Flatfoot Flatbush, Brooklyn’s first-ever flatfooting parade, turns 10!
For the tenth year in December 2023, the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) teams up with Make Music New York and Porch Stomp to bring you another exciting year of music and dancing to celebrate community and the winter solstice.
During Flatfoot Flatbush, dancers, fiddlers and pickers parade down the sidewalks of the ever-busy Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope/ Prospect Heights (Dean Street to Sterling Place) playing old-time tunes while flatfooting, a form of percussive dancing from Appalachia. The evening begins with a warm up and quick flatfooting workshop hosted by Megan Downes (City Stompers), which will take place outdoors at 4pm. Immediately following, the flatfooting parade will kick off and traverse Flatbush Avenue stopping along the way at local businesses to bring holiday cheer (starting location and route to be shared in weeks to come) The parade will finish at the 6th Avenue Triangle (intersection of Flatbush, 6th, and St Marks Avenues), with a special performance from the Gowanus Wildcats, and participatory group dances lead by Brooklyn Contra and the City Stompers.
Starting at 6:30pm, the fun continues at an indoor after-party featuring more music and dance, and an open jam lead by the Flatfoot Flatbush Band. The after party doubles as the North Flatbush Avenue BID merchant holiday party, and will bring together businesses in the district to share in holiday cheer.
Guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo players and other stringed instrumentalists are encouraged to join the Flatfoot Flatbush String Band! To join, just email mmnyporchstomp@gmail.com no later than December 18th to obtain music scores and detailed instructions. Dancers and boosters are welcome to simply stroll on up!
Are you a dancer, instructor or troupe leader that represents a different style of rhythmic dance? If so, consider complementing our flatfooters with a performance of your own — from soulstepping to Irish jigs to square dancing — by contacting the parade organizers at mmnyporchstomp@gmail.com.
