May 11 was a day to dance on Broadway, making dreams come true for over 10,000 dancers in the 13th annual NYC Dance Parade and Festival. I first saw this parade in 2018, and it was very sad because it rained that day and all the dancers were wearing plastic ponchos over their glorious costumes. Luckily, the sun shone brilliantly this year, and the dancers’ costumes were fully visible in all their splendor.
The parade this year featured over 100 styles of dancing. It was founded to protest the NYC Cabaret Laws that prohibited dancing in night clubs. I’ve seen the sign that says “No Dancing” at the famous cabaret club Don’t Tell Mama. I’ve also been in Red Rooster in Harlem and was so surprised that there was only space for about 4 people to dance surreptitiously in the corner. Thanks to the work of this Dance Parade and a lot of political activism, the 91-year-old Cabaret Law was overturned in 2017. But jazz clubs in New York are still behind the times. People just don’t dance! In contrast to jazz clubs in Paris and London, where the dance floor is packed.
Luckily the Dance Parade is here to keep historical dances alive, like Armenian Folk dancing and Bolivian Caporales, and showcases new dance forms like Litefeet, Waacking, and Brazillian Zouk. Dancers prepared their final touches in the staging area on East 21 Street. The dancing began at Broadway and East 20th Street, just below Madison Square, and the fleet-footed dancers flounced down Broadway to Union Square, before skipping east at 8th Avenue and culminating at a party and festival at Tompkins Square Park.
It has been a dream of mine to dance in the parade. I’ve been studying dance at the Joffrey Ballet School, and attend classes 6 times a week at Barre3. I’ve also taken dance lessons in many different styles (ballroom, salsa, swing, flamenco, and more) for my whole life, since I took my first disco classes in 1979! So I was more than ready to strut my stuff. I tried to get a dance group together, but couldn’t drum up a few friends to sashay with me, so I joined the parade as an individual dancer and teamed up with the awesome House of Yes folks, dancing with their float.
House of Yes had one of the most amazing floats in the parade, with a pole dancer spiralling continuously and two aerial acrobats spinning on hoops suspended from the back of the truck. The costume theme was color and glitter, in honor of this year’s huge Pride Parade coming up in June, so I dressed as a butterfly. I felt like I was flying and fluttering above the pavement as we paraded down Broadway. There was a slight glitch when the float reached Union Square, as the float was too wide to clear the street light standard. After much backing up and inching forward, the crew had to remove one of the struts for the aerial hoops in order to get by the tight corner. Dancers gamely continued dancing around the float until we could resume the parade.
It was a magical day to remember for the rest of my life. Another New York dream coming true. I’m definitely up for next year’s parade!