Selah Dance Collective to Present “Palermo!”

Selah Dance Collective is proud to announce the world premiere of Palermo!, an evocative new contemporary dance work choreographed by Meredith Ventura. The piece will debut at Center Stage Theater in Santa Barbara on January 17 and 18, 2025 at 7:30pm and Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 2pm.

Palermo! (Sure Shot Comedy! Bang Up Fun!) continues Ventura’s choreographic exploration of early 20th-century performance, building on her acclaimed research project Sound and Smoke, which examines the aesthetics and social undercurrents of 1920s German cabaret. This newest work takes inspiration from the Futurist cabarets of Italy in the 1920s and 1930s, offering a profound investigation into the performance of power and the complex relationship between art, politics, and identity during the interwar period.

The performance draws parallels between the experimental acts crafted in these cabaret spaces and the turbulent socio-political landscapes in which they existed. Palermo! interrogates how the human body reflects and resists the political forces shaping it, a theme deeply rooted in the cultural history of early modern dance and its entanglement with the rise of authoritarian regimes in the Western world.

An excerpt of Palermo! premiered at Stomping Ground L.A. in September 2024, where it garnered critical praise for its incisive choreography and compelling examination of the body politic. This January, audiences in Santa Barbara will have the opportunity to witness the full realization of this provocative work.

“Palermo! is about the duality of liberation and control,” says Ventura. “Futurist cabarets were paradoxical spaces—both havens for avant-garde experimentation and sites where performance mirrored the cultural anxieties of a world on the brink. This piece seeks to capture that tension and its resonance with our present moment.”

With bold, athletic movement and an immersive soundscape, Palermo! invites audiences into a sensory world where historical echoes collide with contemporary questions of power, agency, and resistance. The work highlights Ventura’s multidisciplinary approach, blending choreography with elements of visual and sonic design to create a layered, dynamic experience.