The 8 Best Dance Floors in Saratoga
From the sweaty crowds of the Boom Boom Room to the elegant floor of Saratoga's premier ballroom dance studio...and beyond.
I remember the exact moment I realized I liked to dance. It happened during the last few days (or, rather, nights) of my senior year. My college set up a big tent on the quad for all the Senior Week festivities, and every night, a live band performed there. Sure, I’d danced before—awkwardly at prom and drunkenly at house parties—but this was the first time I had enough room, and probably confidence (heck, I was never going to see those people again), to really let loose. Then some guy from the lacrosse team told me I was a good dancer, and the rest was history.
The compliment went straight to my head, and nine years later, I’m still riding the high bestowed upon me by that one random lax bro. These days I’ll pretty much dance anywhere there’s music—the Saratoga Film Showcase afterparty, Cantina on Chowderfest, outside that little live music pavilion at the track—but over the years, I’ve figured out my favorite spots to break it down. Here are the 10 best places to dance in Saratoga, in my clearly not-so-humble opinion.
Before I begin, I feel like I need to make a disclosure. I just turned 30. Do with that info what you will.
8. The Boom Boom Room
If you want loud DJ music and don’t require much room to move, The Boom Boom Room, as the fourth floor of Saratoga City Tavern is affectionately called, is for you. In general, if you go before 11pm, don’t expect a whole lot of action. (There’s a good chance you’ll be the only one there.) If you go after 11pm, be prepared to be fight for your life to get to the other end of the room.
“I’ve switched from an open-format style of music selection to more of a high-energy house music/EDM style music,” says DJ Dingz, the Boom Boom Room’s resident DJ. “I wanted to help grow the EDM dance music community in our area. Boom Boom Room also has one of the best light shows in ’Toga in my opinion.”
Regardless of the change of tune (literally), the BBR still has a bit of a reputation. “If I’m in the Boom Boom Room, I should’ve gone home three hours ago,” says one self-aware Saratogian.
7. Group Exercise Studio 1
For those who don’t trust themselves to freestyle on the dance floor, I have a few options, the most beginner-friendly of which is Zumba at the Saratoga YMCA. No prior experience is necessary to show up to Group Exercise Studio 1, located inside one end of the second-floor track, and follow along to fairly straightforward moves to hit songs. If you mess up, who cares?
As for the type of music played, YMCA Zumba instructor Miho Yamada says Pitbull’s “Feel This Moment” is especially popular. “Since the group classes at the Y are open to participants aged 14 and older, younger children aren’t able to join in officially,” she says. “However, kids walking on the track around the studio area sometime dance along to ‘Golden’ from KPop Demon Hunters with us.”
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6. A Saratoga Springs High School Classroom
Now, I can’t say I’ve ever personally danced in a classroom, but from Saratoga Springs High School English teacher Josh Johnson’s viral Instagram videos, it looks like a pretty good time. In 2022, Johnson, who’s social media shtick is to break into spontaneous dance at school, landed a spot on the first and only season of Shakira’s TV show, Dancing With Myself. “The whole experience, in general, was amazing,” Johnson said at the time. “I don’t want to say surreal, because that’s overused. It was unfathomable for me. Did this actually happen? And I got back and people were telling me, ‘Yes!’”
5. The Wild Horse
I think that an inevitable part of getting older is believing that everyone at your favorite bar is getting younger. That’s what happened for me when Dango’s was reimagined as The Wild Horse. Dango’s is where I cut my teeth (and a rug) on the dance floor back in my early 20s, and though its name and clientele has changed (or am I the one that’s changed?) it still holds a soft spot in my soul.
“It’s surrounded by three VIP Champagne booths,” says Wild Horse Managing Partner Kevin Decker of the bar’s newfangled outdoor dance floor. “This summer, we’ll also have the new Kashmir Lounge and deck overlooking the band and the dance floor.”
4. The Horseshoe
After a day at the track, it’s always a tough decision: Do you go to Kings, Siro’s, or The Horseshoe? If you’re in the mood to dance, I’d say Horseshoe is the best bet, but just by a hair—or, as they say in the horse racing world, by a nose. (Sorry, Siro’s, I love you, too.) The bands that’s play at the ’Shoe are just more my style (shoutout to Road Soda Pop), the dancing gets started earlier in the evening, and while the clientele skews younger, there’s still a wide range of age groups.
“If my 65-year-old dad hears live music coming from The Horseshoe,” one Saratogian says, “there’s no chance he’s going to bed at a reasonable hour.”
The beauty of The Horseshoe, according to my friend Maddy, lies in the sheer size of the dance floor. “You can choose how much you want to be dancing based on how far you are from the stage,” she says. Indeed—up close, you’re likely to be in a sea of dancers (brace yourself if “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” gets played); further back, you can simply sway to the music while carrying on a conversation.
3. C3 Hip Hop Dance Co.
A few years ago, former professional dancer Julie Labate launched C3 Hip Hop Dance Co. out of Saratoga’s Max Level Fitness. Now, C3, which has competitive youth dance teams as well as classes for all ages, has moved to its own space in Wilton Mall. But one night a year, Julie takes her adult dance fitness class to the club—the second floor of The Night Owl, to be exact.
“I really don’t go out to clubs to dance, but I feel like more people, myself included, probably would love going out and just dancing on a Saturday night,” says Liz Rogan, who I ran into at the annual C3 Dance Concert last month. “I think people have a fear of being judged for their dancing, but that’s why C3 is so great—everyone is having too much fun to notice what the person next to them is even doing.”
Another great thing about C3, and choreographed dance in general? It’s really good for you. “Dance activates multiple systems at once: movement, memory, rhythm, emotional expression, and social connection,” Julie says. “That layered engagement drives increased neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to form new connections), improved executive function, and measurable reductions in depression and anxiety. And Dancing in groups has been linked to increases in dopamine (motivation/reward), endorphins (feel-good chemicals), and oxytocin (social bonding), which helps explain why it feels both energizing and connective at the same time.”
2. Dance Fire Studio
Most of my dance experience has been informal and involved at least some degree of twerking. So when I showed up to Phila Street’s world-class Dance Fire Studio for a Latin Cardio class, I was quickly humbled.
At Dance Fire, dances not only have names, but specific footwork associated with each name, too. Dance Master Tom Russell had the three members of my class doing the Samba, Cha-Cha-Cha, and Rumba steps to songs like “Hips Don’t Lie” while a couple in the back took lessons for what I assumed was their upcoming wedding.
“Ballroom dancing is more of an old-school term,” says Natalia O’Connor Vlad, who, along with her husband, Florin, owns Dance Fire’s two studios (there’s also one in Niskayuna). “What we do is called Dancesport.” When they’re not teaching, Natalia and Florin, who’ve been dance partners since they were 16, dance professionally; next month, they’ll compete at the Indianapolis Open Dancesport Competition.
“There are so many studios that are for kids to learn how to dance for posture, confidence, musicality,” Natalia says. “But then you stop at some point—you have school, college, and work. I don’t feel that there are enough opportunities for adults to go out dancing—not at a bar, but actually something a little bit more elegant and more structured. Like, this is what you have to do when you're at a wedding.”
1 The SPAC Stage
My all-time favorite dance floor isn’t exactly a dance floor—it’s a stage. But once a year, it turns into the site of Saratoga’s most poppin’ dance party of the year.
“There’s something genuinely surreal about dancing on that stage,” Friends of SPAC committee member Mallory Willsea says. “You’ve spent years sitting in the seats watching the orchestra, the ballet, world-class performers…and then SPACtacular comes along and you’re up there on the same stage dancing your heart out with a DJ and a crowd who are just as into it as you are. It’s one of those experiences you don’t forget.”
This year’s SPACtacular event falls on a night I have a wedding, so unfortunately I’ll be breaking it down on the River Stone Manor dance floor in Scotia. If you find yourself on the SPAC stage on the night of May 29, bust a move for me.
—Natalie