Maida Withers, choreographer, videographer and professor of dance at The George Washington University, is well-known to the Washington, D.C., community as a strong and powerful dancer. She is an experimenter in structure and form in motion involving collaborators in visual and performing arts. Withers engages in improvisation for the creation of her work and during performances. For the past three years, she has been performing solo choreography and dance improvisation with improvising jazz and indigenous musicians in host countries. She has also toured throughout southeastern Asia.

Katie Duck, a former guest artist-in-residence at The George Washington University, is recognized in Europe for her unusual choreography and experimentation in dance improvisation. She has performed and taught in Europe since 1977 and now serves on the faculty at the prestigious New School for Dance Development in Amsterdam. Currently, Duck is in the United States teaching and, in December, will perform at the Improvisation Festival in New York with Blu, a dance company from Italy.

Vincent Cacalano is an educator of advanced movement classes at the New School for Dance Development in Amsterdam. Cacalano's work can be seen in Laboratory, an experimental movement and political dance company that tours throughout Europe. Cacalano was a featured dancer in Wither's "Utah*Spirit Place*Spirit Planet*Tukuhnikivatz" for the premiere performance at the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors on August 20, 1996. Cacalano received his MFA in dance from GW. He will also be performing in New York at the Improvisation Festival with Blu in December.

Cyrus Khambatta, born in Arlington, Virginia, graduated from New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing in Amsterdam, where he worked with Mary Overlie, Charles Moulten, Pooh Kaye and Sally Silvers. His lectures and workshops on dance-theater have been conducted both in the U.S. and Europe. Locally, he has conducted special workshops for the deaf at Gallaudet University and for the physically challenged at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. He is co-founder, choreographer and artistic director of the dance company Pffft!. The Company has presented shows in Europe, the U.S. and Russia. Kambatta and Pffft! are now based in New York City.

Sharon Smith is a dancer, choreographer and director of her own company, The Max Factory in London. A graduate of the New School for Dance Development, she tours throughout Europe. Smith will join Duck and Cacalano in the Improvisation Festival in New York featuring the Blu company.

Alan McDermott, performed the role of Nobel Warrior in Withers's "Utah*Spirit Place*Spirit Planet*Tukuhnikivatz." McDermott is also a graduate of the New School for Dance Development and performs throughout Europe with Cacalano.

Joseph Mills joined the faculty of The George Washington University in 1995. A member of MOMIX Dance Theater since 1987, he now tours internationally with this unusual non-traditional modern dance company. From 1989 to 1991 he performed original works throughout Italy. He danced with Erick Hawkins Dance Company for five years, touring throughout the United States, Japan and China. Currently, Mills is a candidate for a Ph.D in dance at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Located four blocks from the White House, The George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the nation's capital. The University offers comprehensive programs of underg raduate and graduate liberal arts study as well as degree programs in medicine, law, engineering, education, business/public management and international affairs. Each year GW enrolls a diverse population of 19,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and some 100 countries.