Dance Parade and Festival

About this happenin

Dance Parade fills a Saturday in May with about 10,000 dancers in more than 100 styles, moving down Sixth Avenue from West 17th Street, across Eighth Street and on to Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. The nonprofit behind it was founded after a 2006 court ruling upheld the 1926 Cabaret Law and denied that social dancing counts as expression. The law was repealed in 2017. At Astor Place, each group stops to dance for 40 seconds in front of the grandstand while an emcee announces it. Grandstand seats are ticketed and help pay for the production. The parade is free to watch. After it comes DanceFest in the park, with five stages and free dance lessons. Site-specific dances turn up as you stroll.

More in May: 10 other New York events.

Where

Sixth Avenue at West 17th Street to Tompkins Square Park · Sixth Avenue at West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011