Meet Meredith Cabaniss: Dance Artist & Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Meredith Cabaniss and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Meredith, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
One thing about my industry that outsiders are probably unaware of is that while collaboration is exciting and fun, it’s also important to learn the trades you might consider hiring someone else to do for you. Collaboration is a beautiful thing but you must ask yourself, why am I collaborating? What are the ways that collaboration makes this better than it would be if I did it alone? Because sometimes, collaboration and the time it takes to communicate what you want out of something takes away from the vision. In my industry, I have been the choreographer, costume designer, set and media designer, sound engineer, photographer, and marketing director. The amount of time and money it would have taken to hire someone for each of those positions and explain what I had in mind, test drafts, do edits, etc. would have taken key time out of my creative process. I’m not saying that you always have to be a one-woman show but, often, it pays to take the time to learn new skills or at least the language you need to use to properly discuss them with an expert. In my career, there have been many opportunities that have gone smoothly for me because I had a base understanding of how something worked and was able to come up with innovative ways of using that knowledge because the expert I was collaborating with could truly understand what my vision was.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets me apart from others is my commitment to the beautiful and the useful, which can sometimes just mean the humble and the ordinary. There is so much art centered around virtuosity and while I enjoy that art and lean often on skilled movements that espouse that virtuosic nature, I also find so much joy in the every-day and ordinary beauty of being human. Part of my vision for Selah includes exploring the nature of human existence, which does not just include the joys and sorrows but also the place in between where we spend most of our time. I am excited that through Selah I can explore many different experiences and ideas that reflect the multiplicity of being and that I have dancers who are willing to dive down into these cavernous expanses with me to try new things. It certainly has not been easy getting to this place and I have often thought that maybe it would be better to shutter the company and just do my own movement research but I always come back to the idea of group work and how beautiful it is to watch bodies in unison doing even the simplest of things. Often, the biggest challenges come from interpersonal and group work, making not just bodies mesh together in space but personalities, dreams, goals, and values. Many of the dancers I work with have similar backgrounds in training but the way that your training plays out in someone else’s choreography and vision can be radically different. Some dancers want to be told exactly what to do and others need a lot of coaching and guidance. That is not to say that one is better than the other, they’re just different kinds of working. I have worked with a lot of dancers in both of those categories and the work we have created together is always fresh because of what each person brings. I have dancers who would improvise a whole 10-minute work and not bat an eye. I have dancers who don’t even want four counts of improvisation. What’s most important about these kinds of working relationships is seeing each as a possibility for more expression and what you can bring out of each dancer that makes them their best. That is my favorite lesson I have learned about my work with Selah Dance Collective and the artists I collaborate with inside the company – what can I do as director and choreographer to have the dancers be confident and comfortable enough to bring their best so that the work can be its best. No one’s personality or values have to be in service to the greater artistic vision. Those personalities and values and everything else a dancer brings to the table can come alongside the choreographer or director’s vision and make it richer and more multi-dimensional. That’s the beauty of art and the beauty of what we have at Selah Dance Collective. I am very proud of this fact and I hope that it is clear from our work how much we value each artist’s perspective and experience.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is a fun challenge for me because I live suspended between two counties and multiple cities so I am always setting up base camps for whatever city I’m in for the day! I spend my time working and teaching between Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, and Camarillo so there are so many cool spots to hit up, especially when it comes to food! Camarillo has some amazing small businesses like Relm, a local wine bar with excellent California varietals, and Institution Ale which does a mean pizza and is always coming up with interesting new beers. Oxnard is full of hidden gems: El Portal has the best breakfast burrito of all time and is right around the corner from my house, the Collection is a great outdoor mall with some local chains like Burnin’ Mouth and Don Waffly, and there are so many hidden corners downtown with local businesses who are bringing their absolute best to what they do. Downtown Ventura has Paradise Pantry which is my favorite restaurant perhaps of all time, Rice by Mama with Thai food that will blow your mind, Ventura Coast Brewery and Topa Topa which are two of the pillars of the downtown scene and make amazing beers, and Cocktail Trust, a new addition to the scene which is an Italian-esque bar based in the Bank of Italy building. Santa Barbara is a classic tourist paradise and you can’t go wrong with just about anything in the Funk Zone or the 400-500 blocks of State Street. The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to the artists of Selah Dance Collective: Juli Farley, Bianca Salazar, Ashley Kohler Reynolds, Chloé Roberts, Taylor Ostronic, Rashelle Rascon, Rachyl Pines, Monique Nadeau, Daisy Mohrman, Amanda Keller, Bryn Gallagher, Tara McAninch, Amara Galloway, and Arianna Hartanov. The way that I work with my company requires a full commitment, participation, and energy which each of these women brings when they come to rehearsal. I also truly appreciate their willingness to roll with my crazy ideas and their individual kindness, creativity, and integrity that each of them embodies. My work is very dependent on who is in the room and I know when I work with these women that they are bringing their best. I also would love to recognize my two mentors in life and work, Dr. Carol M. Press and Lauren Wilkins. I am fortunate enough to work with both of them in different facets of my career in dance and I will never truly be able to express how much each of them means to me and what they have taught me about how to constantly pursue excellence in my work and how to bring that same excellence out in other people.

Website: http://www.meredithlcabaniss.com

Instagram: @meredithlcabaniss

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithlcabaniss/

Image Credits
Meredith Cabaniss