Lace Up Your Dance Shoes - New York's First Annual Dance Parade is Saturday

New York City is going to get an infusion of good juju tomorrow when the First Annual New York Dance Parade kicks off at 2 with 8,458 dancers, 157 dance organizations, 49 dance styles - and me.

It's a celebration of dance, and it's also a protest against the aggressive enforcement of Prohibition era "cabaret law" which bars three or more people from dancing in a venue without a special permit. The nasty law has reduced the number of dancing establishments in NYC from approximately 12,000 to approximately 200. We think the police ought to have better ways to spend their time.

Here's the story in Time Out. “We want to strengthen understanding of dance as a unique art form,” says parade director Greg Miller, “and honor its history in New York and throughout the world.”

So lace up your Swing shoes, or your Hip Hop, Salsa, tango, waltz, Charleston, disco, flamenco, funk, contra, belly dancing or tap shoes and dance with the floats, wacky vehicles and the best, and worst, dancers in the Big Apple. Or just come for the fun of it. We'll get you dancing.

Posted by B.L. Ochman

B.L.,

I'm with you all the way. Spending tax dollars to regulate the arts is offensive and wasteful, not to mention ignorant. I wish I could be there tomorrow, but my day is meeting intensive. Break a leg!