A very disco new year
Join the AGO’s all-ages New Year’s Eve countdown and get ready for the spectacle, the dancing and the music that is Studio 54: Night Magic
Guy Marineau, Pat Cleveland on the dance floor during Halston's disco bash at Studio 54, 1977. (Photo: Guy Marineau / WWD / Shutterstock)
Inspired by the upcoming exhibition Studio 54: Night Magic, this December 31 at 4 p.m., the AGO is going back in time with a live all-ages, disco-themed New Year's Eve countdown. Back to 1977 when disco reigned and Studio 54 was the most celebrated nightclub in the world, mixing professional sound and stage design, music, celebrity, self-expression and creativity on one pulsating dance floor.
For the 33 months it was open, Studio 54 set the gold lamé standard for spectacle, and its infamous New Year’s Eve parties were no exception.
Picture it – it's 10 pm on December 31, 1977. At the corner of West 54th Street and Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, crowds are gathering, hoping to be let in. Inside, celebrities, artists, stagehands and New Yorkers young, old, black, white and Latino crowd the dance floor. At 3 am, Jamaican-born fashion model and singer Grace Jones takes the stage, dressed in a gold lamé outfit designed by Norma Kamali, to perform four songs from her album Portfolio. The stage has been transformed into a giant cobra, out of whose mouth she appears. She is wrapped in a white fox blanket and surrounded by dancers.
Flash forward to 2020 and that moment is but one of many coming to life in the Sam & Ayala Zacks Pavilion on Level 2 of the AGO, as technicians, curators and conservators work to put the finishing touches on Studio 54: Night Magic.
Preparations for the AGO’s own disco-inspired New Year’s Eve kicks off today with the launch of #distancedressUp, a participatory photo project that invites everyone to share their New Year’s Eve looks, by taking selfies and tagging @AGOYouth, #distancedressup. Don’t miss Toronto curator Geneviève Wallen’s conversation about playing dress-up at home, airing today on the AGO Facebook page.
On Monday, December 28 at 11 am Melissa Smith, the AGO Assistant Curator, Community Programs, hosts a special Studio 54: Night Magic-themed Close Looking talk on the AGO Facebook page. Her subject? A classic photo of American fashion model Pat Cleveland dancing at Studio 54, by the famous French photographer Guy Marineau.
Did you know the Hustle was a social dance invented in the South Bronx by Puerto Rican teenagers? Start practicing your disco steps on Tuesday, December 29, 11 am when we debut a free online lesson from T.O. Hustle Sessions on the AGO Facebook page.
A sinful dessert is a must on New Year’s Eve, and on Tuesday, December 29 at noon, Toronto artist Meech Boakye will share their recipe for Nanaimo bars on the AGO Facebook page.
No disco ball? No problem. AGO art instructor Amanda Arcuri has created a step-by-step guide to making your own. Together with Lesley Ashton, the Gallery School’s chief technician, they will present this latest in the #AGOMakes series of artmaking videos when it debuts on Wednesday, December 30, at 11 am on the AGO Facebook page.
These activities all come together in surprising and fun ways on December 31 at 4 pm when the AGO’s all-ages disco-themed New Year’s Eve countdown begins. This live event will be streamed on the AGO website and will feature music, conversation and a new digital artwork by Toronto artist Diana VanderMuelen.
Register today to receive an email reminder.
To learn more about the exhibition Studio 54: Night Magic, click here
Studio 54: Night Magic is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and is curated by Matthew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum.
