No Alcohol, No Cover, No Judging: Inside Mexico City’s Free Dance Parties

April 17, 2025 journo

credit – Neuva Red de Bailadores, retrieved from Facebook

In Mexico City, a social movement organizing free dance parties is changing the way people in the city move by breaking down barriers.

At their events there’s no cover charge to get in, there are no drink minimums, and nothing is done by either the attendees or the organizers to confer or reinforce status symbols of any kind.

Everyone is there for a single purpose: to dance, freely, and without pressure.

Called the Nueva Red de Bailadores (New Network of Dancers), a recent Sunday afternoon on a pavilion in the city’s famous Bosque de Chapultepec urban park saw over 300 people attending its most recent event, which the network organizes in some different interesting public place once a month.

Described by the organizers speaking with AP as a “a community of philosophy and action,” the New Network started 9 years ago and quickly grew in size and scope. Utilizing social media to promote events and keep attendees in touch, and working alongside civic forces like the police and museums to secure space and sound equipment to keep the costs at zero, they have connected many disparate groups over their love of music and dancing.

At any given event, the music can be eclectic, and may feature a traditional Colombian “cumbia” alongside jazz tunes and hip hop from around the world.

Retirees in their 70s, children and their mothers, and gaggles of 20-somethings of various styles and cliques all gather together and dance without fear of judgment or the interest in applying it.

“I think it’s wonderful because it’s a free event,” said a 73-year-old retired high school assistant principal, who comes to the events with her husband. “We get together with people from all parts of society and we have fun without any trouble.”

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Younger attendees told AP that dancing has always been an activity that existed hand in hand with alcohol (and all the implications that come with it), but the New Network allowed them to create new relationships with dancing and with themselves.

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