A Rally Told Supporters to Answer Hecklers by Salsa Dancing

The emcee, a comedian, stood before a large rally in Washington Heights, and gave the crowd a warning about disruptions. "Now, we may have some disruptions," he said. The crowd answered, "Boo."

He told them what to listen for. If the program could not continue, he said, they would hear a song, Danza Kuduro, with its bouncy da-na-na-na-na opening. When they heard it, they should stand up and dance. "We know you can do it," he said.

The instructions came from an approach described by Priya Parker, a facilitator who advises groups on gatherings and conflict and who did advising work for Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign. The campaign, she said, treated the way it brought people together as central to both building support and governing. As rallies grew larger, she said, hecklers and protesters were expected, as at any rally drawing attention.

Parker said she asks teams to think "instead of de-escalation," meaning instead of focusing only on calming a confrontation down, to ask, in her words, "How do we insert joy?" As Parker put it: "How do you send in the opera singers? How do you blast salsa music? And teach everyone to dance, right?"

In Washington Heights, a large Latino and Latina neighborhood, she said, the idea became literal. Early in the rally, after the explanation, everyone started laughing, stood up, and started salsa dancing.

Parker said the dance was a way to increase warmth in the room and have people embody their values, while also defusing tension. She argued that people limit themselves by assuming conflict can only be antagonistic, rather than finding ways to stay in relationship around something they share and care about.

The dance began early in the rally. The crowd that had booed at the thought of an interruption was already on its feet, laughing and moving together, ready to answer trouble with a shared step.