Underground war has been waged in NYC this summer. Aboveground, the NYPD has cut back on racial profiling; yet down in the subway system the police have been targeting the greatest of threats to public security…dancers. Yeah, it seems silly to me too. Also, anyone who doesn’t see that the subway performer crackdown is just another form of racial profiling is delusional—for nearly all of the dancers are black teenage males. This issue has been in the news all summer, and I was thrilled that last Sunday NY Times dance critic Gia Kourlas wrote an article defending the poor dancers. Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t problems with the subway dance performances—it’s true that sometimes the dancers back-flip onto an unsuspecting passenger’s lap when the train lurches—but to arrest young kids (many of whom are quite gifted) in the middle of exuberant dance passages does not seem to me like the best use of the city’s hardworking cops.
Admittedly, I am not always enthused by the subway dancers during my daily commute between Brooklyn and Lincoln Center. But sometimes when I see a talented group on my way to work they remind me of how much fun dancing can be and I’m inspired to go to class or rehearsal. And the dancers always make me conscious of how lucky I am to be able to earn my living by dancing. I’m often blown away by the technical aspects of their work—some of the “untrained” train dancers
Admittedly, I am not always enthused by the subway dancers during my daily commute between Brooklyn and Lincoln Center. But sometimes when I see a talented group on my way to work they remind me of how much fun dancing can be and I’m inspired to go to class or rehearsal. And the dancers always make me conscious of how lucky I am to be able to earn my living by dancing. I’m often blown away by the technical aspects of their work—some of the “untrained” train dancers
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