Safos Dance Theatre is a small emerging non-profit dance company founded in Tucson, AZ in 2009.
We collaborate with other Latinx serving and/or AZ-based organizations to offer programs that fulfill our mission.
Supporting a modern dance unique experience to the US-Mexico borderlands
Safos’ mission is to create contemporary artistic forms that reflect the common experiences of our diverse communities.
Supporting a modern dance unique experience to the US-Mexico borderlands
Supporting dance unique to the US-Mexico borderlands experience
A series of dances embodying the oral traditions of Mexican American, Hispanic, and Chicano communities in the American Southwest.
Supporting Arizona-based dance artists and performers while introducing their work to new audiences.
Building and creating a community between U.S.-based dance artists and dance artists from Latin America.
STORIES FROM HOME
SIZZLE REEL
Premiere footage of Stories from Home
October 28th, 2023
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Washington D.C.
Artistic Director: Yvonne Montoya
Dancers: Ruby Morales, Esteban Rosales, Lauren Jimenez, Luz Zarina Mendoza-Orduño, David Bernal-Fuentes with Yvonne Montoya and Salvador Martínez-Montoya
Rehearsal Assistant: Delia Ibañez, Baylie MacRae
Lighting Designer: Clint Bryson
Music: Samuel Peña with a song by Salvador Martínez-Montoya Digital Animator: Wesley Creigh
Costumes: Kelsey Vidic, Mary Leopo + Team
Dance Films: Dominic AZ Bonuccelli
Sizzle Reel: Baylie MacRae
ATOMIC REPERCUSSIONS
YVONNE MONTOYA’S PAJARITO
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.