Exotic Dance/Lap Dance - is it art?

[piccicatopolka]

NEW YORK's top court ruled that lap dances are not legally considered art and therefore can be taxed, but the owner of an Albany-area strip club who brought the case said he would pursue the matter in federal court.

In a 4-to-3 decision, the state Court of Appeals decided against Nite Moves “juice bar” near Albany, which had argued that exotic dancing was an art form and therefore not taxable under state law. The court decided that lap dances fall under taxable “entertainment.”

www.democratandchronicle.com/article/New-York-state-lap-dancing

Just saw this story on the Colbert Report and felt like looking it up. What do you think?

Here's another article with some news video. www.fox23news.com/local/story/Local-strip-club-says-exotic-dancing-is-art

 

[blobfish]

No lawyer will touch it.

 

[Tryharder62]

It would be an art form for me. If I tried that pose I'd be flat on my butt.

 

[sufisaint]

For the really good ones yes...the rest it is just a job...

 

[Squibbs]

It can be.

 

[KRCummings]

There's nothing worse than a stripper who plays the "art" card with that whole "I'm a dancer!" bullshit. You're a stripper. You take off your clothes in front of strange men who stick dollar bills in your ass crack and you thank them for treating you like an inflatable fuck doll. After your songs you get to go make the rounds and hustle cheap booze at 200 bucks a bottle to guys who are so hard up they get off on you rubbing your ass on their lap for a few seconds.
If you're lucky you'll live to see 40 but it won't be a pretty 40. It'll be the meth whore from Breaking Bad 40.

Holy fuck strippers piss me off.

 

[Squibbs]

I like them in the pre meth whore stage of stripper evolution.

 

[blobfish]

I like them in the pre meth whore stage of stripper evolution.

Is there such a thing?

 

[KRCummings]

I like them in the pre meth whore stage of stripper evolution.

Probably a lot cheaper if you wait for the meth to kick in.

 

[KRCummings]

Is there such a thing?

Sure, there's the one who's "working her way through school" or the one who's doing it because she's a "single mother."
Both of course are code words for "I'm a meth whore."

 

[dirtwrench]

KRC you forgot the "I just like getting paid to take my clothes off" strippers. Some actually enjoy the job. Although I don't understand their particular kink.


Forgot to answer original question- For some it is art. For most it is a way to buy drugs, oops, I mean pay the bills.

 

[CandiCame]

Of course dance is an art, how can you even ask that?

 

[oggbashan]

The UK Licensing Act 2003 required places of public entertainment to apply for a licence to sell, among other things, alcohol, hot food after 11pm, and performance by more than two people not using acoustic instruments.

Our local pubs, bars and clubs tended to apply for as much as they could possibly want, even if it was very unlikely that they would need all the facilities they asked for. It didn't cost any more to apply for everything.

One very small bar (public area about 30 feet by 10 feet) took the 'let's have everything' line. The nearby residents didn't react fast enough to object to the application.

It now has a licence to sell alcohol 24/7 for consumption on or off the premises; for music, film, drama, boxing, wrestling etc 24/7. It's licence means it could even stage a grand opera such as Aida with hundreds of performers.

But in reality all that happened is that they changed their previous practice of illegally locking the front door and putting some of the lights out when the end of their official sales period ended, and their regulars can drink legally until dawn if they want to.

It is now quieter for the neighbours. The patrons leave by the front door, and don't trip over the dustbins and empty bottles when creeping out through the back yard.

 

[hogjack]

Why does everyone use the derogatory term "stripper" for these adult entertainment professionals?

They ARE dancers no more and no less dedicated to the craft than the anorexic sluts who perform in increasingly risque garb for the Joffrey Ballet.

The only difference is that the ballet audience pays their fees in tickets instead of the more honest approach of giving dancers money directly. Joffrey (and all the other ballet companies) takes their cut up-front like a fucking pimp.

 

[oggbashan]

In England at least, a club or public house offering pole or lap dancing is a near certainty that it is on the point of bankruptcy.

Pole and/or lap dancing is the last resort of a failing business.

If it is Pole-Dancing Classes, then closure is imminent.

All of them suggest that what they are offering is artistic or cultural.

 

[DooleyDarter]

Of course its not art, a pile of steaming elephant shit on a table, is considered real art

 

[Ellafun]

My two cents, because I also saw this on the Colbert Report yesterday. Pole dancing, the way the particular "strippers" in the club in question performed, is difficult and requires discipline.

While my first inclination was that dancing of any kind is art, I disagree with definition as it applies to this club, only because there is no specific choreography. (See "Burlesque," for instance.) If you are professionally performing a dance, you should be able to specify choreography. I realize that the "expert witness" described specific names to certain, uh, positions, but there is no consistency to the dance. Even "Magic Mike" had detailed choreography....

(My favorite part of the report was while the expert was talking, the dancer accidently slammed her high-heel onto the pole and had to grab the pole to keep it from "ringing!")

The club owner is using the "art" designation to get out of paying taxes, period. And I kinda hope he gets away with it.

 

[oggbashan]

Like any art form, if performed by an expert, exotic dancing can be artistic.

But like most art forms, enthusiastic amateurs can be dreadful.

 

[neci]

galleries have to pay taxes. painters and sculptors have to pay taxes. why should dancers get a tax exemption?

 

[LiFeNdEaTh]

i love strips joints... TITIES all over the place

 

[blobfish]

galleries have to pay taxes. painters and sculptors have to pay taxes. why should dancers get a tax exemption?

Artists get tax breaks in some places.

 

[SalviaDivinorum]

i love strips joints... TITIES all over the place

Spoken by an art critic.

 

[LiFeNdEaTh]

Spoken by an art critic.

hell yeah...

U.S.A is all fucked up... even before Obama got elected in 08'

so why not leave the poor man's bar alone lol

 

[rosco rathbone]

lapdancing is a sexual service, not an art.

Dancers milk in-the-pants orgasms from men's stiff horny cocks, with their butt cheeks. If that's art I'm a hottontot.

 

[neci]

Artists get tax breaks in some places.

no different from any other self employed person.