By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
UPPER EAST SIDE — They’ll be partying like it’s 1977 at the 92nd Street Y this Friday.
Dance instructor Lori Brizzi will bring disco beats to the 92Y’s New Year’s Eve Hustle Bash, helping New Yorkers escape cabin fever with six hours of dancing.
"It incorporates ballroom, salsa and swing moves," Brizzi said of the energetic 3-count partner dance born in New York City in the 1970s. "But it’s actually not an easy dance to learn. It’s not as easy as salsa or swing."
Brizzi is on a mission to revive the dance she believes was harmed by that "awful" song, "Do the Hustle," and by the movie "Saturday Night Fever," which brought too many people on the dance floor. "Before, you had to be an elite dancer to get out on the floor," she said. "The movie made it so popular … you didn’t need any skill any more."
Brizzi, a Long Islander, got dolled up — rabbit fur coat and all — to dance at city supper clubs back in the day, before following the hustle underground to loft parties or gay bars after the disco backlash.
"Hustle is one of the few styles of partner dance where you’ll see same sex couples," Brizzi said. "It blended all the racial groups and brought all the communities, as far as gay and straight, together."
Brizzi left it behind when she became a professional ballroom dancer and worked for renowned instructor Pierre Dulaine, who was the subject of the Antonio Banderas film, "Take the Lead."
She returned to the dance 10 years ago.
"I had a broken heart and I was looking for a way to distract myself," Brizzi said. "The dancing made me happy. ... This became my main passion."
She started booking hustle parties and then developed the New York Hustle Congress, an annual gathering of dancers for a weekend of competitions and workshops.
"There’s been a resurgence," Brizzi said. "I think for a lot of baby boomers, who raised their kids, it’s a very sentimental, very emotional thing."
Brizzi is trying to attract a younger crowd for what she calls Hustle 2.0, setting the moves to Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Neo.
"I’m trying to give it a facelift…I call it old school/new school," she said, admitting it’s been slow to catch on. "The baby boomers are a little stubborn. They want their classics."
The Hustle Bash is making its third appearance at the 92nd Street Y, which has its own deep history of dancing, stretching back to the 1930s when Martha Graham taught there.
"We’re dusting off the disco ball," the Y’s Dance Director, Renata Celichowska said. "It’s really festive. You get very decked-out people — hustle decked-out, which is different than ballroom decked-out. It’s a very glittery night."
The New Year’s Eve event has brought more than 150 dancers to its historic dance hall, said Celichowska.
"It’s the best deal in town," Brizzi said of the event, which costs $35 in advance. "You look at all of these restaurants offering dinner for $65. You eat and digest and then it’s over. Here you have dancing, hors d’oeuvres, champagne, a balloon drop, noisemakers hats," and most importantly, she added, "memories."
People take the dancing seriously. "Some of the guys bring a few shirts because they sweat so much," Brizzi noted.
"I’m not doing this for the money," she said. "I’m doing this so the hustle doesn’t disappear."
The New Year’s Eve Hustle Bash takes place at the 92nd Street Y at Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street. From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. there will be traditional ballroom dance, followed by hustle and West Coast Swing from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Light hors d'oeuvres, complimentary champagne at midnight, cash bar. Tickets cost $35 in advance or $50 at the door.
