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When My Hair Was Brown: Making a Dance Documentary 01/15/12

If I had known it would take so long I never would have started. But no first-time documentary would be started if producers were sensible. Making a documentary is not about being sensible. It’s about being obsessed. In 1976, when I started writing about club dancing,...

1842 Clubs 06/01/11

Davy Crockett’s supposed autobiography (it was probably ghost written), An Account of Colonel Crockett’s Tour to the North and Down East, offers a lively description of an 1835 dance hall in New York City’s colorful ghetto of poverty, The Five Points -- now situated near the city and...

Dancing: Improvisation 07/10/10

What keeps the floor alive and dancers alert are the improvised dialogues of movement that define the vibe. Interactions arise then disappear throughout the evening. They can be as simple as an exchange between the music and a dancer or maybe just two people dancing or as big and rambunctious...

House Clubs and Househeads 07/01/10

In a city that has instigated hostile laws to control the actual clubs, Underground clubs are defined more by what takes place inside. Underground clubs (as the name suggests) seek to stay under the radar. If someone wants to find the best club party, they have to actively seek information about...

Basics: Dance 04/17/95

“Dancing,” says Brahms La Fortune, architect and clubhead, “is like breathing. First you breathe, then you dance.” Movement is fundamental for all of us. Without it, we die. If movement is the body’s survival tool, it is also the soul’s salvation.

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