue, collapse from climb and sink, mountains of unstable dunes,  rocks embraced and moved, elements discovered  that suggest or require interaction … rolling and rolling,  and rolling more … powerful winds stripping off clothes … a loving partner for undressing. Bugs, weeds, time for shadows, sunsets, red rocks,  birds, and silence.  Prayers sticks, planted … messages sent to and from the gods. Colored bed sheets stretched….sand art by the will of the wind … and, then, stillness … silhouettes with the setting Sun … night … and, then … early morning bombs!

Editing:  “SandS CycleS film is influenced, in editing, by the writings of Joseph Campbell on myth, the “heroes journey,” where images of the Innocent, the Orphan, the Martyr, the Caretaker, the Warrior, the Destroyer, the Magician and the Ruler come forth as Withers, the dancer, becomes the ruler, the Divine self.”  Verabel Call Cluff, editor.  SandS Cycles was also influenced by the writings on myth by Carol S. Pearson, and Maureen Murdock. 

Tea Schiano, artist, healer, educator who lives in New Mexico, joined in the White Sands project  collaborating on ideas such as “prayer sticks, costumes, and other initiatives.” Schiano’s Sand Paintings reveal the movement of the sands by winds that randomly and beautifully cover fabrics laid on the tops of dunes. Images emerge such as White Bird Arising, a communication with nature.

Alissandru (Alex) Caldiero, poet, Salt Lake City, Utah, created music – sound composition for his voice and Bandir Drum.  Alex played a Bendir drum in unusual ways and engaged in vocalizing/singing/humming.  Alex is a renowned performance poet who has collaborated with Maida and the Company on several performance projects. Alex passed away in 2026.

Maida Withers diary notes: “Each day we would shoot  while accommodating dune buggies in Utah and US military testing bombs in the early morning in New Mexico as well as fashion designers shooting ads on the White Dunes.”  Dunes – challenging environments for a dancer, requiring great strength to continually climb in the deep, often hot, moving sand.  The filmmaker also actively climbing and repositioning in the dunes.  The film was shot, primarily, with a simple light weight hi-8 camera.  The slightest wind activates the sand that gets in people’s eyes and can/does destroy the camera.  “Sand is a dangerous enemy for the camera.  Belle was climbing and losing balance, while filming, due to the nature of the dunes.” Maida Withers

Sands Cycles (Select) Film Showings:
< Arlington, Virginia
< 1992 May 12: Eco ’92 Omama Projeto, International Artists for Ecology Conference, Film and Video Festival, Brasilia, Brazil
< 1992 June 19: United Nation’s Earth Summit (Eco ’92),  Global Forum/Artist’s Forum, Rio de Janeiro
<  1993 11th International Festival du Films on Art / Montreal, Canada (March 9 — 14, 1993)
<  1993 Mid Summer’s Eve – Women’s Video Short Festival
< 1993 TBD Women Make Movies VIII, Washington, DC
< 1993 Utah Film and Video Short Festival, Park City, Utah
< 1994 IMZ Dance Screen, Lyon, France
< 1995 University of Utah Gallery of Art (Meditation Installation, Verabel Cluff) – SLC, Utah
<  1999 TBD Rosebud Film Festival, Arlington, Virginia
<  2011 DanzLenz, Maida Withers FILMs – presented by Arshiya Sethi, Kri Foundation, Habitat Center, New Delhi, India
< 2020 May 4  Amazing Earth Festival, Kanab, Utah (Lecture on Zoom, Dance with the Earth – Spirit and Spectacle by Maida Withers)
Others

In Winds of Sand live performances featuring SandS Cycles film projection onto the full screen (upstage) or full stage installation of ramps and platforms:
< 1993 (January 29 & 30) Marvin Center Theater, Washington, DC 
< 1993 (August 12) Early version – Se Jong Culture Center, Seoul, Korea (Cultural Exchange)
< 1994 (January 21/22) American/Korean Concert – Marvin Center Theatre, Washington, DC
< 1994 (May 4) ) 13th Korean International Modern Dance Festival, Munye Theatre,  Seoul Korea
< 1996  (June 13) School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
< 1997 (July 8/9) Theatre Dunois, Paris, France
< 1997 (Nov 1) Central University of Caracas, Aula Magna Theatre, Caracas, Venezuela
Others

Workshops:  Maida Withers presentation and sharing video, In Winds of Sand and Sands Cycles:  “Environment Consciousness through Body Consciousness.  Creative Process of Movement and Dance.”

*Below:  Sands Cycles Excerpts included on Zoom by Maida Withers for a presentation at Amazing EarthFest, Kanab, Utah.

What the press is saying

"... demonstrates Withers' emphasis on the earth as healthy... She insists that knowledge resides in nature, and that it is up to us find ways to receive it. Artistic energy can be a powerful facilitator. " Amy Rosenthal- Art in Progress