Famed Navajo and Puerto Rican ballet dancer Jock Soto will give a talk in Santa Fe on Saturday which is sponsored by the International Museum of Dance and ChromaDiverse about his impact on the world of ballet. KUNM spoke with Soto on how his passion for dance first started when he saw Edward Villella on the Ed Sullivan Show.
JOCK SOTO: He was such an inspiring dancer, and so masculine, and I just fell in love with that sort of inspiration, and that's when I thought, “this is what I need to do.” I had been doing hoop dancing with my mother since I was three, and then when I saw that on television, it just amazed me. I thought, “this is what I need to do.” And for me, being not one of those typical, a typical dancer bodies, you know, because I am 5’10 and I had thick thighs and I had a Navajo body. It was just not something that I thought would happen for me. And when I moved to New York City, I don't believe that they thought it was for me, either, but it became to be something more than I thought it was going to be. So, you know, after 38 years of living in New York City, I think I did pretty good,
KUNM: How important was it to represent your Indigenous culture while you were dancing?
SOTO: Well, my mother, she was Navajo, and my dad was Puerto Rican, and the thing was that I didn't feel that that had any importance at the time, until people started writing about me and it was very interesting, because I thought, “okay, so how should I represent myself?” It was just doing what I did every day and learning and dancing and doing everything that I did, you know, to become this person. And I think that in response to that, my mother was very, very influential, and she was very, very important to me. And I just thought, I have to do what she told me to keep up with. I didn't think I was going to become who I am today, and I'm very grateful for everything that she taught me.
KUNM: I'm curious to know when you were starting and as you continued throughout your career, did you see other Indigenous dancers? Do you see that there's possibly more now?
SOTO: There's one. I'm going to give a scholarship on Saturday night to this one boy, Chippewa dancer, who's 10 years old, and that's going to be the first Jock Soto scholarship. So no, I haven't, I haven't seen anyone. I tried, whenever I was auditioning people for New York City, no one showed up. And I thought, “okay, this is kind of weird, because how could it be 38 years without seeing a Native dancer come to New York or to do auditions or anything like that”, and this one boy were giving away the scholarship to on Saturday, that's the first time I've seen it in a long, long time.
KUNM: How important is it to create that and to be a mentor to this young boy?
SOTO: I've never considered myself being this kind of person, but what I wanted to always do in my mother's tradition is teach younger dancers and continue what I've learned. And I think that that's one thing that's very important to me, because we grew up in an RV, we lived in a trailer, and my parents did everything they could to help me with my career. And I think that if I could do that for somebody, that's what I'm here for.
KUNM: When we're talking about your career, when you look back, what has been your greatest career achievement?
SOTO: Well, getting into the New York City Ballet, that was my greatest achievement at the age of 16, that was the best thing that ever happened in my entire life.
KUNM: And how did that feel, that moment?
SOTO: Oh, my God. Can you imagine? It was amazing. It was amazing because I called my mother that night at the age of 16, when I got hired by George Balanchine. She was like, “what?” And I was like, “I have no idea what's happening, but this is going to be my life for forever.” And it lasted till I was 40.
KUNM: What advice would you give to the next generation of aspiring Native dancers?
SOTO: Go with your dreams. It's something that I always carry it on with me. Every time I stepped on stage, I would cross myself, and I'd say, “this is what I've been made to do, and this is how I can continue this generation.” And that's what I want young dancers to know. Everything that you do, every step you take, which is the name of my book, is what you have to aspire to do. And you have to continue to teach that to the next generation.
You can find tickets to An Evening with Jock Soto here, the event will be on Saturday August 23, 2025 at 6pm at the Lensic in Santa Fe, NM.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation and listeners like you.
