But, they had been around for at least 80 years. I believe this was the first, but not the last time, that I danced beneath a mirror ball, the symbol of the era. Party planner, Robert Isabell, had dumped four tons of glitter in a four-inch layer on the floor, which owner Ian Schrager described as “standing on stardust”. I remember that I had glitter in my clothing and hair (and I had a lot of hair). I wasn’t there for opening night, Tuesday, April 26, 1977, but I was there on the first weekend, forty years ago. Send him disco-ball related tips and other shiny objects on Twitter.This week marks the 40 th anniversary of that fun palace, Studio 54. It's kind of like visiting a beautiful landmark in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood-no matter what sprouts up around it (from techno to EDM), you know that disco ball will always be there for you.ĭavid Garber is THUMP's homepage editor. We feel their magic when a disco ball's glowing tiles fill our favorite rooms with just enough light to dance to. Disco balls remind everyone in clubland of a simpler time when the music was pure and the feelings were good. In a culture that shifts so rapidly, how could something like a disco ball remain so untouched?įor almost everyone, the answer seems to come down to nostalgia. It really is something special to witness."Īs decades pass, new trends in music come and go and new technologies change the ways lights are used inside clubs but the technology of the disco ball and its presence has remained relatively consistent. "When the room is filled with a good amount of haze it creates a sense of being in outer space and floating in music. "I created the Disco Ball Universe Project, where I placed six smaller disco balls around the room, each having its own a dedicated lighting fixture," Hunt says. For reasons Lehring wouldn't get into, Omega declined the request. It could have effectively made Louisville, mostly known for its baseball bats, the unlikely world capital of the disco ball. The city of Louisville even asked the company to beat the current record for largest disco ball in the world, as determined by the Guinness Book itself. Someone recently asked for a mirror-covered basketball for a bar mitzvah. The company regularly fields requests for custom disco balls but often passes. Omega still makes flexible mirror sheets for high-profile disco balls as seen on Dancing With the Stars, the Oscars, and on Madonna's tours. None of us have dyed hair or crazy tattoos or anything," she laughs. And lest you think the people making the disco balls are club kids themselves, Lehring describes her colleagues as "regular manufacturing people that get up and go to work everyday" who work in what she calls an "overly basic" office. Omega still has some disco balls hanging in the building's windows, most of the archives and photos of some of the more dazzling creations from the last fifty years were lost during an office move. While the company is no longer the only game in disco ball business, it's still part of their product line (in addition to wine racks and decorative valences). "Most Louisvillians weren't aware that most of the disco balls were made here in their city," Lehring says. At that time, their 48 inch balls were retailing for nearly $4,000, a hefty price at the time. At its peak, Lehring says Omega made 90% of the world's mirror balls.
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