Should I just crash a wedding, or is there somewhere else I can dance like that?

April 13, 2007 8:11 AM

I'd like to take my sweetheart dancing tonight in NYC. Not hip-hop or grinding, but something almost like a wedding reception - good classics for dancing, maybe some swing, maybe some rock and roll, maybe some country, maybe the twist - I definitely want to twirl her across the dance floor. We're not expert dancers we just want to go have some fun, and cheap-to-free is good too. We're coming from Astoria but anywhere in the city works for me. Pre-dancing dinner suggestions would be nice too.

I read these posts but they don't quite fit what I'm looking for. Swing 46 seems too expensive and touristy (is my guess), plus I don't want just swing.

posted by pithy comment to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

Search for Supper Clubs in the city. Or crash a wedding (joking!).
posted by necessitas at 8:22 AM on April 13, 2007

I can't give you NYC specifics, but look for country line dancing places. I frequent one here in San Diego, and while they do play mostly country music, it's country music you can do different dances to. There's a lot of two step, some swing, some waltzing, and some cha-cha-ing. I see people who are clearly dancers doing something different all the time (i.e. when most people are two stepping, they're in the middle of the floor not two stepping). Same thing during line dance songs -- there's almost always couples dancing at the edges.

Even when they switch to hip-hop later in the night, you get couples doing more traditional dancing as well as the bump-n-grind.

YMMV, of course.
posted by natabat at 9:37 AM on April 13, 2007

I have always found Black Betty to be a great place for easygoing dancing. Last time I was there they played Beastie Boys, old-school Michael Jackson, Motown, and 80's rock. The crowd was incredibly mixed, incredibly relaxed, and more importantly, dancing. It felt like a party at someone's house. Tons of great restaurants nearby too.

Although now that I think about it, I haven't been there in over a year, so YMMV.
posted by hermitosis at 9:48 AM on April 13, 2007

Not really answering your question since I don't know New York that well, but when I was in London I didn't like going to "dance clubs" either and had a blast going to salsa clubs. There must be some of those in New York. You wouldn't get that much variety of dances (just salsa and merengue), but they're both fun, pretty easy to learn, and the longer you do them the better you get.
posted by Deathalicious at 1:23 PM on April 13, 2007