Audience Reviews >

AUDIENCE REVIEW: Where Heritage Meets Innovation: Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s "Sin Fronteras"

Company:
TABULA RASA DANCE THEATER

Performance Date:
June 20, 2025

Freeform Review:

Tabula Rasa Dance Theater at El Museo del Barrio
June 20, 2025

On June 20, Tabula Rasa Dance Theater presented Sin Fronteras – No Borders at El Museo del Barrio, offering an evening of dance that combined political urgency with breathtaking artistry. The program, comprised of Border of Lights and the world premiere Escaramuza, reflected Felipe Escalante’s vision of dance as both cultural memory and social provocation.

Border of Lights

Performed by eighteen dancers to Mozart’s Requiem, Border of Lights explored the peril and resilience of migration. The stage became a stark landscape evoking the desert crossings of North America. The integration of drones and projected imagery intensified the atmosphere, creating a haunting sense of surveillance, vulnerability, and endurance. Escalante’s use of technology did not overwhelm the dancing but sharpened its impact, immersing the audience in an environment where human struggle and political barriers collided.

Escaramuza

Escaramuza celebrated the female equestrian teams of Mexico through powerful, fast-paced choreography for ten women. In one of the evening’s most striking production choices, the company transformed the stage floor with real dirt, reimagining the theater as a bullring. Against the insistent rhythms of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto, the dancers moved with fiery precision, capturing both the tradition’s grace and its demanding physicality. The raw texture of the set, combined with the athleticism of the performers, gave the work a visceral intensity that was impossible to ignore.

Tabula Rasa Dance Theater continues to set itself apart in New York’s dance landscape with a commitment to the highest production standards. From lighting design and immersive soundscapes to innovative use of video, drones, and scenic transformation, every detail served the choreography’s emotional force. The stage became a shifting environment: a desert, a borderland, a bullring. The result was not just dance but total theater, an experience that enveloped audiences in sight, sound, and feeling.

What elevated the evening beyond its individual components was the company itself. The troupe looked remarkably strong together, a unified and formidable force onstage. Their collective power was the kind that can only be achieved through relentless commitment, discipline, and hard work. The cohesion of the ensemble amplified the message of both works, underscoring the urgency of Escalante’s vision.

The Sin Fronteras – No Borders program was an uncompromising evening of socially conscious performance. Border of Lights confronted the harsh realities of immigration with gravity and empathy, while Escaramuza radiated strength, tradition, and pride. Together, the works exemplified Felipe Escalante’s ability to fuse political resonance with choreographic innovation.

This was a program that affirmed Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s place as one of New York’s most vital and fearless companies, reminding audiences of the power of dance to illuminate both heritage and humanity.

Author:
Isabel Cruz

Website:
www.tabularasadancetheater.com

Photo Credit:
Photo: Brian Pollock