New York's cabaret licenses, an 82-year-old tradition that neighborhoods crack down on noise from the street, have been a tool for authorities to shut down bars and clubs for any excuse. Who needs probable cause for a drug raid when you have a report that a twentysomething was moving her hips too quickly?

Under the law, put on the books in 1926, a venue must have a cabaret license to permit three or more people to dance, even if music and liquor are allowed. Shockingly, only 181 venues carry these licenses.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg is looking for cabaret reform, so a little salsa, merengue, or simple grinding crotches cannot be cause for a bar to be shut down.

City Hall is looking to eliminate - or at least loosen - the cumbersome cabaret license so more bars and businesses can allow patrons to let loose, the Daily News has learned.

"We either want to eliminate the license or establish a different license so that it would be less onerous for people to engage in dancing," said a source close to the mayor. [...]

The administration is in talks with the Consumer Affairs Department, which issues the licenses, and the NYPD, which enforces them, to make the change.

It is also considering forming a task force to examine the issue.

"I'd be tickled if we could get reform on this. New York City is the only city in the world where there is a law that makes dancing illegal," said John McGarvey, a spokesman for Metropolis in Motion, a group fighting to change the law.

[NYDN]