Nonstop Bodies: How Dance Shaped New York City
May 5, 2026
A sweeping cultural history of the dancing that defined New York City
Throughout the twentieth century, in theaters, ballrooms, and nightclubs, dancers blazed trails of resistance and revolution. From the exuberant endurance of dance marathons during Prohibition to the militant precision of the Rockettes through WWII and the strait-laced fifties; from the aloof abstraction of the Judson Dance Theater to the explosive energy of hip hop in the South Bronx; from the elated mingling of discos to the commercialized physicality of Broadway, dance was both a reflection of culture and a backbone for social change. In charting the stories and interconnected histories of these different dances, Nonstop Bodies: How Dance Shaped New York City reveals how each was fundamentally shaped by the social and historical forces of the time, as movements rumbling through the rest of the country came to a head in the singular density and diversity of New York City.