Ask Margaret Mullin, artistic director of Ballet Tucson, to describe the desert and she will say words like gritty and rooted strength but also beautiful.
These are words she is using to create a new ballet called “Desert Dweller” that will debut on Friday, Feb. 27, at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Avenue.
The desert is not something dancers are generally asked to interpret.
“It’s a very abstract piece,” she said. “A lot of the movement is very grounded and temporary, It definitely pushes the dancers a lot. It’s quite athletic. That’s the strength component. There’s a lot of rigor in it.”
It’s a part of Tucson Ballet’s coming performance, Desert Voices, which opens the 2026 season for the company. The show actually consists of three different pieces. The performance opens with “Un-A’frayed Edges,” by Kiyon Ross. This is followed by Mullin’s Desert Dweller and for the finale the return of Chieko Imada’s Himiko. Tucson audiences have seen this piece before but according to Mullin it is always welcomed. “Himiko” blends ballet and traditional Japanese dance. It tells the story of Queen Himiko as a tribute to the human spirit, honor, and resilience. The music, by Yusuke Nakanishi, will be performed live by the ensemble Duo Chinoiserie and Soprano Erika Burkhart.
When creating “Desert Dweller,” Mullin was inspired by the Sonoran Desert.
“I intended it to be a really uplifting celebration of the natural beauty of our region,” she said.
Accompanying the dance will be two other important elements.
The dancers will perform to live guitar music performed by Misael Barraza-Diaz. A Mexican guitarist who has won ten international competitions in classical guitar, as well as more than 30 regional and national guitar contests, he has a DMA in guitar performance from the UA and two masters’ degrees in classical guitar. He also plays flamenco guitar.
“The music is so layered and it’s so intricate, beautiful, really, really beautiful,” Mullin said. “We were already working with him on another project and I liked his own original compositions. I wanted to work with him again.”
He will actually be onstage with the dancers, something the dancers like, Mullin said
“Every time you get to perform with live music there’s such an energy to it, especially when it’s right next to you,” she added. “That’s a really cool feeling. You hear the resonance of the instruments in a different way when it’s literally next to you.”
Then, too, photos of desert flowers taken by Carlos Chavez at Tohono Chul will be projected across a screen, creating a backdrop but enhancing the idea of the beauty of the desert.
“We went to the gardens in the springtime last year and took a bunch of photos,” she said. “Everything was blooming, all the cactus flowers and (so we’re) just trying to show the contrast of movement of the athleticism and the intensity and grounded strength but also this occasional lightness and beautiful flow. … It’s an abstract piece but it’s a physical blend of those things.”
There are some literal interpretations. Dancer Sebastian Martinez has a solo where he moves like a desert dweller.
“In my mind he’s just kind of like a lizard, dancing around the desert,” Mullin said. “He does a lot of things upside down and (has) slinky movements here and there.”
In addition, look for touches of Latin ballroom steps and Flamenco dancing.
The cast consists of 10 women and four men and because a couple of the performances that take place on the same day, there are two casts.
In many ways, Mullin likens the work to what Tucson is all about.
“I think it’s just a great celebration of the beauty of our region,” she said. “It’s abstract work but there’s so much Tucson represented in it, Sonoran beauty represented in it.”