(1992) Dance for the Earth February 7 & 8) – six Dances created by Maida Withers with the Dance Construction Company.
Note:  The first performance  of Dance for the Earth (six, distinct, dances) took place in Arlington, Virginia at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre, February 7 & 8, 1992.  Subsequently, five of the six dances were performed National Theater, in Brasilia, Brazil, at the Gala Opening of Projeto OMAME, May ? date, 1992: Prologue: Cowboys and Indians (solo by Withers), Messenger Eagle, Spirit Figure, Still Rush, Rolling Thunder. Sky Cloud did not tour to Brazil for the United Nation’s Earth Summit.

Sky Cloud is an exquisite, intricate opener for the evening-length production of dances from Dance for the Earth.  Sky Cloud is magical and mysterious, starting with a powerful solo by Sandra Kammann, a mature grounded female who is framed by a visual screen of delicate white paper on fabric created by noted sculptor and painter, Hilda Thorpe (see below).  Hilda, collaborator with Withers, is a distinguished female in the noted DC Color School.  In addition to the paper/cloth screen for Sky Cloud, Thorpe created a massive  overhead, floating cloud, of white gauze embedded with her delicate, beautiful, hand-made white paper, stretched above the audience over entirety of the large, raked, auditorium. A brilliant and beautiful canopy including the audience as participates in the performance.

Sky Cloud  is a “metaphoric dance, the wind, the voice of the Earth,”  based on an extensive land site residency by Withers on the exotic White Sands (dunes) of New Mexico.”  Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Messenger Eagle soloist, in Dance for the Earth,  joins Sandra on stage in a solo balancing the stage with a moving installation of large  and long sheets of  deep, rich, colored fabric.  Dana, running eloquently through the stage space, introduces dramatic and powerful Sky Cloud  fabric creating exotic movement and sound.

Sky Cloud “finale”  is a, somewhat, choral event.  A stationery quartet – two women and two male dancers in white leotards and silk pants,  are grouped with the women with women and men with men, close together.  The front partner creates sustained vocal sounds (strong, calm harmonic pitch), which are mixed with speaking text .  A back partner covers and uncovers the mouths and vibrates the throat of the front partner with the side of the hand as a drum, creating a somewhat extreme vocal chorus, live, on stage.  The finale is performed by Lorena Cervantes, Stacy Palatt, Vincent Cacalano, and David Bentley.

Maida comments on Hilda / Collaborators
“We were both friends and collaborators.  Hilda was an inspiring artist, a generous and inclusive genius.  She was  known for her many trips with men and women she took to Morocco to draw and paint in response to the dramatic colors there. The amazing blue on the buildings – so intense.  Hilda was dearly beloved by all who knew her. Large groups of friends gathered at her Studio in Old Town Alexandria to celebrate her birthday, annually.  Hilda invited me and the Company to celebrate her birthday with performances on two occasions in her studio in “old town” Alexandria, Virginia.  These were large and significant events.  In preparation for the performances, Hilda would insist  the dancers “dig” around in her studio attic where she stored objects from her installations and other works.  We would climb upstairs and search  through the attic looking for objects and ideas, materials from Hilda’s history – searching for motivations for performance in celebration of her birthday.  Hilda insisted on dancers using her somewhat “delicate” hand held objects, generally made by Hilda with delicate paper she created and then painted beautiful colors. Hilda was a significant female presence in the DC 50’s Color School.  During that period of time, artists were interested in architecture that did not hide the heating and air conditioning vents and other functional objects behind walls. We enjoyed using her silver aluminum pipes, turning them into crowns, drums, and other transformations in the dance Rolling Thunder, the finale for Dance for the Earth concert. Hilda was a visionary…..loving and daring!”

Tribute to Hilda: 
“Hilda invited friends to her home for her special birthday celebrations. On one such celebration in her home, Hilda retired to bed earlier because she was feeling tired. When I left, about midnight, I called up the stairs, ‘Good Night, Hilda. I love you.’ Hilda passed away in the middle of that night. We were deeply saddened and, also, rejoicing in our final ceremony of love and friendship.” Maida Withers

Sky Cloud

Lorena Cervantes and Vincent Cacalano

Natalie Perren-Mariaux

Dana Burgess and Vincent Cacalano
Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Stacy Palatt
Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Sky Cloud Finale:
Vincent Cacalano, David Bentley, Stacy Palatt

Vincent Cacalano and Lorena Cervantez

Stacy Palatt and David Bentley

Dancers make vocal sounds (pitch) and speak as partner behind covers and uncovers the mouth.
Lorena Cervantes, Stacy Palatt, Vincent Cacalano, David Bentley

What the press is saying

"Dancers manipulate large pieces of materials so that the cloth sinks and gradually recovers- the stage version of the sand under Wither's weight. She explains that the camera is a project participant, the first collaborator on each of her efforts, thus the video is the art form most closely connected to the actual landsite." Kim Friedman