Multi-colored strobe lights, disco music and dancing bodies filled the Keller Theater on Oct. 23 as Ephrat Asherie Dance took audiences on a journey through the history of 1980s New York club culture with their show “UNDERSCORED.”
The performance, created by New York City-based director and choreographer Ephrat Asherie, celebrates the dancers and styles that defined the decade’s NYC club scene. Alongside the members of her dance company, Asherie brought several NYC club veterans from the ’80s, such as Archie Burnett, Brahms “Bravo” LaFortune and Michele Saunders on stage to dance and share their memories of dancing in the ’80s.
“Ephrat approached me and told me about this project she was doing where she wanted to honor her elders and the work that had come before her in the club dance world,” Lenfest Center Director Jordan Peimer said. “It sounded absolutely fascinating.”
The show featured a variety of club dance styles like hip-hop, vogue and waacking. These styles of dance originated in predominantly Latin and African American club spaces, Peimer said. The performance served to show how dance allowed people to express themselves freely, Peimer said.
“Things change, situations change, your body changes,” Burnett said, “but I tell you when that rhythm hits and that beat hits you, it’s like your life flows.”
At the end of the performance, the dancers invited the audience members on stage to dance among the performers.
“I felt very rooted back to my culture,” said Destiny Carr, ’29, about the experience. “In Lexington, when I first got here I lost that sense of culture from back at home, but seeing this rooted me back to it. It just shows how music really brings people together.”
The show introduced the audience to several famous New York City night clubs in the ’80s, including Paradise Garage, The Loft and Studio 54. Peimer said these clubs allowed people from all backgrounds to dance without any regard for their background, race or sexuality.
“There was less stratification between gay people, between Black people and Hispanic people. It was just writhing bodies,” Peimer said. “I’m sure there was a lot more prejudice than I can recall, but it was an imperfect paradise.”
As the ’80s came to a close, many of these night clubs closed their doors. LaFortune said none of the clubs exist in their “original form” because of the rising real estate prices in New York City.
“A lot of the buildings were just totally knocked down,” he said.
According to the NYC LGBTQ Historic project, Paradise Garage closed in 1987. Saunders recalled her final weeks at Paradise Garage before it closed its doors for good. She said she was like a “zombie” collecting confetti, dirt and pieces of gel lights from the floor to hold on to the experience. She used these pieces to create an art collage dedicated to the club. The collage is currently featured in the Museum of the City of New York.
While the parties and clubs of the ’80s may not exist anymore, Burnette, LaFortune and Saunders said that the younger generation carved out a space for themselves to dance and express themselves freely through music in smaller and more intimate parties.
Peimer said he felt a connection to the performance because he used to dance at these clubs, specifically Paradise Garage.
“It was a great place to go dancing late at night. I would go out with my friends to a live music venue first and then go to the garage” Peimer said. “It was a place where you could dance from about one o’clock in the morning to pretty much the afternoon.”
Popular depictions of 1980s New York club culture often focus on substance abuse. But Peimer said many clubs, including Paradise Garage, didn’t even serve alcohol because they didn’t have a liquor license. However, Peimer said many people who attended these clubs turned to substance abuse due to the AIDS crisis.
“People would be so shell-shocked from the AIDS crisis that they would be activists all week long and then they would do a lot of drugs and then they would go out and party,” Peimer said.
The performance featured a memorial for dancers and performers in the ’80s New York club scene, such as renowned artist Keith Haring, drag queen Paris Dupree and Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan. All three died from AIDS.
Peimer said he thought it was important to spotlight dancers and performers from past generations, like Burnett and LaFortune, because their dancing helped shape the style of dance people see today.
“So many of the styles we think of today are built upon styles that existed beforehand. There are so few moves now that don’t have a basis in the past,” he said. “So much of the street dance and dance that you see in film today is a part of that culture that existed 30 or 40 years ago.”
