Big Apple Ranch (country-western dance lesson and party, 1997-present)

Big Apple Ranch opened on April 12, 1997, and is “a country-western dance lesson and party at EPA Dance Studio located at 320 West 37th Street, 2nd floor, NYC (located between 8-9th Avenues).”  Dances have been held on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month.
 
The New York (NY) Post described the Big Apple Ranch on January 17, 2020 as “New York’s one and only LGBTQ-centric (and straight-friendly) two-stepping and line-dancing event.”
   
   
Big Apple Ranch
Country Two-Stepping and Line Dancing in New York City
Big Apple Ranch offers a country-western dance lesson and party at EPA Dance Studio located at 320 West 37th Street, 2nd floor, NYC (located between 8-9th Avenues)
 
Big Apple Ranch opened on April 12, 1997 to provide a same-sex partner dance venue for New York City . Dean and Susanna took on the responsibility of running the weekly event, based on the format of previous incarnations begun in the early 1990s. In 1999, they brought Jon onto the management team. During that year Big Apple Ranch became a member of IAGLCWDC , the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Country Western Dance Clubs. Jon and Susanna now run Big Apple Ranch.
         
25 September 2016, New York (NY) Times, “A Dance Party Where Cowboy Attire Is Optional” by Jaime Joyce, pg. CT5, col. 1:
“Oh, God. I hate country music. You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t really dance. No way.”
 
This was Susanna Stein’s response when a friend suggested an evening of country-and-western dancing to her some two decades ago, in San Francisco.
 
Turns out, Ms. Stein is a bit partial to the two-step. Now she helps run Big Apple Ranch , a gay-and-lesbian dance party held twice a month on West 31st Street, in Manhattan.
(...)
Since 1997, Big Apple Ranch has been one of the few destinations for same-sex country-and-western dance in New York City. Held on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, at Dancing Classrooms , near Herald Square, the event attracts a diverse mix of beginners and regulars.
 
New York (NY) Post
16 country joints that bring some honky tonk to NYC
By Hannah Sparks
Published Jan. 17, 2020 Updated Jan. 17, 2020, 5:29 p.m. ET
(...)
The Big Apple Ranch is New York’s one and only LGBTQ-centric (and straight-friendly) two-stepping and line-dancing event.  For $15, movers and shakers of all experience levels can learn classic country steps and put them into play until the party ends at 1 a.m.
 
“It doesn’t matter who or what role you play,” says co-founder Susanna Stein, who encourages switching teams — on the dance floor, that is. “Women can lead, men can follow.”
 
Their event goes down at the Dardo Galletto Studios (151 W. 46th St.; BigAppleRanch.com) on the second and fourth Saturday every month. Often there are themed events, such as the annual Leather Meets Levi’s night (Jan. 25), featuring a performance from the in-house dance crew, the Manhattan Prairie Dogs.
 
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Big Apple Ranch
@BigAppleRanch
Big applApple Ranch grand reopening March 26! 320 W 37th St, 2nd floor, New York City
5:57 PM · Mar 17, 2022
 
7 May 2023, New York (NY) Times, “Trying to Earn the Boots at a Pop-Up Honky-Tonk” by Paul Mcadory, pg. ST7, col. 4:
In Manhattan, Big Apple Ranch, a country-western dance class taught on the second Saturday of every month, has been going since 1997.