Upcoming
The Stranger & Beethoven’s Tango
September 11, 2026
Santa Barbara, CA | Lobero Theatre
Meredith Ventura’s newest work, The Stranger, is an abstracted choreographic response to Albert Camus’s landmark novel. Set to the music of Bach, the work explores the process of othering: how a body becomes strange to the world around it, how silence is mistaken for emptiness, and how difference becomes something society seeks to judge, contain, or explain.
Rather than retelling Camus’s story literally, The Stranger moves through its emotional and philosophical terrain in Ventura’s signature style, exploring themes of alienation, social performance, and the violence of being misunderstood. The clarity and richness of Bach’s score serve as a counterpoint to the instability of one’s inner life, creating a world where baroque and queerness overlap.
Performed alongside Fernanda Ghi and Alfredo Minetti’s brand-new work Beethoven’s Tango, this evening brings together two works concerned with the artist’s inner world and the forces that shape expression.
Created by internationally renowned tango artist Fernanda Ghi and pianist, composer, and cultural anthropologist Alfredo Minetti, Beethoven’s Tango merges dance and live music into a singular theatrical experience. Inspired by Federico García Lorca’s writings on the muse, the angel, and the duende, the work follows the artist’s struggle to move beyond outside inspiration and toward a deeper, more dangerous creative force rising from within.
Together, The Stranger and Beethoven’s Tango ask what it means to create, to be seen, and to remain human in a world that often misunderstands the depths of feeling.
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Press
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"Ventura’s work is radical, rebellious, witty, and sarcastic, juxtaposing elegant, oh-so-difficult choreography with slapstick humor and tragicomic dialogue. She is nothing short of a genius. Like 20th century choreographers who changed the course of dance such as Martha Graham, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins, Ventura is changing 21st century dance to its very core."
Jatila Van Der Veen,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT -
“Selah Dance Collective had a very distinct style, performing “Rogue Planets” and “Reverie.” The dancers were dressed in a neutral palette that highlighted their graceful movements throughout both pieces. In “Rogue Planets,” they did a great job of utilizing the entire stage to create an interesting space and emphasize juxtaposition between dancers.”
Ella Todd,
THE CHANNELS -
"The evening flowed seamlessly with “Rogue Planets,” Meredith Cabaniss’s quietly methodical vision of four individuals on the precipice of enlightenment. Dancer Ashley Kohler-Reynolds shined through the imposing glare of the stage’s foot strobes, injecting Cabaniss’s contemporary ballet with seasoned deliberation and lingering interludes."
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT
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"Ventura’s work in "Sound and Smoke" is poignant, deeply researched across the span of history, and intricately choreographed, ultimately creating an exciting, unnerving, and thought-provoking experience."
Lola Watts,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT -
“Bursting with movement and packed with satisfyingly large ensemble casts, director Meredith Cabaniss Ventura took advantage of the numbers to build alluring, otherworldly formations and punches of synchronized choreography for instant impact.”
Kaita Mrazek,
AMERICAN RIVIERA MEDIA -
“The evening’s title work, choreographed by Cabaniss Ventura and the company of nine dancers, made it abundantly clear that dance is back in a big way.”
Charles Donelan,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT -
"Ventura’s choreography is endlessly fascinating... Their extensions defy gravity. One can almost see the energy swirling around them, as if their movements stir up vortices in the air."
Jatila Van Der Veen,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT -
"...wildly talented, meticulously thorough, and refreshingly open to new perspectives."
Ninette Paloma,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT -
"An ambitious collection of work by talented dancers and choreographers... the conversation that SELAH presented through this work is vital."
Maggie Yates,
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT