Showtime is a type of performance

Litefeet Litefeet, also referred to as "getting lite," is a type of street dance/ vernacular dance that emerged from Harlem, New York in the early 2000s (was established in 2006) . The term comes from dancers dancing as though they have "light feet," or are ...

/ pole dancing done as a busking routine using hand holds installed inside New York City Subway cars. Showtime includes acrobatic flips, hat and shoe tricks, and pole tricks. Estimates have placed the number of Showtime dancers in the low hundreds. Litefeet, a type of dance that emerged from

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

and

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, succeeds

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

/ b-boying emerging in the 1980s. It is often done to 100- BPM tracks. Some

hip-hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in ...

rs on the subway have looked down on the common litefeet moves used by other buskers. In March 2014, New York City Police Commissioner

Bill Bratton William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016). He previously served as the Commissioner of th ...

announced that the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

would, under the

broken windows theory In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that po ...

philosophy, prosecute

quality of life crime Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

s against Showtime and subway dancers for breaking the MTA’s policy against performing and panhandling on the trains, citing that performances have been on the upswing since 2008. Performers have been arrested for reckless endangerment. In January 2015, the TA launched a publicity campaign, ''Courtesy Counts, Manners Make a Better Ride'', including the anti-Showtime slogan "Poles Are For Your Safety, Not Your Latest Routine", alongside other advertisements against

manspreading "Manspreading" or "man-sitting" is a pejorative neologism referring to the practice of men sitting in public transport with legs wide apart, thereby covering more than one seat.Cathy YoungManspreading'? But women hog subway space, too" ''Newsda ...

, "pole hogging", and public nail clipping. One collective, "WAFFLE (We are Family for Life Entertainment)", has been repeatedly profiled by media, including one of its members appearing on

Season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of '' America's Got Talent''.

References

External links

"New York dance subculture litefeet featured in new documentary."
February 3, 2015. Fact magazine.
"Litefeet: Sound of the Subway. A mini documentary about the litefeet music genre and dance style."
Viewing NYC (video).
"Litefeet the Last Dance."
Nowness Shorts (video). {{New York City Subway Street performance Dance in New York City New York City Subway Articles containing video clips