The Politics of Dancing

Music, News

Dancing
Photo: Jennifer Pozner

The Daily News reports that City Hall is looking to make dancing legal in all New York City bars. My only question is, how will they stop all of the out of control sex that will occur if this ever happens?

City Hall is looking to eliminate - or at least loosen - the cumbersome cabaret license so more bars and businesses can allow patrons to let loose, the Daily News has learned.

“We either want to eliminate the license or establish a different license so that it would be less onerous for people to engage in dancing,” said a source close to the mayor.

The 82-year-old license “as it exists doesn’t offer a reasonable opportunity for New Yorkers to dance at clubs,” the City Hall source said. [NY Daily News]

Comments (0)

A (Not So) Private Dancer

Dance, Music Video

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

Every once in a while, a story in the New York Times makes me question my own self-proclaimed, “Pop Culture Specialist” status. Today’s article on dancing YouTube star Matt Harding, made me feel shame.

The title is not misleading. “Dancing” shows a guy dancing: a big, doughy-looking fellow in shorts and hiking boots performing an arm-swinging, knee-pumping step that could charitably be called goofy. It’s the kind of semi-ironic dance that boys do by themselves at junior high mixers when they’re too embarrassed to partner with actual girls.

The dancer is Matt Harding, the 31-year-old creator of the video, and with some New Agey-sounding music playing in the background, he turns up, grinning and bouncing, in 69 different locations, including India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu and the Nellis Airspace in Nevada, where he performs the dance in zero gravity. [NYTimes.com]

Sure, this guy’s good, but he’s no Gabe.

Comments (0)