A unanimous panel of the New York Appellate Division, 1st Department, Thursday upheld New York City’s scheme for regulating cabarets, which by definition offer social dancing.
Finding that social dancing, unlike dance performances, is not a form of artistic expression protected as free speech under either the state or federal constitutions, the panel in Festa v. New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, 108724/05, upheld a city scheme that uses both licensing and zoning measures to regulate cabarets.
