A glimpse into CU Sabor’s annual fall showcase.

On November 23rd, Columbia University’s Latin dance troupe, Sabor, curated Un Verano en Nueva York as an exploration of how Latin diasporic histories shape New York City’s sound and movement. New York is often sold as a blank canvas, but Un Verano en Nueva York, which roughly translates to A Summer in New York, reminded me that the city is already saturated with history, memory, and the kind of longing you only understand when you live here. What struck me most about Sabor’s fall showcase was how it engaged with the city, as if New York were a living companion rather than a backdrop, its moods and stories woven into the movement. The show revealed the conceptual summer slowly, with each piece uncovering another layer that built this place long before most of us ever set foot in it.

Between each performance, the choreographers appeared on screen to share what their piece meant to them, what they hoped to highlight, the stories that shaped their movement, and the inspiration behind bringing these themes to life, making sure the audience understood how purposeful every part of the process was. 

The show opened with the title piece, “Un Verano En Nueva York” by Bad Bunny. It was a grand opening: loud, bright, and energetic. With the kind of song you hear in the street and can’t help moving along to, the choreography unfolded in a wave of lively colors and lighting cues. For a moment, the stage felt full, like the city on its best summer day, and it brought the song’s themes of community to life.

After that, “El Ausente” held a kind of distance that many recognized. It explored what it feels like to be physically far from yet still connected to home, a theme many students relate to. Watching the dancers move through that tension gave the piece a quiet, steady meaning that landed without needing to overstate anything.

Moving the show along, “Soledad y Mar” opened with women dressed in white moving in gentle, wave-like patterns. The choreography focused on calm shifts and controlled softness in order to evoke a reflective atmosphere. The piece’s beauty came from a stillness that echoed the song’s ocean imagery. The serene pacing and simple clarity invited the audience into a moment of contemplation as the choreographers highlighted stories passed down through women, experiences carried across generations, with the purpose of creating a reflection shaped by the women who came before.

The tone of the show snapped into drama with “Imitadora,” a fun bachata piece steeped in the Dominican cadence that is so present in the city. Dressed in black, the dancers carved out a story through partner work and tension, making the most out of every gesture and hip sway. At one point, a single silhouette of heels, a dress, and a posture sharp as a blade held the stage long enough to remind everyone how confidence is also a form of choreography. Its power shaped the performance before a single step landed. How the dancers carried themselves, how they held a pause, how they decided what deserved emphasis, organized the entire piece’s rhythm and tone as surely as the music itself did.

And then the showcase broke itself open.

“MELT ICE” was a piece that didn’t try to soften its message. The lights cut out, the room went quiet, and a screen showed a short story of a student texting a parent only to learn they’d been deported. When the dancers returned in shirts spray-painted with the words “FUCK ICE,” moving to techno-cumbia with a Mexican flag in the background, the piece boldly and clearly protested against the violence of immigration enforcement; a statement about loss, fear, and the systems that fracture families. It tugged at the audience’s attention and emotions, especially with families in the crowd, and confronted a defining part of New York’s identity: its immigrant communities.

Another highlight from the second half of the show was the banda piece. “De Esta Tierra,” the first banda piece in Sabor’s history, grounded the room once more in lively movement shaped by the Mexican genre, with red, denim, and countryside attire meeting urban pride. Then “Konpa Meets Soca”, a piece rooted in its Caribbean genres, arrived with the easy confidence of a New York summer block party, weaving Afro-Caribbean and Latin rhythms into a rich, textured cultural tapestry, a true melting pot of movement and sound that celebrated diversity and fusion while capturing the city at its authentic core, vibrant and free.

Before closing, the team highlighted Relevé, which is the program the showcase helps fund. It is run by Sabor and brings around 20 low-income BIPOC high school students from across the city to campus for a weekend of workshops, dance, and college access support. It’s designed to bridge the gap between Columbia and the greater NYC community, giving students a first-hand look at campus life while creating space for them to explore dance, admissions, and the neighborhoods surrounding Morningside Heights, reminding us that art moves resources, too. 

By the end of the night, Un Verano en Nueva York felt like not just a dance performance, but an argument about belonging. Sabor let the city unfold in its distance, its anger, its music, and its softness. Ultimately, the two-hour show was sincere and rich in culture and creativity as it explored all facets of a city built by the people who arrived here determined to carve out joy, safety, and community in a place that can be both harsh and generous.

Sabor via Bwogger