YVONNE MONTOYA

In celebration of USA/AUS Mother's Day 2026, we invited Yvonne Montoya to share her thoughts on being a parent in dance who's child is now almost an adult.

Reflection

Recently, a colleague of mine, who is a dancing artist mama of an elementary school aged child, reached out to me asking to submit a gesture or movement for her first piece about motherhood. As the mother of a 17-year-old, about to embark on a new phase of motherhood, it was interesting to reflect upon that prompt and how it would have elicited different movements, gestures, and reflections over the course of my dance and motherhood journey. After 17 years of experience and on the precipice of a new chapter of motherhood and dance, my movements were deeper, grounded, humbled, and filled with love.

In a fit of creativity and inspiration, I founded my dance company, Safos Dance Theatre in Tucson, AZ when my son was 9 months old. In addition to my own company and artistic practice, I was also training and performing with other Tucson-based companies. Everything was challenging. From the lack of maternity leave, to the mastitis I got when returning to the stage to perform a mere six months post-partum, to choreographing in 30-minute intervals in my car when my son was pre-school aged, to long-term out of town residencies, and touring with the company, it was all challenging.

In 2015, when my son was in first grade, I folded him into my artistic practice creating the Motherhood and Performing Arts (MPA) Project. I did this to share more time with my son. The original MPA Project was a dance film and a blog documenting the joys and challenges of balancing motherhood and a career in dance. Ever since, my son has been an integral part of my artistic process. During the pandemic, he performed in six dance films for Act 1 of the Stories from Home COVID-19 Addendum. Since 2023, he has been touring with my company in my evening length work Stories from Home. Stories from Home is a series of dances based on my family’s history and our long-standing roots in New Mexico in the U.S. Southwest (I am a 23^rd generation Nuevomexicana). I created Stories from Home after my dad passed away in 2015 as I was compelled to continue his storytelling tradition for my son. Now, my son takes the stage with me performing a medley of Nuevomexicano Folk Dances in the final piece of the show. Aptly named “Querencia,” the mother and son dance captures the passing down of cultures and traditions down from one generation to the next. I am grateful for the opportunity to share these experiences with my son, although touring with the company and my teenager presents its own unique challenges.

After 17 years I am no longer the only mother in my dance communities. There are still only a handful of us, but I am glad to no longer be the only one. And I am doing my part to support dancing parents. I am proud to share that I worked hard to support one of my dance administrators with paid maternity leave for four months last year, a rarity in the United States and something that I did without. 17 years ago, I returned to my job teaching academic classes at the university when my son was six weeks old. It was an honor to support a fellow dancing mama in ways that I was not supported.

Last year I published two books on motherhood and family. The first Reflections: Writings from the Motherhood and Performing Arts Project was a compilation of the original blog posts from the MPA Project published on the 10 year anniversary of the project. It was difficult to go back and re-read these vignettes. I felt the lack of support, stress, and frustration ooze from the pages. The writings are dark, but I am hopeful that the next generation of mothers and parents in dance have much more supportive environments and resources than what my son and I experienced. My second book was much more uplifting. In fact, it technically is not a book, but a journal. My Stories from Home: A Family Memory Book was inspired by Stories from Home audiences who consistently ask me how I uncovered my family’s stories. I wrote down the questions I asked my family when I did the research for the show and put those into journal format. Now, my son and I are sharing not only our stories, but our familial and ancestral stories in our dance practices.

I am uncertain what the next phase of the dancing artist mama journey has in store for me. But I look forward to the next 17 years.

About Yvonne

Yvonne Montoya is a mother, choreographer, writer, and the founding Artistic Executive Director of Safos Dance Theatre. Based in Tucson, AZ and originally from Albuquerque, NM, her work is grounded in and inspired by the landscapes, languages, cultures, and aesthetics of the U.S. Southwest. Montoya was a Visiting Artist at Colorado College, a Postgraduate Dance Fellow at Arizona State University, a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow, a Dance/USA Fellow, and the first Arizonan to receive the National Dance Project Production Grant.  Her touring show Stories from Home premiered at GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C. in October 2023 and is currently touring the Southwest. She is the founder thought leader behind the Southwest-based dance and research project Dance in the Desert: A Gathering of Dancemakers. Montoya is also a published writer and independent dance scholar and researcher and founder of Montoya Publications. www.yvonnemontoya.co

IG: @ymontoyadance @safosdance