Safos Dance Theatre

Safos Dance Theatre Safos Dance Theatre is an emerging non-profit modern dance company founded in Tucson, AZ in 2009.

Safos encourages the fusion of diverse genres of dance as well as the merging of dance with other art forms in order to establish new expressions reflective of our communal experiences on the U.S-Mexico borderlands. Safos uses spoken word from different languages without translations to portray the bilingual experience and provides a space for performance of different ethnic experiences. Our art i

s community-based; Safos artists live and create in the same spaces where our audience members live and work. This enables our artists to give voice to our common experiences, which may be different than that of other communities. We provide a safe space and serve as a much needed nontraditional outlet for local ethnic minority artists who are currently not participating in other companies. Our name, Safos, is based on José Antonio Burciaga’s description of the term “Con Safos” in the book Drink Cultura: Chicanismo.

Dance in the Desert Research Report: The Arizona Cohort 🌵What does it take to sustain a thriving dance community in the ...
07/29/2026

Dance in the Desert Research Report: The Arizona Cohort 🌵

What does it take to sustain a thriving dance community in the Arizona deserts?

We interviewed 17 of the 21 Latine dance artists from the original Dance in the Desert AZ. Here is an overview of the original Dance in the Desert AZ community:
🌵3 communities represented: Tucson, Douglas/Agua Prieta, and the Phoenix-metro area
🌵The original Dance in the Desert AZ cohort spans genres from Mexican Folklórico to Hip-hop, Breaking to Danza Azteca, Modern to Latin Social Dance, Modern to Flamenco, and more with many dancers trained in multiple genres of dance.
🌵5 of the original Dance in the Desert AZ cohort members attended all 3 in person gatherings
🌵Dance in the Desert AZ cohort members range in age from 18-64
🌵The Arizona interviews describe a dance ecosystem that is welcoming, collaborative, and culturally expansive.

We are sharing data and highlights every Wednesday through September. For a more in depth analysis of the research, subscribe to our newsletter. LINK IN BIO

The Dance in the Desert 2025 Research Report is here! 🌵 Over the next two months, we'll be sharing data and highlights e...
07/28/2026

The Dance in the Desert 2025 Research Report is here! 🌵

Over the next two months, we'll be sharing data and highlights every Wednesday. For a more in depth analysis of the research, subscribe to our newsletter. LINK IN BIO

In 2025, our team conducted 58 interviews with dance artists aged 18–75 across New Mexico, Arizona, and the US/Mexico Borderlands. The central question we set out to answer: what does it take for dance artists and communities in the Southwest not simply to survive, but to thrive?

What emerged was clear: the Southwest is home to deeply vibrant dance ecosystems rooted in cultural memory, community care, and artistic innovation. For the Latine dance artists we spoke with, dance is far more than performance. It's education, healing, storytelling, cultural preservation, and relationship-building.

The Dance in the Desert 2025 research initiative was supported by the Mellon Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect opinions or policies of the Mellon Foundation.

07/21/2026

The Dance in the Desert research report is here! 🌵

Starting tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22nd, we're sharing data on our region's Latine dance community from now until September:

🔸️ Highlighting the AZ dance community
🔸️ Highlighting the NM dance community
🔸️ Sharing other important data points

Want a deeper dive? Subscribe to our newsletter for more in-depth analysis (link in bio).

Stay tuned!

We're taking a summer break! 🌞Our doors will be closed from June 29th through July 7th. We hope you enjoy a wonderful an...
07/01/2026

We're taking a summer break! 🌞

Our doors will be closed from June 29th through July 7th. We hope you enjoy a wonderful and restful summer with your loved ones.

We look forward to welcoming you back on July 8th, refreshed and ready to move!

✨ Meet the Company ✨The heart of Safos is our people.Each dancer brings their own background, training, experiences, and...
06/24/2026

✨ Meet the Company ✨
The heart of Safos is our people.
Each dancer brings their own background, training, experiences, and artistry to the work we create together. Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared a glimpse into the journeys that have shaped our company—from years of training to favorite tour memories.
Thank you for getting to know the artists behind the movement. We can’t wait to continue sharing our stories with you. ❤️

✨ Meet the Company ✨The heart of Safos is our people.Each dancer brings their own background, training, experiences, and...
06/24/2026

✨ Meet the Company ✨
The heart of Safos is our people.
Each dancer brings their own background, training, experiences, and artistry to the work we create together. Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared a glimpse into the journeys that have shaped our company, from years of training to favorite tour memories.
Thank you for getting to know the artists behind the movement. We can’t wait to continue sharing our stories with you. ❤️

Before we introduce some of this season’s dancers, we wanted to share a glimpse into the movement histories that shape o...
06/17/2026

Before we introduce some of this season’s dancers, we wanted to share a glimpse into the movement histories that shape our ensemble ✨

From contemporary, modern, and ballet to Mexican folklórico, Colombian folklore, Afro-Cuban styles, salsa, bachata, flamenco, breaking, hip hop, and more, our dancers bring a rich range of training, traditions, and lived movement experiences into the room.

At Safos, we believe every body carries a story. We can’t wait for you to meet some of the artists helping tell ours 🤎

Stay tuned for our Meet the Dancer post next week!

06/10/2026

Today we celebrate the Stories from Home CSUSM community cast for their moving work on “In the Heart of the Hills.”

This dance that was co-devised with Safos choreographers Yvonne Montoya and Ruby Morales was performed twice! First with the cast of Stories from Home and then again at the CSUSM Spring Dance concert in May. This marked the first time a community cast performed the work twice.

Felicidades bailaries! We’re deeply grateful to every dancer who brought it to life. And to .te.peaches for supporting this work. Felicidades bailarines!! 💃🏼💃🏼

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Tucson, AZ
85715

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+15204811656

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