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New York legalises dancing after 91-year ban

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By Robert Hackwill
New York legalises dancing after 91-year ban

One might associate New York city with ideas like “the city that never sleeps” or “nightlife capital of the world”, but in fact the city is about to allow dancing in bars for the first time since 1926.


The “cabaret” law as it is known has stood for almost a century, outlawing social dancing by three people or more in a public hostelry. The law was blasted by Billie Holliday, railed
at by Ray Charles, and satirised by Sinatra to no avail, and could be cited at a whim of city authorities or the police.


Yet New York still supplied joints like the Cotton Club or Studio 54 and disco erupted from here, so the law was unfairly cracking down on smaller establishments . Now the main threat to clubs is gentrification and impossible
Manhattan rents, but no longer will bartenders have to flash the lights or cut the sound on carousers.