the New York City Cabaret Law has prohibited dancing in all spaces open to the public that sell food and/or drink with the exception of those who obtain a cabaret license. This law was still enforced until it was repealed in 2017.
The New York City Cabaret Law was passed in 1926, during the Harlem Renaissance. An attorney and professor challenging the cabaret law wrote that the law originally targeted jazz clubs in Harlem and the social mixing of races
