Summer in New York City means making the outdoors your dance floor. Diverse music styles can be heard all over, from traditional rooftop bars to unexpected brunch spots and even a museum. Bring sunblock and your best moves to the best places to dance outdoors in New York City.
Nowadays bills its Mister Sunday party as being an event for septuagenarians, twentysomething club kids, toddlers and everyone in between. Each Sunday from 3pm to 9pm, all these groups and more head to the Bushwick-Ridgewood border for live DJ performances, food stands and a full bar. As a bonus, children and dogs are both welcome.
New York salsa fans should all know about Industry City, home to the best Latin American dance parties around. On designated Salsa Sundays and Wednesdays throughout the summer, Brooklyn’s mini-city hosts a live salsa band and dancing. Tip: bring the kids on Sundays (1pm to 6pm) when the event features family activities and a pop-up market, and fly solo on Wednesdays (6pm to 11pm) when drink specials include a free first drink.
Attending this long-running outdoor dance party at a museum is a rite of passage for New Yorkers. MoMA PS1’s Warm Up 2018 kept the tradition going with more than 75 acts across 10 Saturdays. As if dancing at a modern art museum wasn’t trippy enough, the Warm Up also hosted an installation by creative studio Dream The Combine, featuring large-scale, interactive mirrors.
Located atop The James Hotel in SoHo, JIMMY is an indoor-outdoor lounge offering 360-degree views of the Manhattan skyline. Come summertime, the space, which is inspired by classic pubs and ’70s New York City, opens into a rooftop pool deck, where dance parties are known to break out nightly.
FREEHOLD Brooklyn knows New Yorkers can’t dance on an empty stomach. That’s why the Williamsburg business combines brunch – featuring dishes such as the vegetarian Impossible Burger and cocktails such as the Bae(sic) and Hot Ex – with a dance party on its open-air floor. During the colder months, dancers take refuge on FREEHOLD’s enclosed, heated outdoor space.
The dance parties at this penthouse discotheque are as legendary as the club itself. Perched atop The Standard, High Line hotel, Le Bain is known for its glitzy clientele who choose the Meatpacking District destination for its plunge pool, crêperie and discerning door attendants. Experience them all, plus performances by world-famous DJs and a state-of-the-art sound system, from the rooftop dance floor.
Who would have thought New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center would host one of the summer’s buzziest dance party series? At Midsummer Night Swing, New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds rub elbows on the outdoor dance floor, where they dance to live salsa, honky-tonk and big-band music.