On the fourth floor of Performance Space, where Rom serves as the board chair, the elevator opened onto an abstracted video projection of Danchig-Waring in motion. Down the hallway inside the black box theater, a light installation by Studio GUMGUM glowed like radioactive flora. The DJ Illich, stationed behind a thicket of fronds, unspooled an introductory mix of warm, ambient tracks, as guests stopped by the bar for Heavensake cocktails and the night’s signature Disco Eclipse, with mezcal and edible black glitter. On a side table lay Spanish-style fans decorated with photos of Danchig-Waring and lime green earplugs that read “Full Volume.” Later on, as a remixed “Jolene” rang out, boxes of pizza moved in, custom-stamped with the words “Final Bow Full Belly” and the leaping man of the hour.
“Adrian had this idea that usually when dancers retire at the end of the season, their bodies are aching and they’ll go to the beach,” Rom said. The couple’s schedules didn’t accommodate an immediate departure—“so we said, what if the after-party is your tropical holiday and it starts now?” Rom’s own take on their Disco Tropicalia moodboard involved one-of-a-kind pants by the Moroccan label Maison ARTC, layered Chinese and Japanese kimonos, and platform boots. Back out on the dance floor, Danchig-Waring started the night in a floral Dries Van Noten button-down, Issey Miyake tank top, and Maison ARTC pants—sewn from hand-painted French curtains, with roses and cherubs—before changing into a green silk Dries top and reflective Rick Owens shorts; two pairs of Micromega sunglasses capped off the looks. As a circle widened around Danchig-Waring grooving with his mom, the artist Matthew Placek said, “The apple doesn’t fall far!”
As for the happy throng of guests, the dress code was wide open to interpretation, from paillettes to pink marabou. Yvonne Force Villareal, the cofounder of Art Production Fund, wore a leopard-print bodysuit and headband; the curator Samantha Ozer laced up burgundy pants, while the artist Julie Mehretu stuck to classic black leather. The NYCB contingent included Taylor Stanley in a black knit tank, Unity Phelan in a triangle top and nude mesh, and Mira Nadon in a leotard plucked from the Reid & Harriet costume archives. The designers themselves, Harriet Jung and Reid Bartleme, raided their own archive, unearthing diamante-studded mesh and ombré rayon fringe, respectively. Bartleme’s top was a 2025 costume experiment for Kyle Abraham’s 2×4 that didn’t move forward, he explained, but under the strobes, it was definitely in motion.
