I have been a New Yorker my entire life (we don’t talk about the handful of years when I lived in New Jersey), and I thought I knew about all the good stuff. Boy, was I wrong! This past weekend (a bit too late), my Instagram feed delivered me the most adorable, the most New York thing I think I’ve ever heard. For about a month every spring, the New York Public Library hosts a series it calls Lunch Dances. The creative team of Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri are experts at “bringing dance where it doesn’t belong,” and they are the masterminds behind this remarkable series of live performances. Someone somewhere had an absolutely brilliant idea bringing these talents together at one of New York’s most memorable, most iconic, and most endangered institutions.

The premise is simple. Every performance day, a dance is planned in a different part of the vast library. The performances take place around mid-day, and only 15 tickets are sold to a lucky few who get to witness these dancers in person. The audience members move throughout the massive building, wearing headphones through which are delivered narration, and a story of a library page delivering research materials to scholars around the building. Notices are posted EVERYWHERE in the building, but even so, some library patrons still seem annoyed by the disturbances. What can I tell you? New Yorkers are going to New York. After the hour-long performances are concluded, the videos are then posted and reposted all over social media. What a marvelous way to get people interested in the NYPL!

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@nypl

Step into the working world of the Library. ✨📚 Take a sneak peak at moments from “Lunch Dances,” a theatrical performance using movement and storytelling to bring patrons and the Library’s vast research collections to life. True to the mission of Monica Bill Barnes & Company to “bring dance where it doesn’t belong,” “Lunch Dances” travels through our flagship location on 42nd Street, taking audiences on a journey through the iconic building.

♬ original sound – nypl – The New York Public Library

@where.is.drew.now

The historical Rose Reading Room is usually dead quiet and guarded from tourists. But then at 12:24 pm, the silence was broken by this man singing “Peopke” accompanied by dancers. #library #nypl #people #flashmob #singing #nyc

♬ original sound – Where Is Drew Now

@where.is.drew.now

The last days of “Lunch Dances,” presented by @nypl. And yes, this is the song they were dancing to with their earphones in. #dance #library #mozart #lobby #nyc

♬ Mozart: Sonata, No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 – Daniel LeBlanc