Born in Kanab, Maida Withers, as a child, enjoyed the spectacular and challenging Coral Dunes as a family, Sunday afternoon, play ground. White Sands is the worlds largest gypsum dunefield and also the testing ground for United States defense systems in 1991.

SandS CycleS is a poetic dance and environment film, a landsite process of creating art for the Earth and ecology.  The film and photographs were shot on Coral Sand Dunes State Park, Kanab, Utah, birthplace of Withers, and on White Sands National Park Service of New Mexico (the worlds largest gypsum dunefield).

1991 – Film (28:40) SandS CycleS – a poetic, dance and environment film by Maida Withers, dance artist, and Verabel Cluff, filmmaker, created on challenging, spectacular sand dunes at  White Sands National Park Service, New Mexico and Coral Dunes State Park, Kanab, Utah.

Born in Kanab, Maida enjoyed the 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.

Dancing:  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!”  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.

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.

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 White Dunes.”

Dunes, challenging environments for the dancer, requiring great strength to continually climb in the deep, often hot, moving sand.  The filmmaker must also actively climb and reposition in the dunes.  The slightest wind activates the sand that gets in people’s eyes and can destroy the camera. The film was shot, primarily, with a simple light weight hi-8 camera. “Sand is a dangerous enemy for the camera.  Belle was climbing and falling, while filming, due to the nature of the dunes.”

Sands Cycles Film Showings:
Locate first film showing 1991?
< 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,  Global Forum/Artist’s Forum, Rio de Janeiro
<  1993, Mid Summer’s Eve Women’s Video Short Festival
< 1993, Women Make Movies VIII, Washington, DC
< 1993, Utah Film and Video Short Festival
< 1994 IMZ Dance Screen, Lyon, France
< 1995 University of Utah Gallery of Art
<  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)

In Winds of Sand performances including SandS Cycles film projection onto the full screen (upstage) or full stage installation of ramps and platforms:
DETERMINE ACCURATE DATES:
01/01/1992???
1993 (January 29 & 30) ? where ?
1993 (August 12) Early version – Se Jong Culture Center, Seoul, Korea (Cultural Exchange)
1994 (January 21/22) Marvin Center Theatre, Washington, DC
1994 (May 2 ) 13th Korean International Modern Dance Festival, Seoul Korea with noted Korean Saxophonist, Kang Tae Hwan
? 1994 (May 4) Munye Theatre ???
1996  (June 13) School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1997 (July 8/9) Theatre Dunois, Paris, France
1997 (Nov 1) Aula Magna Theatre ??? Venezuela?

Korea and Venezuela  clarify dates

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

https://maidadance.com/works/In-Winds-of-Sand/

*The Hero with a Thousand Faces, book by Joseph Campbell.  “In his lifelong research, Campbell discovered many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around the world.  Years of research lead Campbell to discover several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of).  He calls this common structure “the monomyth.”  Cluff’s video was edited in context with these ideas, ideas that developed after all the filming had been completed.

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

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