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Families Are Forever - Smithsonian Gallery

Maida Withers Dance Construction Company is a not-for-profit arts organization established in Washington, DC in 1974 to create and produce original dance and multimedia works for stage,  sites and video.  Technology, multimedia and new media are of on-going interest to the company. 
Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz Current projects involve international collaborations with artists, scientists, and technologists. Original music is created for all works and played live in performance. Every three to five years, Maida Withers, founder and artistic director, initiates and produces a large-scale work.  Examples of these works include: Dance of the Auroras - Fire in the Sky  (2001), Utah * Spirit Place * Spirit Planet * Tukuhnikivatz (1996) , Laser Dance (1985) , and Stall.  Interest in social issues is reflected in thought-provoking non-linear narratives such as In Winds of Sand, Rolling Thunder, Obsession - America's Obsession with  Sex, Woman See and Nevertheless … Tenderness, gender based performances; Yesterday’s Garlands and Yesterday’s Kisses and Time Dance, Dadaist expressions of Withers' wit and humor. Withers has created site-specific performances in Washington, DC at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, National Plaza, Holy Rood Cemetery, and other museums and national parks.

The company emphasizes international collaborations and international touring.  Dance of the Auroras - Part III: Magnetic Storm Seen from Above, was created during a three-week residency in St. Petersburg, Russia hosted by Kannon School of Dance and Company.  Aurora/2001 premiered at the Northern Lights Festival in Tromso, Norway, January 26, 2001. The company participated in the historic United Nation’s Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil in 1992.  Rolling Thunder premiered at the National Theater in Brasilia during the Omame Projecto, an international congress of artists for ecology.  In Rio de Janeiro, Maida created a work in the stone garden for the Museo de Arte’s modern international exhibitions.  The company performed on two occasions at the Global Forum in  Rio de Janeiro for UNCED. 

International touring in Asia includes:  Seoul, Korea (Munye Theatre, 1993; 13th International Korean Dance Festival, 1994; Jooksan Festival, the Taejon Dance Festival, 1995, and the 50th Year Anniversary Celebration of the Founding of Taejon City, 1997); Hong Kong (Academy for Performing Arts, 1994); China  (Guangdong Dance Company, Guangzhou, China, 1994); Malaysia (National Institute for the Arts,  1995 and Kuala Lumpur Ballet Company, 1994, 1995); and Japan (Beam Theater, Tokyo, 1995, and Kansai University, Osaka, 1993).

Other international tours include: Seven-week tour to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica (1987); Mexico City, International Festival of Dance (1988); Bodies of Influence celebration and Theatreschool Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1996); Russia (Volgograd International Dance Festival, 1997; Poland (choreographed “Halda,” for IV International Dance Festival and Conference, 1997); France (Theatre Dunois in Paris, July 1997); Venezuela (National Theatre, Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Nov. 1997); Finland, (Side Step Dance Improvisation Festival, January 1998); Brazil (31st Festival de Inverno in Ouro Preto, Casa de Cultura in Rio de Janeiro, and Dance Brazil '99 at the National Theatre in Brasilia, Brazil, 1999, 2nd International Art and Technology Conference, Brasilia, 2001; Hekuras project, São Paulo, 2002); Northern Lights Festival, Tromso, Norway (2001); 

Tours in the United States include performances in Santa Fe, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Boston, New York City, Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic Region and a residency at the Yellow Springs Institute for Art and Ideas in Philadelphia.

Performances in the nation’s capital include presentations at the Smithsonian Institution, Corcoran and Renwick Galleries, the Pension Building and Warner Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lisner Auditorium, Public Playhouse, Dance Place, Washington Project for the Arts, and home seasons in Marvin Betts Theater.   Washington sponsors include The Washington Performing Arts Society, District Curators, and others.

Funding for the company's most recent project includes support from The American-Scandinavian Foundation, Andrew E. and G. Norman Wigeland Fund, Dallas Morse Coors Foundation, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, Goethe Institut, Jovid Foundation, Kosciuszko Foundation, Market Development Group, Melton Arts Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Northwest Air, Norwegian Government, Pola Nirenska Award, Trust for Mutual Understanding, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Future View,  Steffan & Company., Inc, Christopher Velo, Director of Revenue Management, The Crystal City Courtyard Hotel by Marriott, Mr. John Nicholson, President, Company Flowers, Inc. of Arlington, Business Volunteers for the Arts, Tim Kenney Design Partners.

Individual friends and associates including: Brook Andrews, Allison Beesley, Margery Goldberg, Greg Prince, Brian Steffan, Gary James, DCC Advisory Board, Adam Peiperl, Maida and Arlen Withers, Natalie Ann and Robert Sidney Smith, Nancy W. Tartt; Vadim Kasparov and Kannon Dance, St. Petersburg, Russia; John and Diane Alahouzos, Ann Marie Boyden, Mary L. Bradford, Elizabeth Burtner, Renee Carlson, Anthony T. Cluff and Donna Lee McGee, Jeffrey Coman, Robert L. Emrich Revocable Trust, Kathleen H. Gray, Kathy Borteck Gersten, Julia A. Hart, Dirk Lummerzheim, Natalie Mulitz, Gene Smith, Jeffrey Strum, Vladimir Anguelov, Susan Barnett, Paul M. Caffrey and Cristy L. Willis, Suzanne Callahan / Callahan Consulting for the Arts, William J. Carter, Claudia and Michael F. Del Casino, Verabel C. Cluff, Donald Davidson and Rosie Dempsey, Josette Desfayes, Helen de Alessi, Alice Denney / Private Arts Foundation, Marcia Freeman, Paul D. Frenzen and Renata Frenzen, Elaine Gibson, DBA Enterprises, The Goldblatt Company, Dr. Richard J. and Nancy Havlik, Dena L. Hawes, Sheila Hess, E. Jay and Elsie Howenstine, Anthony J. Hyatt, Naomi Jacobson and John Lescault, Sandra V. Kammann, Dianne Dougherty McGonegal, Carolyn Morgan, Margaret L. Northrup, Robert S. Northrup, Kristin M. Oshee, Salvatore and Rosann Paratore, Salvatore R. Paratore, Trustee, Vinu Pillai, Alice Allred Pottmyer, Dear Salvatore and Rosann, Dr. Aron and Ms. Karen Primack, Virginia Quesada / Q Media, Inc., Deborah Riley, Eugene and Lorena Racanelli, Alex Rounds, Chelse Rynes -Mason/Rhynes Productions, Janet Solinger, Florence S. Stone, J. J. Wayne, Francis Wessells and John Bailey, Cynthia Word,  Douglas E. Yeuell/Joy of Motion.