[bright music]

(Describer) KQED.

[speaking in foreign language]

(Raven) Welcome to Albuquerque on occupied Tewa lands. My name's Raven. My name is Anne. We're gonna show you around a few of our favorite spots to dance.

[lively music]

(Raven) Our dance, it's a mixture between indigenous cultures and hip-hop culture. People don't know that those two things are so closely intermingled together.

[energetic music]

(Describer) They move their arms gracefully in intricate patterns. If Cities Could Dance: Our history, our culture, our moves. Albuquerque. Native American Hip Hop and Freestyle. The couple dance on adobe rooftops.

[lively music]

[rhythmic music]

(Anne) Albuquerque is collecting point for rural people all over New Mexico.

[rhythmic music]

(Describer) He seems to move her to him with an invisible thread.

People from different tribes, different pueblos, different cultural backgrounds. And part of what's special is the hip-hop community.

(Describer) In the El Rey theater. Breakin’ Hearts – features breakdancers.

[energetic music]

We are at Breaking Hearts 2020. Make some noise!

(Raven) My dance crew is Foundations of Freedom. Founded in the early 2000s by Randy L. Barton, Cloud Face, and I think a couple other OGs.

(Describer) The DJs pose for the camera.

(Randy) Foundations of Freedom started around 2001, and it's a collective of many crews from New Mexico and Arizona, from border towns. Hip hop is built from oppression. We deal with racism like really, really bad, you know? All you're really seeing is the energy from oppression exploding. I'd rather explode than implode, 'cause if you implode, that's suicide.

[energetic music]

(Anne) I am Jicarilla Apache. I was traditionally raised on a reservation. My culture is intrinsically connected to dance. You're encouraged to get out there and move. I started powwow dancing as a young girl. I have a strong connection to my land, strong connection to my people, and a strong connection to my culture.

[energetic music]

(Describer) She performs on top of cliffs above the desert. She dances with Raven.

We connected at a jam and the excitement that I felt, the spark of creativity hit something so deep within me.

(Raven) We are able to talk without using words. We keep pushing each other to go farther or--

(Anne) Lifting each other up.

(Raven) We lift each other up.

[energetic music]

(Anne) As a dancer, I listen. That's a big part of being indigenous, is being open to the story of the world around you.

(Raven) I come from Gallup, New Mexico. I'm half Dine. I'm claimed by Dibelzhini Black Sheep Clan, and I'm also German as well. That comes from my mother's side. Being a part of hip-hop culture helped me connect those worlds together and reconnect with my indigenous roots.

(Describer) Accessibiliy provided by the US Department of Education.

[rhythmic music]

(Anne) [Foreign word] speaks for you to be

the most that you can be within the dance space, so I allow myself to go to these crazy, almost spiritual places when I dance. [bells beating, rhythmic tones] Randy is something of an icon in Southwest hip-hop culture because he's honoring the ancient, the ancestors, while embodying the future.

(Raven) Like Sacred Cipher, for one of the events that he's created.

[rhythmic drums]

Get this party started!

[chanting]

(Raven) Sacred Cipher, it had all the original elements of hip hop. Growing up, you know, all our ceremonies involved a drum, chanting.

[chanting continues]

The DJ is the drumming; the MCing is the chanting; the graffiti art is the petroglyphs; and the dancing--you know, never trust a spiritual leader who cannot dance.

[chanting continues]

We're all energetically connected, and that's where our idea of community comes from.

[chanting continues]

[rhythmic drumming]

That's what I love about hip hop-- everything's alive. You take it to the floor. These things that hold you down don't hold you down anymore. You know, it's like-- that's why you see the angry spirit fighting back 'cause it's fighting to get free.

[techno rhythmic beat playing]

(Raven) Hey guys, thanks for watching the video. There's more "If Cities Could Dance" videos. Click to the left to check them out. [high-pitched trilling and rhythmic beat continue] Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.