Through these parades we can see New York Politicians utilizing them for grass-roots movements of their own campaigns and interacting with their own constituents. Caribbean-American politicians are not the only ones utilizing this notion, but also more “traditional” American politicians such as Bill de Blasio. The whole parade is filled with nothing but good food, live music, happy dancing, and extravagant decorations that celebrate the Caribbean/West Indies. It showcases how even though the Caribbean is constructed of many different nations, they come together as a community and celebrate each other. For a Caribbean-American at is an opportunity to dance, eat, and celebrate their origins- this is echoed in the interview with the socasize instructor who relates her passion for Caribbean dance to celebration of her culture and especially just for fun!

Caribbean dance even entices not only Caribbean Americans, but also American choreographers! Cuba has a very strong Afro-Caribbean/afro-Latino population that was untouched by American culture because of the embargo. Recently, a dance troupe from Cuba made a trip to Manhattan where American choreographers were excited to experience and collaborate with them on future projects.

However, Not everyone in NY responds well to the Caribbean culture. When a Caribbean club opened up in Jamaica Queens, non-Caribbean locals complained about the participants in the club. It would be open until 4 in the morning, and even still people would continue partying in the streets. This was a stark contrast to what the community was used to. Caribbean parties are famous for going hours on end- seeming almost endless. Some may say this is a negative attribute, but for the Caribbean culture, it is in all good fun.

Caribbean dance also started a similar outrage in New York. When video broke out of a NY cop participating in the dancing of the West Indian Day Parade. Some of the women dancers danced with/on some of the stationed cops. Some of the New York public were disgusted on this incident as they found the dancing to provocative. The women wined on the cops. Wining is a very traditional and common Caribbean dance. Most of the comments on the video that condemned the act were not of Caribbean descent, but more “American”. The comments defending the video came from people of Caribbean descent saying things like “It was in all good fun,” “It’s just a dance,” etc. and how they preferred their law enforcement enjoying them selves and being human. This comment section actually opens up a very controversial topic: American perception of dance versus Caribbean perception of dance.