Danceteria
Overview
Multi-floor club associated with new wave, early hip-hop, and the downtown art-music crossover.
Danceteria stacked different worlds on different floors — live new wave, video art, and early hip-hop among them — and is often cited within the downtown crossover scene. Its first, unlicensed location at 252 West 37th Street (1979–80) was shut by city authorities; the best-known incarnation was the four-floor space at 30 West 21st Street (1982–86), which appeared in the film Desperately Seeking Susan. Rising rents closed it in 1986.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
Placeholder plates — cleared scans drop in here
Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Mark Kamins
Danceteria resident and producer of the downtown crossover era
Rudolf Piper
Promoter
Jim Fouratt
Promoter
Anita Sarko
DJ
Follow a name to see other rooms they connect to