Local dance artist and graduate student in the Department of Theater and Dance Meredith Cabaniss Ventura presents a dance concert at the Hatlen Theater. Ventura’s work Sound and Smoke is an interdisciplinary exploration of early modern dance and its intersections with the mythical decadence of Weimar-era cabaret. The evening-length performance features dancers from her company, Selah Dance Collective, undergraduate students from UC Santa Barbara, and other community members. 

Sound and Smoke grew out of Ventura’s choreography for an installation at L'ahah Association in Paris, France, in July 2022. In collaboration with the exhibit “Homeshaping/Homeshaking: Modern Odysseys,” the work performed in Paris has developed into a more extensive investigation of “dancing death” and the staging of women’s deaths in theatrical representation, often written or directed by men, within the context of modern dance history. Ventura blends popular culture and music with references to historical, literary, and avant-garde figures in Sound and Smoke. In preparation for the concert, Ventura collaborated with dramaturg Cassie Archer, a fellow graduate student at UC Santa Barbara. 

Performance Dates and Times: April 21 & 22, 2023 at 7:30pm

Run time: one hour, no intermission

For more information, email info@selahdancecollective.com

About Meredith Cabaniss Ventura

Meredith Ventura née Cabaniss is a multi-creative artist based out of southern California. She holds a BFA in dance from UC Santa Barbara and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. She is pursuing an MA/Ph.D. in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Santa Barbara. As the founder and artistic director of selah dance collective, Ms. Cabaniss has produced full evening-length performances and presented works throughout the United States and abroad, most recently in France, Estonia, Norway, Finland, and Italy. Ms. Cabaniss is the Dance and Choreography Director for Lights Up!, a local pre-professional theater company, is the resident choreographer for the Public Domain Players, and is on faculty at State Street Ballet in their professional-track division. Meredith serves as a board member for Center Stage Theater in downtown Santa Barbara and coordinates the Artist in Residence program for Children’s Creative Project, a program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office.

About Cassie Archer

Cassie Archer is a second-year MA student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at UCSB. So far at UCSB, she has been the dramaturg for the Fall 2021 production of Seagull, the 2022 LAUNCH PAD Summer Reading Series, and LAUNCH PAD’s Winter 2023 Preview Production of She Wolf, Margaret of Anjou. Cassie graduated from Chapman University with a BA in Theatre and English in 2020. Her dramaturgy credits at Chapman include Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptation of Lysistrata, and Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. Additionally, she was the dramaturgy intern for Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors in 2019.

About Selah Dance Collective

Selah Dance Collective, Inc is a contemporary dance company dedicated to producing original work, creating educational experiences through performance, and maintaining a platform for community dance works and emerging artists through outreach, education, and mentorship. Selah Dance Collective, Inc (or SELAH), a Santa Barbara-based contemporary dance company, creates and performs worldwide original work by artistic director and founder Meredith Ventura. Founded in 2014, SELAH has captured the attention of fellow artists, presenters, and audiences with its innovative work and challenging physicality grounded by a focus to make dance more accessible and relatable to all people.