My New York: Dance Parade 2007

First it was supposed to be gloriously sunny and mild earlier in the week, then it was supposed to be rainy all day long. Luckily the rain held off for most of the day and the 1st annual New York Dance Parade was able to get off the ground a little after the announced 1pm starting time.

The deal: 157 dance organizations dancing in 57 different dance styles.

The goal: To shine a light on New York’s unfair cabaret law, which bars three or more people from dancing in a venue without a special permit; a law reinforced by one of our own current presidential candidates, Rudy Giuliani and his Nightclub Enforcement Task Force which clamped down on - gulp! - unlicensed dancing (where's Kevin Bacon when you need him?).

Seen: A cube, a biker bear, a couple of amused cigar-chomping contractors, 10-feet tall cops, colombian cock, los brasileiros, a cutie, another cutie, a cutie and another one. Oh, and Freedom Williams, formerly of C&C Music Factory and, of course, the legendary Danny Tenaglia!

We've got more photos here but, most importantly, we also got lotsa videos too! Including a carioca version of Danny Tenaglia's "Music is the Answer," those hottie cops I mentioned before, Freedom doing "Everybody Dance Now" despite some technical problems that plagued his performance (OMG, I think I can hear myself singing in that one) and his protege Alkebulan.

Best ones by far, Afro Mosaic Soul and the Dance Factory (see below for YouTube videos).

Other bloggers/photographers:

• Dance Parade (Gamma Blog)
• Dance Parade 2007 Hits New York City (Shadwa)
• Dance Parade (New York Daily Photo)
  
• Dance Parade Was Fun (The Click Heard Around the World)
• Gester waren wir bei der First Annual Dance Parade... (Janinalicious, isn't it)
  
• Dance Parade NYC 2007 (mycityofnewyork)
  
• Dance Parade 2007 (Dietrich's Flickr Photos)
• Dance Parade (Bee Man's Windows Live Photo Album)

Articles:

• Dance Party on Broadway, No Cabaret License Required (The New York Times)
• "New York can never take away the dance from us!" (Associated Press, May 19, 2007)
• Dance dance revolution (Time Out New York, May 17-23)

Political notes: Clinton hearts Latinos, Giuliani's early 5 de Mayo

Clinton's Raza man: Yesterday, Hillary Clinton tapped former National Council of La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre "to co-chair her presidential campaign and lead its outreach to Hispanic voters" according to the Associated Press.

Deemed the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the country, I'm not necessarily sure just what that means. Surely, La Raza has a history of beltway work and probably has a bigger name in the Southern and South West than elsewhere in the United States, but they have little brand recognition or political inroads in Northwestern or Northeastern states. The same, actually, might be said about presidential candidate Bill Richardson, which might speak more to why the Clinton camp hired Yzaguirre than anything else.

The anti-immigrant right has always tried to paint La Raza as an extremist threat to the United States and gone as far as mistaken it for the truly crazy California based newspaper La Voz de Aztlan. And I guess if you are truly anti-immigrant, La Raza could be seen that way, but on policy the agency has been pretty middle of the road and sometimes actually conservative, a legacy of Mr. Yzguirre's term as their president. I mean, La Raza was all goo-goo over Alberto Gonzalez when he was nominated to serve as Attorney General so if you are waiting for them to ask for his resignation (which they should as it would probably give La Raza some stature they sometimes lack) don't hold your breath.

But I digress, by then Yzaguirre had resigned as president. What sticks with me from his tenure, though, is the agency's lack of interest in working with Latino gay advocacy agencies or advocates on LGBT issues. If it wasn't for Martin Ornelas, then CEO of the National Latino LGBT Organization (LLEGO), La Raza would have probably avoided gay issues all together. As it was, they pretty much always passed the buck to LLEGO anyway. So, in some ways, a disappointing pick by Hillary.

Guiliani's 5 de Mayo comes early this year: In the meantime, at least La Raza has credibility and some legislative muscle on certain issues. The DC-based Latino Coalition, on the other hand, hasn't seen a Latino-pandering politician they don't like (whether it's George "macaca" Allen or the esteemed former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Sr., M.D.) or a press release distribution agency that they won't flood. So when it comes to the Coalition the less said the better?

Except that of all the presidential candidates they have invited to their annual 2-day Small Business Economic Summit in DC, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the first to confirm his attendance (he'll make an appearance on May 1st).

Among their stands, the Coalition supported the more draconian immigration bills surging through the nation's legislative bodies last year by lambasting the McCain-Kennedy bill as "polarizing" and criticized New York Senator Hillary Clinton last year for standing her ground in protecting HIV prevention funds for affected communities in the larger urban centers.

Surprisingly the Coalition ended up endorsing Clinton in her Senate re-election bid last year. In the past they have also endorsed IL State Senator Barack Obama. If Guiliani is the only one to show and pander, will he get the nod?

Do Republicans get a pass?

So a minor political dust storm was kicked earlier this week when both leading Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seemed to hesitate for a moment on whether homosexuality was "immoral" in the wake of General Peter Pace's comments to the Chicago Tribune.

Both Clinton and Obama quickly released statements (here and here, respectively) seeking to quell the rising sentiment that they were perhaps more concerned about losing potential votes from centrist Democrats or moderate Republicans.

But what about those leading Republican presidential candidates?

The Politico has asked the question to representatives from the top three Republican presidential candidates (McCain, Giuliani and Romney) and - guess what - they all dodge the question as well.

In the meantime, John McCain seems to have stumbled on a question he didn't like either. No, not just on the issue of "immorality" of homosexuality but on the use of condoms to stem the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

From the Washington Post's On the Campaign Trail blog:

And then someone asked about public funding for contraception in Africa to prevent the spread of AIDS.

"I'm sure I've taken a position on it in the past," he stammered as he looked to his communications director. "I'm sure I'm opposed to government funding."

Sensing a vulnerable moment, reporters kept the questions coming. What about sex education in the schools? Should it mention contraceptives? Or only abstinence, like President Bush wants?

"I think I support the president's present policy," he said, tentatively.

More questions: Do condoms stop sexually transmitted disease?

A long pause.

A stern look.

"I've never gotten into these issues or thought much about them," he said, almost crying uncle. "Obviously, we all want to stop the spread of AIDS. Everybody wants to do that. What's the most viable way of doing that?"

Well? The reporters asked?

In a last ditch attempt to rescue himself, McCain told an aide to go get a briefing paper prepared by Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a doctor, who he said has been advising him on "these issues." But the aide couldn't find the briefing paper. "We've lost it," McCain mumbled.

"Whether I support government funding for them or not, I don't know," McCain said about contraceptives. He then said he'd look into it for the reporters, who finally let him off the hook and moved onto other subjects again.

Yikes! This sure will be one looong presidential race...