Rite of Spring by Meredith Cabaniss of Selah Dance

Local dance artist and graduate student in the Department of Theater and Dance Meredith Cabaniss presents Rite of Spring, a program featuring a contemporary adaptation of Le Sacre du Printemps and performances by dance artists from throughout Southern California.

In her adaptation, Meredith Cabaniss creates a new and refreshing take on the revolutionary 1913 ballet with dancers from throughout Southern California. Cabaniss has chosen to develop the work with members of her company Selah Dance Collective and dancers from the greater Los Angeles area in collaboration with UCSB’s undergraduate Dance program. Cabaniss continues to develop her distinctive blend of athleticism and poignant storytelling through the medium of contemporary dance.

Cabaniss’s choice to only cast women in her adaptation is a stark departure from the traditional cast of men and women. This choice, she states, comes from her experience in the field of dance where the power dynamics contain more nuance and complexity between women who compete for the same resources and privileges. “I wanted to see if something would come out of this process differently if I focused purely on the ways that the story of Rite – the rituals, the sacrifice, and the eventual tragedy of its conclusion – came from women’s interactions with one another. In my experience, I have suffered more at the hands of women in my field who were trying to help me than I ever have by someone who has tried to hurt me.”

When asked why she chose to create her own version of the infamous ballet, she stated, “I think that our adaptation of a work such Sacre provides an opportunity to create a kinesthetic relationship to history, forging a connection that is threaded through Sacre’s 109-year history and the hundreds of bodies who have performed this work.” Ballet companies, she says, perform ballets with choreographic lineages that can be traced back to the 19th century, either adapting the original movement or choreographing their own movements. Re-choreographing Rite could easily be categorized as an ambitious exercise in historical research or a vanity project, but Cabaniss asserts that her purpose is different. She says that this adaptation and work like it, “have the potential to unlock new ways of understanding the past, navigating the present, and preparing for the future.”

Other works featured in the performance are Taureau, choreographed by Arianna Hartanov, the assistant director of Selah Dance Collective and four guest works, choreographed by dancers who are also performing in Cabaniss’s Rite of Spring. These works are These Walls Can Talk by Camilla Robertson, The Path by Grace Hopper, YEARN by Megan Hanson, and Six by Alexis Robards.