JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Most evenings, passengers getting off trains at Penn Station in New York are greeted by the sight of teams of dancers rehearsing in one of the wide passageways above the tracks. Reporter Jeff Lunden noticed this unofficial dance studio on a recent trip and returned with his microphone to find out what it’s all about.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This is the last call for the 5:15 train to Great Neck.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Stretching from Track 5 to Track 21, it’s officially called the West End Concourse. But one frequent Amtrak passenger has another name for it.
OLIVIA FRANCIS: My girlfriend and I would meet here, and we call it TikTok Hall.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LUNDEN: Olivia Francis had just arrived from Boston and was taking a video of the dancers on her phone.
FRANCIS: People have been doing this for years. They come and dance in their reflections, and it’s really fun to watch. I’ve never done it myself, but it feels like part of New York to me.
LUNDEN: The passageway is wide, well-lit and features big, tilted windows looking down to the tracks below, which can serve as kind of a mirror for the groups of dancers. It also has access to restrooms and food vendors. Dream Griffin was working on some moves while she waited for the rest of her team to arrive.
DREAM GRIFFIN: We’re doing, like, a K-pop dance cover. A lot of people here do, like, K-pop dance covers.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This is the last call for the 7:15 train to Huntington.
GRIFFIN: We’re rehearsing for our dance cover of Illit “Not Cute Anymore.” It’s one of their more recent songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NOT CUTE ANYMORE”)
ILLIT: (Singing) I’m not cute anymore.
LUNDEN: Griffin’s been coming to the concourse since she was a college student. She now works for New York City. Griffin says the people who meet in the corridor have formed a community – not just K-pop dancers, but salsa dancers, breakdancers.
GRIFFIN: The thing about it is that everybody chooses to learn these dances. Everybody chooses to be here. So everybody puts in the effort, you know – work hard, play hard. That’s definitely the vibe here.
ANNA WONG: It’s just for fun, and we’re not getting money. All of this – it’s like, we’re trying to save costs (laughter).
LUNDEN: Anna Wong was practicing a cover of a K-pop song called “Bang Bang.” She says renting practice space can cost anywhere from $20 to $100 an hour in the city. TikTok Hall is free.
WONG: Once we finish, and we will go to, like, Times Square to film. Here’s just rehearsing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BANG BANG”)
IVE: (Singing) Bang bang. Bang bang.
LUNDEN: A lot of the dancers called the passageway a third space. It’s not practicing in a rehearsal studio or outdoors on the street. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the corridor, says the dancers are very good about not getting in the way of commuters and cooperate with station personnel. Of course, in a traditional studio, there’s a sprung wood floor designed to protect dancers from strain. TikTok Hall has a hard surface. Still, Dream Griffin says…
GRIFFIN: You know what? This is a better practicing floor than if we have to do it at Times Square. It’s really smooth and it allows for us to kind of glide a little bit. But at the end of the day, this is – it’s pretty decent. That’s why so many people are practicing here.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Onboard Track 21.
LUNDEN: From Penn Station, for NPR News, I’m Jeff Lunden in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF ILLIT SONG, “NOT CUTE ANYMORE”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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