As featured on the National Performance Network Artist Blog.

Pajarito delves into the story of the Atomic Bomb’s creation in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Through the lens of choreographer and Nuevomexicana Yvonne Montoya, the production explores the tragic repercussions of the Atomic Age across four generations of her family, blending dance and spoken word.
 

As part of the larger series Stories from Home, which celebrates the oral traditions of Nuevomexicano, Chicano, and Mexican American communities in the American Southwest, Pajarito offers a poignant portrayal of love, family, and home. “I think the real remarkable part of this dance is that Yvonne is able to tell it from her vantage point and express the history that represents so many families from Northern New Mexico, specifically the Pojoaque Valley and the Española Valley,” says Dr. Myrriah Gómez, author of Nuclear Nuevo México. “And she just does it from a place of personal transformation.”
 

As the founder of Tucson, Arizona’s Safos Dance Theatre alongside Michele Orduña (Tohono O’Odham) and the creative force behind Stories from Home, Montoya draws inspiration from her great-grandmother, grandmother, great-aunts, and father’s oral histories to bring underrepresented stories to the stage.

Video Essay: Baylie MacRae
Choreography, Text & Performance: Yvonne Montoya
Dancers: Esteban Rosales, Ruby Morales, Luz Zarina Mendoza Orduño, David Bernal-Fuentes, Lauren Jiménez
Music: “Pajarito” by Samuel Peña
Costume: Mary Leopo and team
Animation: Wesley Creigh
Advisor: Dr. Myrriah Gómez
Commissioners: Su Teatro, GALA Hispanic Theatre