The Dance Is Over at Brooklyn Museum

By ROBIN POGREBIN

The Brooklyn Museum will end its free Saturday dance parties as of this weekend, DNAinfo.com reported on Friday.

The museum announced the suspension of the parties - called Target First Saturdays because they are sponsored by Target â€" in a blog post last month.

“We are going to put the dance party on hiatus for the time being,” said the post, which was written by Elisabeth Callihan, the museum's manager of adult programs. “This was not a decision we made lightly.”

Although attendance has increased, Ms. Callihan explained, “we've run into some challenges with capacity crowds and traffic flow throughout the building.”

Almost a quarter of the museum's attendees between 2004 and 2010 were people who came for First Saturdays.

Reactions to the news varied. City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams told DNAinfo that he hoped the museum would: “I think it's a great Brooklyn event.”

But one commenter, John Kwok, wrote, “I say good riddance to the dance party.”

In place of the dances will be different kinds of programming, the museum said, including artist-led activities, site-specific performances and discussions.  “What won't change is what's at the heart of First Saturday,” Ms. Callihan wrote, “and that's the community.”