CHILDREN'S MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BRINGS SANTA FE'S PAST INTO COLORFUL PERSPECTIVE; ATTUNED TO HISTORY.

Byline: ANA MARIA TRUJILLO

Santa Fe's 400th anniversary kicks off next weekend, and you won't find a better way to start it off than to see a musical performance featuring songs about Santa Fe's history.

Dolores Valdez de Pong, a second-grade teacher at Carlos Gilbert Elementary School, is bringing the city some of her original pieces. They will be sung by 25 Santa Fe children ages

7 through 11 Saturday at Fort Marcy Park in a production titled 400 Years of Santa Fe History.

"We're going to tell some of Santa Fe's history through song and narration," Valdez de Pong said.

Last Monday evening, just as the rain stopped pouring and the sun began to peek through the clouds, several children dressed as Spanish conquistadors, Native American princesses, Mexican soldiers and cigarette-smoking gamblers began to flood the courtyard at Valdez de Pong's Santa Fe home. Some parents snapped photos of their children in full costume while others fixed the mantillas atop their daughters' heads.

Alexis Vigil, 9, walked out of the makeshift dressing room wearing a burgundy dress with a heavy shawl and a very realistic -- but fake -- cigarette to rehearse for her role as Dona Tules, or Maria Gertrudis Barcelo, who became one of Santa Fe's powerful figures after opening a gambling saloon in what used to be The Palace Restaurant.

"She's really a very famous poker dealer," Alexis said. "She was very rich and everybody didn't like her because she was really filthy rich."

Alexis has been looking forward to this production because she's familiar with Valdez de Pong's original music. Alexis was in Valdez de Pong's second-grade class, and as a third-grader, liked to visit with her former teacher during lunch.

"I like that we all are on the stage and we're all doing it and all the costumes," Alexis said.

When Maximino Manzanares, 9, walked in, everybody was in awe of his beautiful costume for his part as Don Diego De Vargas, complete with a black Spanish-style hat with feathers. The costume was made by his mother, Andie Manzanares.

"I cut his black pants," Andie Manzanares explained as she pointed to what now are calf-length pants with gold trim.

Teaching moments

Parent Patricia Esquibel, whose daughter Amelia Esquibel, 7, is singing in the production, loves that her daughter is learning new things.

"It's wonderful," Esquibel said. "It's a great way to teach them. It's fun an interactive and very engaging. They get to have fun and play dress up."

Not only did the children learn valuable historical lessons, but added to their Spanish vocabulary -- most of the songs are in Spanish.

"Many of the children who are singing are not Spanish-speaking," Valdez de Pong said. "I work with them to learn what the songs mean and what they are singing."

"I learned that Don Diego De Vargas will always be remembered for making the Fiestas," Maximino said.

Amelia Benavidez, 8, said she's learned a lot.

"I learned a lot of new Spanish words I didn't know before," Amelia said. Rosemary Trujillo-Benavidez said Amelia is her third child to have Valdez de Pong as a teacher and loves that all of her children have learned a bit about New Mexico history in a fun way.

"As far as the history goes, she does teach them a lot about Northern New Mexico history, which is not standard in the curriculum for the public schools," Trujillo-Benavidez said. "It's an opportunity that a lot of them don't have."

Catchy tunes

During her years as a teacher, the talented Valdez de Pong has utilized all of her skills to teach her students Northern New Mexico history. Valdez de Pong is from the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado, which has similar roots to Northern New Mexico. She's been writing music and books about the history of this area for several years, so she figured a few of her tunes would be perfect for the 400th anniversary commemoration.

Each song tells a story, Valdez de Pong said. The song titled "Gertrudis Barcelo" is the story of Dona Tules, who owned a saloon where card games were played with the Spanish deck, not the common French deck of today.

Dona Tules came from Mexico in the 1800s, Valdez de Pong explained, and became so wealthy that she gave Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy money to help build St. Francis Cathedral.

During the children's program, most every part of Santa Fe's history is covered -- from before the Spanish came and conquered the area to rule under Spain, Mexico and eventually the United States. In addition to that, there is a song about the Chili Line, a train which ran from Santa Fe to Antonito, Colo., called "El Trenecito."

Harsh Bhundiya, 10, loves music and said his favorite of Valdez de Pong's featured songs is "Este Lugar" which talks about how the site for Santa Fe was chosen.

"It has a cool melody," Harsh said.

Maximino and his friend Genevieve Malecbarrera, 9, said their favorite story is the one featured in the song "Julia Staab," which tells the story of the famous ghost that is said to haunt La Posada. According to Maximino, the ghost is very real.

"It's awesome," Maximino said. "Me and my friend actually saw her."

No matter which song is their favorite, the kids are looking forward to performing.

"It will be a great experience to be in this play," Maximino said.

"I think it's going to be really fun," Genevieve said.

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or [e-mail].