John Festa's SPEAKEASY

Lynn Heyden & Ben Pollak

JOHN FESTA is to west coast swing what Frank Sinatra was to COOL!

Saturday nite, (July 25), the Festa Ratpack flocked to a secret location in the Chelsea section of Manhattan for an ultra-hip night of club scene style dancing.

The place is a private party room hidden under a popular restaurant on 7th Avenue. We needed to pay up before receiving the address.

JOHN's latest dance venue reincarnation made people come out of the woodwork!

There were time-travelers from North River Bar. (Check out Kevin & Judith.)

And a royal visit by the once and always NYC King & Queen of Country. 

John Knapp (pictured here with one of the event guests) & Meredith Stead used to have a dance studio in Manhattan called: Shall We Dance. 

They were beloved teachers at Denim & Diamonds back in the day and fostered a thriving country dance community. 

Meredith dancing with John Festa

After their studio flooded out ... they decided it was time for a career change. 

Not surprisingly, John became a nurse. 

After dealing with the endless neuroses of his students ... he was well prepared! 

Meredith became a tax attorney!

(Personally, I think she lost her mind!)

Best of all ... there were the new kids on the block.

Alison Urban (pictured above with Peter Khoo) said

"It was the classy New York underground club scene, but with enough room to swing!"

Chrissy Bridgeman & Ayaz SD

Just like all the venues that came before, Speakeasy is cozy, dark and hidden away.

Every Festa-novation carries the same style but has gotten a bit swankier with time. It all started with North River Bar which was a dive in Tribeca before Tribeca was Tribeca. 

Walking around down there back in the day ... it was all dark and empty old buildings. Sense of direction depended on the lights of the World Trade Center.

NRB was the pressure cooker that helped forge talents like John Lindo, Hazel Meade Ulrich, Blake Hobby Dowling, Deborah Szekely, Eric Novoa, Nicola Royston and so many more.

When Anthony DeRosa was 14 years old, his parents brought him down and he's been part of the dance community ever since. Check out Anthony's interesting Youtube channel. 
https://www.youtube.com/user/AnthonyDeRosaNY

The place was a playground for such stars as Angel Figueroa, Bill Cameron, Robert Royston, Robert Cordoba and Debbie Ramsey Boz. All the most famous dancers (Ramiro Gonzalez, Andrea Deaton, for example) dropped in from time to time.

Back in 1994 there was an article in the New York times which characterizes the beginning of the west coast swing movement in New York. 
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/27/style/dance-invasion.html

Over the years there were many more incarnations such as Jack Rose, Iguana, Chetty Red, Blarney Stone, Swing Alley.
 

We really liked the last one ... Swing Alley ... which was set in the bowling alley at the Port Authority bus station. What a cool venue! Another cozy & dark spot hidden away.

A setting fit for strippers (there was even a pole) and swingers!

Brian King & Maria B.

Saturday night, John's playlist was the best I ever heard. And, I've been around a loooooong time! That's quite a high standard. Many times we've exclaimed that the music was off the roof! 

But this nite was an EXCEPTIONAL EXCEPTION!!! 

A blend of old and new in a floweeey grooove. 

Selections from different eras, styles and genres ... ALL seriously west coast swingable. 

John left out the corn and tiresome pop. Just QUALITY swing and of course, a coupla stripper songs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS0Tm8PF0Wg

The event, actually held in the private party room downstairs at Elmo's in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, was an ideal location. 

This is the secret of success for west coast swing in New York. People want a bar and restaurant to dance. They want CITY Saturday nights out ... a chance to enjoy living the life and being part of the scene.

Ben Pollak dancing with Andrew D'Angelo

Ben Pollak said "Dancing in studios is fine however, Festa's dance at the Speakeasy location is the reason why I chose to learn to dance."

Quite a few westie Cool Cats enjoyed the atmosphere, food and drinks.

Barbara & Kevin

Barbara Jackson (President of Gotham Swing Club) said

 "John, John, John! You did it again! You did not just put together a dance; you put together a PAR-TAY!  

Venue quaint and sexy, food delish, drinks potent, music and people dancing their butts off epic! Please Sir, may I have some more?!!!"

 
The biggest problem for dance in NYC is maintaining a suitable venue. It is very expensive to try to run dance events and studios in the city.

Picture Courtesy of Jim Chow

Tuesday night, July 21, was the 10 year anniversary of Strictly Tuesday by Michael & Jennifer Diener. 

They've been venue challenged as well ... but like gypsies ... the westie ratpack always follows them where ever they need to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbbdajQjcQ

Michael Bacarella (left dancing with Gloria Rothstein) said 

 "Thanks John for organizing this event. I had an awesome time!!!"

Taking a hint from Frank Sinatra ... John has faced it all ... stood tall ... and did it his way. 

We are certain that as long as JOHN FESTA is alive and kicking, there will always be another COOL venue. Hopefully we can call Elmo home for awhile.

Thanx Pally ...

"Coolness is Timeless" 

See ya at the next Speakeasy!

John Festa, Sam DeFrancesco and me