Bar flies footloose & defiant

Bid to nix ‘no dance’ law

A group of young people are kicking off their Sunday shoes — and stomping on city bureaucrats’ 90-yearold ban on dancing in bars.

Members of the newly created Dance Liberation Network are battling, “Footloose”-style, for their right to cut loose — by rescinding the city law that bans busting a move in an establishment that doesn’t have a cabaret license.

“New Yorkers are never going to stop dancing,” declared Adam Snead (inset), a group organizer who helped draft a petition against the law that has racked up nearly 3,000 signatures in two weeks. “Most people agree this law is ridiculous and needs to go.”

The law was enacted in 1926 during Prohibition, and outlaws dancing in groups of three or more in “any room, place or space in the city” where there is “musical entertainment, singing, dancing or other forms of amusement.”

Snead, 33, a Bushwick music-venue manager, and fellow activists say their movement was triggered by the tragic fire that killed 36 people in a California artists’ warehouse during a dance party in December. They believe the cabaret law stifles small independent dance and music venues, forcing them to go underground and use dangerous spaces.

But some community leaders see the value of a wellenforced cabaret law, because it ensures that dance clubs do have firesafety and noise-abatement measures in place, and allows the authorities to keep tabs on nuisance bars.

“If a venue is coming to us requesting a cabaret license, there’s an expectation they will have a security plan, traffic analysis and a plan to reduce noise,” said Brooklyn Community Board 1 member Rob Solano. “You’ll have people in the street that normally would not be there and we should know how the venue’s going to handle them.”