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)