Exclusive | Thousands of jumpsuit-clad partiers boogie to 1970s hits at annual Gimme Gimme party: I just keep coming back

On one beautiful August night in NYC, disco rose from the dead — and thousands of dancing queens came out to celebrate, including me. Back in the galvanizing genre’s late 1970s heyday, I was just a couple of years too young to squeeze my way into Studio 54, or any of the other clubs that shook up nightlife in the Big Apple at the time.  But this past Saturday, I finally got my chance to boogie with the best of them on the Pier 17 rooftop deck at South Street Seaport.Here, well into the night, the annual Gimme Gimme party gathered everyone from teenage girls to old-timers reliving their youth, dancing under the stars to an infectious song list, courtesy of a mustachioed and hairy-chested DJ in sequined jumpsuits, flashing gaudy earrings.

There was Abba — lots and lots of Abba — but also other ‘70’s superstars like Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, Kool & the Gang and Blondie.There were thousands of hands waving in the air, New Yorkers belting Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” at the top of their lungs, followed by the easy-to-remember chorus of “Celebration” by Kool & the Gang, and of course, Abba’s “Waterloo.” Dancing women sparkled in form-fitting jumpsuits, men in shimmering suits.

Platform shoes abounded, plus bell-bottomed pants and polyester shirts, star-shaped sunglasses and sparkly headbands.Colors were bright and tie-dyed designs everywhere. Unfortunately, my own white, three-pieced suit from the era no longer fit — but that didn’t stop me from letting fly with my best John Travolta on the dance floor impression. But there was so much more to see than a Gen Xer from Maine busting out moves nobody’s ever seen —like the DJ-led conga line that snaked through the audience as the Weather Girls’ “It’s Raining Men” reverberated across the East River.Party-goers, who paid between $30 and $65 for a ticket, excitedly raced to join the line’s end, with the whole thing becoming so popular it cannibalized itself, ...