‘Everybody seemed thrilled they’d made it inside’: sizzling images from Studio 54 – in pictures

Tod Papageorge: ‘Although I made these photographs more than 45 years ago, I’ll never forget watching this scene unfold near dawn on New Year’s Day, 1978, while I waited in agony for my flash battery to show whether it could power another exposure. After more than a minute, the ready light finally sparked on for what would be the last time that morning, just as a balloon fell slowly down to the very tips of the woman’s fingers, her head arched achingly back to watch its fall. I pressed the shutter, and the room was lost in light’