Map: Where Is It Legal To Dance In Brooklyn? Almost Nowhere

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — There are just two venues in Williamsburg where it is legal to dance, three in Bushwick and none in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to a new map from the activists fighting New York City’s “Footloose” law.

The NYC Artist Coalition has released a map of every venue within the five boroughs that possesses a Cabaret Law license — which is a requirement for any bar, nightclub or music hall that intends to host dancing — using data from the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, the organization announced Monday.

In Williamsburg, it is illegal to dance in any venues that isn’t the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Bedford Avenue or Rough Trade NYC, which are both licensed, according to the map.

Bushwick boasts more than any other neighborhood in northern Brooklyn with three legal dance spots — Bushwick A/V on Vandervoort Avenue, a strip club called Pumps on Grand Street, and Mama Bella’s Restaurant on Bushwick Avenue, the map shows.

Northern Brooklyn holds 20 percent of the licenses granted in Brooklyn — which has only fifteen, the map shows, and there are just 88 venues with licenses in all of New York City.

The anti-Cabaret Law activists — NYC Artists Coalition, Dance Liberation Network and Councilman Rafael Espinal — are lobbying City Council to repeal the license requirement, which makes dancing illegal in any venue that serves food or drink and is not charted on the map.

Activists believe the Cabaret Law was created “with racist and discriminatory intent” to prevent business owners of color from opening clubs at the height of the city's Jazz Age, according to an NYC Artist Coalition statement.

To further their cause, the coalition will host a panel discussion Tuesday at Muchmore’s at 2 Havemeyer Street (where it will not be legal to dance) from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., organizers announced on Facebook.

View the entire map of New York City’s licenced dance venues here.

Image via NYC Artists Coalition