Mayor Bloomberg wants to give more New Yorkers a chance to dance.

Dance 'til you drop - after Bloomberg repeals bizarre cabaret law

According to 1926 New York City cabaret law on the books two's company, three's a crime on dance floors of unlicensed clubs.

Mayor Bloomberg wants to give more New Yorkers a chance to dance.

City Hall is looking to eliminate - or at least loosen - the cumbersome cabaret license so more bars and businesses can allow patrons to let loose, the Daily News has learned.

"We either want to eliminate the license or establish a different license so that it would be less onerous for people to engage in dancing," said a source close to the mayor.

The 82-year-old license "as it exists doesn't offer a reasonable opportunity for New Yorkers to dance at clubs," the City Hall source said.

The administration is in talks with the Consumer Affairs Department, which issues the licenses, and the NYPD, which enforces them, to make the change.

It is also considering forming a task force to examine the issue.

"I'd be tickled if we could get reform on this. New York City is the only city in the world where there is a law that makes dancing illegal," said John McGarvey, a spokesman for Metropolis in Motion, a group fighting to change the law.

As the 1926 law stands, three or more people can't dance unless a bar or restaurant has a cabaret license - even if music and liquor are allowed.

There are 181 licensed cabarets in New York, according to Consumer Affairs, and most are limited to techno-thumping clubs in Manhattan.

During former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's quality-of-life campaign in 1997, police cracked down on venues without a cabaret license and the law became a quick way to shut down out-of-control nightclubs.

But dancers have long complained the license process squeezes out small venues that might offer swing and salsa and even sued the city last year to reverse its Prohibition-era ban on social dancing.

A court upheld the city's right to dole out cabaret licenses, which the city argued was necessary to protect neighbors from noise and rowdiness.

The official said the city's new noise code would prevent bars from abusing a dance license and building codes that limit the amount of people in the facilities.

"This is not something we are going to ignore," the source said.

[NY Daily News]