Intertwining past and present: 'Sacred Journeys V' brings together music, dance with Indigenous influences

Oct. 11—"Sacred Journeys V" combines classical and contemporary dance with eclectic music of Grammy Award-winning Taos Pueblo musician Robert Mirabal.

The performance takes place Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 20, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

"Sacred Journeys V" meshes the rich and diverse culture of New Mexico.

Mirabal collaborated with Patricia Dickinson Wells, artistic director for Festival Ballet Albuquerque, and New York City Ballet dancer Jock Soto (Navajo/Puerto Rican), who is originally from Gallup, for "Sacred Journeys V."

"He's so fascinating because he makes his own flutes, he makes his own drums, he writes the music, he writes the spoken word," Dickinson Wells said of Mirabal. "He speaks in both English and his native Tiwa. He tells stories (during the performance) and then he turns around from this incredible, beautiful flute piece and gives you a killer rock 'n' roll anthem of sorts, 'Navajo Fires.'"

"Sacred Journeys V" continues with the song "1000 Miles," about a soldier being far away from home. One of Mirabal's most famous songs, "The Dance," also is part of the performance.

Another Mirabal song that is included in the production is "Little Indians," a touching piece about the high suicide rate of children on the pueblo.

" 'Little Indians' actually (features) some of our younger dancers, where we take (Mirabal's) words and translate them through American Sign Language with movement. So it's his words, the music, sign language and dance."

The concept of the performance was Dickinson Wells' vision. She said she had already selected some songs for the show when she met Soto, who had been a New York City Ballet dancer for more than two decades.

"He was an icon, an amazing performer," she said. "He traveled all over the world and he had retired to Eagle Nest, (New Mexico). But I actually met him at a dance conference before, but then I found out he was living here in New Mexico, so I invited him to come down and teach in a workshop. We just hit it off like beyond crazy. He was aware of Robert's music, so I invited him to be one of the choreographers."

Other contributors to "Sacred Journeys V" include native New Mexican Dominic Guerra; internationally known Vladimir Conde-Reche, a native of S?o Paulo, Brazil; Alex Ossadnik of East Germany; and the Trujillo Family, traditional Native American dancers.

"Alex added a new song, 'Painted Cave,'" Dickinson Wells said. "There's just a lot of songs. It's really good. Each choreographer has a segment. We have a basic costume and then we change the overlay for the different choreographer sections. It starts with my four works, and it finishes with Jock's five works, and then we have the big finale with everybody, including Native traditional dancers that we have on stage with Robert, as we're changing, and they're just beautiful. They're so beautiful in their Native regalia, traditional regalia."

Mirabal is dedicated to preserving the centuries-old customs of Taos Pueblo and is an advocate of world music. His work merges Africa, Asia and the Caribbean music with Indigenous American sounds.

"He's a renaissance man, he's an artist, he's an actor, he's a musician," Dickinson Wells said. "He makes moccasins by hand. He has developed wines from chokeberries on his family land and his grandmother's land. He just does everything. He's traveled so much throughout the world and really immersed himself in all these different cultures. And I think there's no way it couldn't have rubbed off on in some way and had an influence in his music."