by Rebecca Wolfson, News Reporter

City alders want to abolish a city law that requires a license to allow dancing in a restaurant or bar.

The New York City Cabaret Law, which requires an establishment to obtain a license to enable dancing on its premises, was originally designed to crack down on Prohibition-era speakeasies and Harlem jazz clubs. It meant to thwart the dangers of “wild, rhythmic movement” and “interracial dancing.” Lenny Bruce and Billie Holiday were both denied cabaret licenses in the 1920s.

Yet, the reasons for the current cabaret ordinance here in Madison, more than 80 years later, are a bit more ambiguous, and one city alder is hoping to repeal the ordinance outlawing dancing in bars that don’t hold a cabaret license.

The intention of the Madison ordinance was to stop a venue that calls itself a restaurant during the day from turning into a club at night, which brings up other issues such as underage-alcohol use, according to Ross Johnson, general manager of State Street Brats.

“There should be some kind of regulation,” Johnson said.

However, he said a ban on dancing without a license is a somewhat peculiar answer, and the ordinance seems to do very little to combat the problems of public safety involved in the bar and club scene.

An end to this ordinance has become a pet project of Ald. Austin King, District 8, who co-sponsors the ordinance with Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4. He has left his personal copy of “Footloose” in the City Council Office in City Hall and is encouraging other alders to watch the show.

“I’m hoping that Kevin Bacon’s infectious love of dance finds its way into my colleagues’ hearts,” King said. “Although Madison does not have an outright ban on dancing, the necessity of a bar obtaining a $250 cabaret license solely to allow dancing is as close as any city can come to a ban. Restaurant licenses, public dance-hall licenses and liquor licenses all address the important public-safety issues surrounding capacity, fire codes, hours of operation and other concerns. The cabaret license deals only with dancing.”

Ald. Tim Bruer, District 14, strongly disagrees, however, along with Madison police. They think that if dancing is widely allowed in restaurants they are more likely to attract a crowd and illegally become bars or nightclubs, according to Verveer.

Police have had such problems with Spices in the past, as well as Madison Masala.

“I expect vigorous debate in the coming months,” Verveer said.

Johnson said he feels the ordinance is outdated.

“I guess as a company we feel this is kind of silly, and now is an excellent time for the [Alcohol License Review Committee] to come up with a licensing idea on that,” Johnson said.

The ALRC is on the same page, according to some of its members.

“I think that dancing is not the behavior that we need to regulate,” said ALRC member Stephanie Rearick.

The City has issued fewer than 60 cabaret licenses for its more than 300 liquor licenses, according to a press release written by King.

“That so few liquor-license holders also have a cabaret license means that in more than four out of five bars, all forms of dance are illegal,” King said.

However, the rate of change is uncertain.

“Things don’t tend to happen very quickly in city government,” Rearick said. “We should review city ordinances and bring up to date ones that are antiquated.”

Enforcement of the law is also a vague subject.

“Police are pretty lax about enforcing it, but sometimes they do,” King said.

The ordinance to repeal the cabaret license is being co-sponsored by Council President Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Alds. Jean MacCubbin, District 11; Brian Benford, District 12; Brenda Konkel, District 2, and Robbie Webber, District 5.

“I have no idea who would oppose repealing this except maybe John Ashcroft,” King said.