See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Noah Hurowitz
Brooklyn Daily
By Noah Hurowitz
It’s Friday Night Fever!
Coney Island roller-skating diva Diana Carlin, known to many as Lola Star, is reviving her People’s Playground roller-disco parties as a weekly, Friday-night event at Prospect Park’s roller rink, starting on July 11.
“My goal is to bring the magic of Coney Island to Prospect Park,” Carlin said. “That’s who I am and where I’m from.”
Lola Star’s Dreamland Roller Disco at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside will have a different theme every week, and Carlin encourages attendees to dress up so they can compete in costume contests with “fabulous prizes.”
The inaugural Dreamland disco night on July 11 will be “Flashdance”-themed and later motifs will include Ziggy Stardust, Xanadu, and “Moulin Rouge.”
Burlesque performer Helen Pontani will be on hand each night to teach attendees a series of theme-appropriate dance moves.
Carlin ran the Dreamland Roller Rink in the Childs Building on the Coney Island Boardwalk from 2008 to 2011. The skate complex held regular funk and soul nights on Fridays, and family skating on Saturdays, but people really knew Dreamland for its Saturday-night disco parties.Carlin is confident she can recreate the bell-bottom-draped bonhomie of her previous polyester-and-pirouette fests.
“Dreamland was a tough act to follow, but I think the Lakeside rink embodies a lot of the same magic,” Carlin said.
Carlin has booked disc jockeys who used to spin records at the Coney rink and every week will feature a skating contest and a rotating cast of performers.
The good time rolls every Friday night through Labor Day, meaning Carlin’s childhood dreams are stayin’ alive.
“I’ve had the whole concept of roller skating parties since I was seven years old,” she said. “All of the things I loved at seven, I’m making a reality.”
“Lola Star’s Dreamland Disco,” at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, [171 East Drive in Prospect Park, (212) 661–6640, www.lakesideprospectpark.com]. July 11, 8–10 pm. $15.