Stacy Palatt, David Bentley, Dana Tai Soon Burgess

1992 – Dance work created by Maida Withers, a collaboration with Hilda Thorpe, paper maker, sculptor, recognized Washington, DC female artist from the 1950s.  Thorpe created an incredible large fabric installation (white gauze with hand-made paper painted on by Hilda Thorpe) that filled the stage and also stretched out over the audience in the auditorium.  Dancers moved with brilliant colored panels of taffeta, silk, and other brilliant colors of massive sheets of fabric.

Sky Cloud, part of the evening production, Dance for the Earth, is a “metaphoric dance, the wind, the voice of the Earth,  based on a land site residency by Withers on the exotic White Sand Dunes of New Mexico.”

Maida and Hilda were both friends and collaborators.  Hilda was an inspiring artist.  She took people abroad to draw and paint. She was dearly beloved by all who knew her. She invited Maida to celebrate her birthday with performances by MWDCCO on two occasions in her studio in downtown Alexandria, Virginia. Maida enjoyed going with Hilda through the attic looking for objects and ideas for the birthday party performance. She insisted on dancers using her hand held objects made by Hilda from paper she created and then painted. That period of time in art was also interested in architecture that did not hide the heating and air conditioning vents and other functional objects behind walls. We enjoyed using her aluminum pipes turning them into crowns, drums, and other transformations in the dance Rolling Thunder.

“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, Good Night, Hilda. I love you. Hilda passed away in the middle of that night. We were deeply saddened and rejoicing in our final ceremony.” Maida Withers

Sky Cloud was part of the evening-length performance, Dance for the Earth.  Sky Cloud begins with a solo by Sandra Kammann with a white paper hanging installation by Hilda Thorpe.   Dana Tai Soon Burgess joins Sandra on stage in a solo balancing the stage with a second fabric installation.  Dana introduces the large fabrics that are used in the opening section Sky Cloud for movement and sound.

Natalie Perren-Mariaux

Dana Burgess and Vincent Cacalano

Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Dana Tai Soon Burgess

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