newjerseynewsroom.com

BY GINA G. SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

American actor, author and comic Steve Martin once said, “I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you're an idiot.”

Following this train of thought, does that mean the owners of the New York State all-nude dance club, Nite Moves, are idiots for believing pole dancing and private lap dances are tax-exempt artistic performances? Hmmm…

Their attorney W. Andrew McCullough argued on Sept. 5 before the New York Court of Appeals that the naked dancers who perform nightly at the Route 9 strip club are choreographed performers, comparing them to the famed Russian Bolshoi Ballet dancers, according to the Albany Times Union.

"I would point out, your honor, that pole dancing is under serious consideration as an Olympic sport," McCullough told the Court of Appeals. "If it's under consideration as an Olympic sport, these girls certainly — the ones that you would see on these videos — would be in standing to make the team. They're that good!"

But Judge Eugene Pigott Jr. said the women are hired untrained and simply “do what they do,” the Associated Press reported.  “We need to get past the idea that somehow this is the Bolshoi.”

The Associated Press said McCullough, a longtime adult industry attorney based in Utah, squabbled, “What we’re saying is the state of New York doesn’t get to be a dance critic.”

McCullough’s client, Steven Dick, Jr. of Albany, owes the state hundreds of thousands in back taxes. While some media reports say the figure is around the $125,000 mark, the Albany Times Union reported that Dick said the state was demanding nearly $400,000 in back taxes.

"People might not like us on moral grounds," Dick told reporters. "But on artistic grounds and on a First Amendment ground, there's no question that if you start drawing a line you have no clear line to stop at. If it's exotic dance today, it could be rap music next year ... it could be slasher films five years from now. Where's the line in art? You have to draw it as safe as you can to protect the freedoms."

In New York, revenue from “dramatic or musical arts performances” is tax exempt. Exotic dances do not qualify, according to state law, because they are not firmly choreographed.

"If the women kept their clothes on, no one would be coming to this bar for the dance performances," said Assistant Solicitor General Robert Goldfarb, who argued for the state.

The high court's decision is expected in the fall.