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What is a good place to learn how to dance in New York City?

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:58:00 -0800

What is a good place to learn how to dance in New York City? (Anon because I'm a weirdo and find this question very embarassing). I recently decided that I really like dancing, and mostly I don't do it more because I don't know how to do it well. Also, I think it would be fun to get better at it. I'm a guy. In my 20s. I'm single. I don't know what kind of dancing I want to learn how to do. All kinds? I'm not trying to meet girls or anything, but I also don't have anyone I can bring to a class or lessons. How does this work? I want to learn any kind of dancing people actually do in social situations, not like some crazy art dancing or tap dancing. So yeah, pretty broad, but I've only a vague ideal what I'm looking for: Social Dancing. Instruction. Solo students accomodated. In New York City. Thank you for your help.

Looking for a no-cover place to dance in NYC.

®@ — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:26:05 -0800

Looking for a good place to dance (with no cover) in NYC. My friend is coming down for the weekend and wants to go dancing in the city. Most clubs I've run across charge a cover, and I have no desire to blow $10-$20 on a random club that may or may not suck.

Anyone know good places with cover-free dancing in Manhattan?

We Can't Dance If We Want To (Yet)

blapst — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:03:14 -0800

WeddingDance Filter: Need recommendations for a place to take dance lessons in NYC. Bonus points if it's close or convenient to Park Slope. The lady and I are getting married. I like dancing, and can fake my way through ballroom and swing stuff. She's not a big dancer, and is very hard to lead (she always tried to guess where she'll be lead, and invariably guesses wrong). We need a good place to learn social ballroom basics. And as much as I'd love to learn salsa, mambo, or merengue, I guarantee our first song won't be in one of those styles, so no places that teach exclusively Latin dances.

Meeting Singles in NYC

wildrain2008 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:08:24 -0800

What is the Best NYC Locations to Meet Singles? I'm single 26, college educated guy, I have no issues or any strange body parts growing out places they shouldn't be. And yet still for the life of me I cannot find a date? All the clubs I used to hit when I was in college have turned to crap and I'm not really a bar person, but I do like lounges. It seems that every time I go to one club or another, most of the girls even worth looking at are there with their boyfriends. So what are good spots for SINGLES like myself in 2008?

My other question is, how does one approach a girl who's dancing next to you? I mean yes attractive model-looking guys have no problem just grinding up against these girls, but what about an average Joe like me?

Pole dancing class in New York City

mylittlehipster — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:15:44 -0800

I'm looking for a good pole dancing class in New York City. I'm not interested in "cardio striptease" or any other aerobics class with a sexy name. I want to learn how to do cool tricks on a stripper pole, and I'd like to start learning those tricks in the very first class. Any suggestions?

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

pithy comment — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:11:43 -0800

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.

Nerdy Dancing

kenoshakid — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 08:36:31 -0800

I'd like to stop being a total loser on the dancefloor. The problem here is that I've never been even remotely successful in a dancefloor situation. There seems to be this whole invisible language of practices and protocols that I don't understand and am not observing.

Here are some facts about me :

1) I'm a single caucasian male in my late 20s
2) I live in NYC, and visit bars and clubs here
3) I'm a non-drinker
4) I'm reasonably attractive
5) I'm a decent conversationalist

Here are some questions that may help me solve this problem :

1) How do you know when it's alright to start dancing with a girl? What if she's dancing with her friends? What's the best way to "jump in?"
2) If you're dancing with a group of people, is it a good idea to look at one specific girl while you're dancing, or is it best to divide your attention between different girls?
3) How do you know when a girl wants to stop dancing with you? If she stops dancing for a second and says something to one of her friends, is this your cue to go away?
4) Once you've been dancing with a girl for a while, what's the best way to inspire her to leave the dancefloor and start a conversation with you? Is it still customary to offer the girl a drink, or is that "cliche?"
5) Where can I go to learn how to dance? I think that I dance really badly. I don't want to learn how to tango or swingdance or anything like that - I just want to learn how to dance in a club situation. NOTE : I'm not interested in "grinding" or "freak dancing" or any of the stuff that looks like people screwing on the dancefloor. I hate that shit.

I'm generally not comfortable with the dancefloor environment. It's too loud and crowded, and you can't start a conversation with someone. However, I like to dance, and obviously I'd like to meet the ladies. I know that there are tons of books out there like "The Game" about picking up girls, but they always come off as a bit skeevy, and that really isn't my style. I see other guys being successful on the dancefloor, and I just want to know what they're doing that I'm not.

Swing Dancing in The Big Apple

Freen — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:21:03 -0800

I'm looking for a great place to go swing dancing in New York City. Met a girl, danced with her at a party, I'm smitten.

Does anybody know a great place to go on a date swing dancing in NYC?

Where to go dancing in Manhattan?

CiaoMela — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:28:31 -0800

I’d like to go dancing in Manhattan this Saturday night. The question is, where? A few requirements, in decreasing order of importance:
1. Music. This is the most important. I’d like to go to a venue where the DJ is more creative than just playing the top-40 hits of the last year. I particularly love to dance to soul, funk, and R&B, including older stuff. No techno/electronica.
2. Venue. I prefer small to big. I’m not interested in the 4-floor places with huge crowds. Bars with smallish dance floors are great.
3. Crowd/vibe. I’m not a hipster, but I’m not a B&T girl, either. Just a slightly nerdy 24-year-old who wants to get her groove on. Prefer laid back over glitzy.
4. Small or no cover. I’d pay, but it’ll be easier to get my friends to come along if this isn’t much of a concern.
5. Location doesn’t matter much, though I’d like to avoid the Meatpacking District. Extra points for East or West Village.

Specific venues would be greatly appreciated. Likely venues and DJs to look for would also be very helpful. I’d like to do this more than just once, so I’d greatly appreciate suggestions of resources for looking this up in the future. I tried sifting through TimeOutNY’s website, but I had a really hard time finding useful information. Suggestions for places that have live music and dance floors happily accepted, too. Thanks!

NYC Bars Similar To Orchard Bar

TheOnlyCoolTim — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 10:11:05 -0800

NYC bars similar to the closed Orchard Bar. My friends and I used to go there every once in a while, and don't know any similar place now that it's closed. What was in Orchard Bar? Basically, dancing and good, indie-ish music - they would play, say, The Arcade Fire and The Smiths as opposed to the shitty hip hop played in other places we know with dancing. Also, the drinks weren't hideously overpriced.

My friends and I are a group of guys who aren't that into dancing, but we will go out with girls who want to, and except for Orchard we would suffer listening to shitty, irritating music and drinking $7 shitty beer.

The same LES/E. Village area would be good.

Where are all the breakdancers?

Brian James — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:33:29 -0800

Where do all the breakdancing/bboying enthusiasts go in NYC? I'm talking about this kind of thing. (Google Video link) I figure there has to be a scene for this in NYC. Where do they all go? What clubs are associated with this? (I'm just interested in watching, not dancing myself--I'd break my neck if I tried that stuff).

NYC

Prospero — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:32:45 -0800

I'm planning on spending this coming weekend (February 20-22) in New York City. On the agenda is the MeFi meetup, of course, but some other time that weekend I'd also like to go dancing somewhere. Can anyone recommend a good club, or a DJ that's appearing somewhere? [more inside] I'd prefer something without a ridiculously expensive entry fee, and something where I won't have to wait outside for forty-five minutes to get into a club that's almost completely empty, while VIPs skip the line in the meantime. I don't have a musical preference--I'm open to suggestions, and anything with the semblance of a beat will do, as long as I know what I'm getting into.