Joe Fiore’s Dance:208, on April 23 at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan, proved to be a rather exhilarating salute to the late Steve Rubell’s legendary Studio 54, on the 34th anniversary of its creation, hosted by the no-less-legendary Rollerena, Queen of Studio 54, on her birthday.
“It was wonderful. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Rollerena reminisced, regarding the disco. And in its spirit, the assembled joyously danced to such favorites from the era, spun by DJ Ted Snowden, as Donna Summer’s “McArthur Park,” France Joli’s “Come to Me,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” and, dedicated to Rollerena, ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.”
The Studio 54 anniversary dance was a benefit for the LGBT Community Center, and the previous one, the popular Fur Ball, raised $18,000 for the Center, according to Fiore, who also announced that the next one, on May 7 would be the Fetish dance, and that there would be an encore of the Fur Ball, as Summer Fur, on June 24, to kick off Pride Weekend.
