

Tickets for MindFluctuations are now on sale! Just go to:
http://lisner.gwu.edu/mindfluctuations-world-premiere
We are very excited to share this performance with all of our friends.
World Premiere Evening of Cutting-Edge Dance in Washington DC!
IT’S HAPPENING! Maida Withers Dance Construction Company (MWDCCo) is celebrating its 40th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of MindFluctuations, an amazing night of dance and technological innovation in Washington, DC's Lisner Auditorium on March 19, 2015 at 8:00 pm.
Choreographed by Maida Withers, recipient of this year’s 29th Annual Washington DC Mayor’s Special Recognition Arts Award,
MindFluctuations is the cornerstone of the 40th Anniversary of Maida Withers Dance Construction Company. MindFluctuations is a unique work involving dancers wearing an Emotiv neuro headset, which uses their brain waves to influence computer art. This creates a startling interactive experience combining dance, projected 3D visual animation by computer artist Tania Fraga and live electronic music by composers Steve Hilmy and John Driscoll.
We now need your help! MWDCCo has a minimum goal to raise $5,000 through Kickstarter. Along with this base goal, we need to raise an additional $13,000 to fully fund MindFluctuations ($18,000 total funds needed of the $26,000 project budget). With the essential support of individuals like you, you will make possible the groundbreaking performance of MindFluctuations.
Note from Maida
Maida Withers Dance Construction Company (MWDCCo) is extremely proud to celebrate four decades of dance in the 2014/15 season as an independent and experimental dance company. MWDCCo is building on its commitment to multidisciplinary collaboration, live music and pushing the boundaries of dance by creating a new evening-length work. After a successful history of international collaborations and site-specific performances, MWDCCo has chosen to recognize the importance of its local community by presenting the world premiere of MindFluctuations in the heart of Washington, DC.
We are honored to receive your financial support. MWDCCo has been self-supporting for more than 10 years, so we take asking for your financial help as a very serious matter. We promise to use every dollar you contribute wisely. You don’t want to miss this exciting evening of 3D animation/art, dance, and new music - a MUST SEE SHOW! We know you will love it and we promise to love you for your generosity and support.
The Project
MindFluctuations continues MWDCCo's extensive and bold integration of cutting-edge technology with dance. This work is a groundbreaking artwork demonstrating a multidisciplinary collaboration between dance and computer science intended to explore emotions and neural connections through movement.
MindFluctuations makes innovative use of recent neuroscience technology. Dancers wear a headset (see below) that exploits the relationships between their emotive and expressive states to transform a rich 3D visual environment projected on stage.


Artistic Creation
MindFluctuations is being created through international collaborations in both Brazil and Washington, D.C. combining 15 artists, a brain computer interface technician and a mathematics expert.
Initial discussions about the prospects for a dance and computer art project began in 2013 when Maida Withers was visiting with Tania Fraga in Brazil. During a residency in São Paulo in 2014 Tania Fraga, Brazilian computer artist; Mauro Pichiliani, Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technician; Donizetti Louro, mathematics consultant (Institute of Mathematics and Art, São Paulo); and Maida Withers, MWDCCo choreographer, explored the impact of dance movement on the headset and began building a framework for a collaborative work. Residencies with dancers, computer artist, musicians, and a sculptor continue in Washington D.C.
Project collaborators for MindFluctuations include: Tania Fraga, visual artist who is creating 3D cyber worlds; Steve Hilmy, resident electronic composer and musician for MWDCCo's dances and films for the past ten years; John Driscoll, resident composer and musician for MWDCCo, 1974 to 1981; David Page, sculptor, designer for an aluminum headdress/mask; and eight distinctive dancers - Felicia Avalos, Ian Ceccarelli, Alicia Diaz, Anthony Gongora, Mary Heath (intern), Sammi Rosenfeld, Giselle Ruzany, and Matthew Thornton. Costume and lighting designers complete the artistic team. Through a live interactive process with dancers the musicians are creating a collaborative music score.
We Need Your Help!
To ensure MWDCCo can successfully complete and premiere MindFluctuations at Lisner Auditorium March 19, 2015, MWDCCo needs your help! To receive any Kickstarter funds, MWDCCo must raise the minimum goal of $5,000 contributed through Kickstarter (to compliment the $8,000 that we've already raised). Our current project goal is to raise the remaining $18,000 of the $26,000 project budget to fully fund the creation and presentation of MindFluctuations.
PLEASE SUPPORT MWDCCO THROUGH A TAX-EXEMPT DONATION (less the receipt of any product received)
THANK YOU!
For more information:
Visit
web: maidadance.com for more about MWDCCo
Visit Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MaidaDance
Twitter: @MWDCCo
Risks and challenges
Our current challenge is ensuring the full funding of our project. We have committments from all of our dancers and artists to make the Mindfluctuations Premier successful. MWDCCo is now relying on your generous support to help us complete our financial commitments and support our dancers & artists.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterQuestions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (40 days)