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Long Island City Lunchtime Dance Party Goes Bulgarian

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | September 10, 2012 9:19am

LONG ISLAND CITY — Summer may be ending, but that doesn't mean the party's over.

Lunch Beat LIC — the lunchtime dance fest that gives office workers the chance to bust a move during their midday break — is returning to Long Island City with a new spot and a new DJ.

Bulgarian-born Joro-Boro will be spinning "etnoteck," world music-infused techno or, as he puts it on his website, "the dirty local side of globalization force-fed back into a party without borders detonating the conglomerated mono-culture."

“He got his start as the resident DJ at Mehanata Bulgarian Bar and has opened for Bassnectar, Omar Souleyman, Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello,” said Sarah Reynolds, the event's organizer.

The $12 lunch-hour dance fest starts at noon Thursday, Sept. 20 and aims to pull stressed-out New Yorkers away from the office and put them on a dance floor.

“We want to get people out of their routine,” said Reynolds who likes to call the party “cubicle liberation.”

The party has changed the location and will now be held at The Secret Theatre at 44-02 23rd St., between Queens Plaza and Court Square. The previous host — The Uncanny Valley — has moved to Brooklyn.

Participants will also be able to get their picture taken with The Rainbow Machine, an LED “light painting” wand invented by Brooklyn artists Sean McIntyre and Reid Bingham.

The Lunch Beat movement was born two years ago in a garage in Stockholm, Sweden. On an ordinary weekday, 14 people danced together during their lunch break, according to organizers.

Since then, Lunch Beat has spread across Europe, from Paris to Istambul and Vienna.

The main rule of the party is that everyone has to dance. It is also alcohol-free and dance-lovers can’t talk about their jobs.

Lunch will be served by Mike ‘N’ Willie's food truck, offering tacos and sliders.