It’s THE RIDE here with the exciting news that Carnegie Hall turns 125 years old this year and has planned a year-long anniversary celebration. The centerpiece of the festivities is a citywide tribute to West Side Story, the Broadway musical that made dancing in the street a NYC tradition.

Unfamiliar with this venerable custom? Perhaps a little history is in order. Back when the city was founded, the streets were often muddy and full of horse poo. No one wanted to dance in that. New York made a great step toward establishing an appropriate setting for street dancing when it moved to the grid format of numbered streets and avenues in the 1800s (which proved especially popular with those lines of disco-fans doing the hustle in the 1970s—but I’m getting ahead of myself here). The Great Depression made folks too poor to feel like dancing in the street, and WWII made it seem appropriate, but by the late 1950s New Yorkers were ready to bust a move. The exhilarating and energetic choreography of West Side Story, made it all seem possible. Before you knew it, there was the break dancing craze of the 80s, followed by the Hip Hop movement, and for a brief, tragic moment, people doing theMacarena everywhere you looked.

Here at THE RIDE, you’ll find a commitment to continuing the great tradition of exuberant dancing in the streets of NYC every single day. And do other sightseeing rides share this love of dance? Nope. It is mine alone. So if you want to honor the history of dancing in the street, as Carnegie Hall is doing to celebrate its 125^th year anniversary, you’ll run away from those other bus companies and come to THE RIDE. It’s just the right thing to do.