(1992) June 5  MWDCCo was honored to receive an invitation and support from the famous Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro in Placo Aberto – Open Stage in the rock garden in conjunction with the United Nation’s Earth Summit, Eco ’92 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 3 to 14, 1992.  The invitation to create a work for Open Stage, came from Regina Miranda, dance and performance curator at MAM.  MWDCCo was a participant in the United Nation’s Earth Summit with 100 International Artists for Ecology and the Environment – OMAME Projeto. The performance took place at dusk on June 5, 1992.

Maida created Stone Garden in collaboration with MWDCCo dancers Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Stacy Palatt, Janine Ploetz, USA, and Celia Portilho, Brazil with Digerdoo musicians Craig Gibson and Harold Gent, Canada, and rock carving sculptor Ken Haritsuka, Japan/USA. Stone Garden was one of seven works presented by Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro in Placo Aberto – Open Stage during Eco ’92.

For Stone Garden, dancers wore brief skin colored leotards as they crawled and slithered cautiously over rocks in the block-long Rock Garden. Some rocks were wet with water to make the slow crawl easier.  Small lights placed in crevaces in the rocks created interesting shadows and illusions during the long crawl.  This amazing slow, intense, unusual drama, performed at dusk, was mysterious and magical with the haunting Didgeridoo music. The pounding sound of Ken Harisuka, Japanese rock artist, was accompaniment from the hammer pounding as he made a line drawing on the large  stone/rock contributed by the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro. The work took the dancers about one hour to crawl slowly on the rocks from one end of the garden to the other,   The work culminated with dancers crawling finally able to stand quiet and still at the end of the journey in a calm standing position. Stone Garden was memorable for both performers and audience.

The performance created the question “What is rock and what is human?”

Regina Miranda, national dance treasure in Brazil, was an important collaborator through her vision as performance curator at the Museum de Arte Moderna.  

World Premiere:
Museo de Arte Moderno – Rock Garden, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at dusk
URL:  http://maidadance.com/works/stone-garden-2/
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/102323665

MWDCCo performing Stone Garden

Maida Withers Dance Construction Company was at the United Nation’s Earth Summit (Eco’92) as artist members of the International Conference of Celebration – Celebration of the Earth Project associated with OMAME PROJECTO, 100 international artists for the Earth.  MWDCCo and other artists were in Brasilia for a significant period, prior to Eco ’02,  May ? 1992 and in Rio de Janeiro making work as part of the OMAME Projeto, May 3 to 14, 1992.  Maida performed In Winds of Sand and Prologue at the National Theatre in Brasilia, May 12, 1992. (14)?