Monthly Archives: October 2014

Last chance!

Dance Benzie memberships are still $60 for another 4 days, so this is your last chance to swell our ranks at the best rate. Why, why, why do we keep banging this particular gong? Because we want you with us – right now! Dance flushes away stress, enhances all the worthy aspects of human nature, tones and strengthens the physical temple, opens up blocked energy flow within the subtle body, opens the heart, quiets the mind, boosts your sexy better than 70s shampoo and is just plain whoopie tee doo!

What could you possibly be doing on a Tuesday night that’s more soulariffic than dancing with your neighbors and friends? There’s a very short list of possibilities, people – deep rapport with your true love? A tantric surrender to universal light? Being abducted by benevolent extra terrestrials?

Ok, maybe you’re raising the next generation of visionaries and world saviors, being the best mom and dad you can be. Maybe you’ve got priorities and obligations. All we’re trying to say is be sure those priorities and obligations are ultimately about true bliss, both yours and your kids, because what’s the future otherwise? Don’t be fooled by the false gods of consumeristic addiction! If we labor towards anathema, then surely humankind is unsustainable and basically doomed.

Imagine what you’ll be doing tonight around 7:00 pm. Do you see yourself bingeing on your fav shows, laboring to pay the bills, feeling sad and sulky because it’s all gone horribly wrong? The kingdom of heaven is spread upon the earth and man does not see it. Let those images tumble away like autumn leaves in a blustery blow. Empty your mind, and feel this – for a few hours tonight, a blazing ball of beauty is blooming not more then 10 minutes from your couch. Big medicine is about to be extant, magic afoot, your tribe’s going to move. You are there too, awash in wonder, alive, awake and almost amazing. There’s still time to be everything you want to be. Come and remake the world with hip sway and sliding step, with gesture and gaze.

Your membership supports the Mills Community House too, so there’s that. We have experienced dancers willing and able to give you the basics.

Dance Benzie is 7:30-10:00 pm every Tuesday. Membership through March for $60 ends this month. Student membership through March for $30 ends this month. Membership goes up to $70 and $35 respectively November 1. Drop-ins are $7 and $5. Yes, we are the cult of fun. Join us!

Eight is secret intelligence

Dance Benzie welcomes 2 new members, Ann Richardson and Micheal Parson-McNamara. We are now 8 members strong, with new drop-ins every week. Rapidly approaching double digits. Next up, the number of the goddess – nine.

This Tuesday, October 28 is your last chance for a $60 working membership through March. In November, working memberships jump to $70, then $80 in December. The November and December memberships are still way lower than drop-in rates, but the sooner you join the more you save. You know you’re gonna dance sooner or later, choose sooner!

This Saturday Mykl Werth’s dance mothership lands in Traverse City – the Phantom of the Opera House Masquerade. Dance Benzie will definitely deploy, and there’s rumors that even the mysterious one armed dancer is going. Mykl’s teaching a waltz class at 6:30 and the dance starts at 8.

Phantom of the Opera House Masquerade on Facebook

Your membership and drop-ins at Dance Benzie support our vintage venue, the Mills Community House. We dance in the 2nd floor theater, which is huge – thanks to recent infrastructure upgrades facilitated by the stalwart board of the Mills, we can have up to 200 dancers in the theater! More upgrades are planned and you can help make that happen – just by joining Dance Benzie.

Learning co-creative dancing is absolutely a huge ball of juicy goodness all by itself. With a membership that let’s you dance deep into 2015, you’re also helping to restore and sustain an amazing community resource. Is there any downside to Dance Benzie? It’s only once a week.

We’re considering a live music event before the years end. That’s right – a live music event that’s all about dancing. Are you in? Drop us a note of encouragement.

Dance AT Dance Benzie DOT com

Just another fabulous Tuesday

With your brothers and sisters in co-creative movement, aka Dance Benzie, TONIGHT!

Just two weeks left in October – your last chance to get 6 month member pricing, $60 working, $30 for students. Membership gets you and a guest in every Tuesday. 6 month memberships won’t be available again until March 2015, so jump in now for the best deal on the most dancing – almost $5 off the drop-in rate, what?!

How do memberships work in November and December?

Working memberships go up to $70 for November-March and then $80 for December-March. Membership is always going to be more cost effective than the drop-in rate of $7 for working and $5 for students, but joining in the next two weeks is the best deal of all! Here’s the breakdown, (click for larger text).

We designed memberships to recruit lots of new dancers this year. We want Dance Benzie to grow fast. The sooner you’re in, the better – more fun for all, big savings for you. Join NOW!

Did you know we teach EVERY Tuesday? There are at least 3-4 experienced dancers ready and eager to get you started. Look for Earl, Rebecca, Dan and Ann, we usually say hi right away. We’ll give you the basics and then check on you through the night.

This Saturday October 25 is the Phantom at the Opera House Masquerade in Traverse City. Most of Dance Benzie members will be there. Come tonight and dip your toes in some co-creative dancing so you’ll be ready for Saturday in Traverse City.

Do subscribe to Dance Benzie for the latest dance updates, (top right at Dancebenzie.com) and pass it on!

Dance Benzie is growing

Dance Benzie welcomes new members Rebecca Fox and Kim Miller, we’re growing! You know we need you too, and frankly – you need us.

Farmers Almanac says we should expect more of what we had last winter, EPIC. Imagine yourself after the big snows have set in, those deep gray months. Sure, cozy at first, crackling fires and rocking chairs but then – stir crazy, vitamin D deficient – the white madness, gah!

You know what I’m talking about.

This year it’s going to be ok, I promise. First, turn your speakers on and play this video (or click the link), and keep reading…

Music to read this post by

Now imagine yourself arriving in the cheery, cozy theater of the Mills Community House, brushing off the snow and swinging it with a crowd of your newest best friends, heart pumping, a big old smile plastered on your mug, laughing – that’s right, LAUGHING – at old man winter. Dance Benzie is a game changer, folks.

Just like you’ve been stocking up on firewood for the old Jodel or Vermont Castings, it’s time to pile up a habit of coming and dancing every Tuesday. When that oppressive, dreary cold comes a creeping, your bones will be radiating an inner fire, the toasty spark of connected, co-creative, improvisational, shared center partner dance. Join as a member this month for the best winter investment you can make, next to merino wool long johns.

We accept cash and checks. Select harvests, home brews / preserves and vintage 78s are also of interest, contact Dan or Rebecca. Credit cards are on the horizon.

C’mon people, when was the last time something this cool was launched right on your doorstep practically? All aboard!

Definitely Dance Benzie

Dance Benzie is tonight, yay! AND… another chance to get in on our best rate membership.

Of course, you are all about becoming more kinetically intuitive, thrilling to spontaneous moments of shared genius, grinning like a kook and hanging with Benzie’s funnest folks… but did you know that Dance Benzie might be EVEN more than all that?

Could Dance Benzie make our community more resilient to the catastrophic collapse of the unsustainable consumer / empire feedback loop?

Is Dance Benzie a methodology for reversing the aging process and expanding human awareness into uncharted dimensions of compassion and wilderness rapport?

Will Dance Benzie enable certain individuals who have habitually felt slightly quirky (and maybe even a little off) to discover their life’s mission and attendant super powers?

What are the chances that Dance Benzie is more than just a gloriously great way to spend your Tuesday evenings? Do you want to risk missing these maybes? Do you believe in magic?

Membership gets you dancing through March 2015 and is ONLY $60 for working folks and $30 for students.

Oh and hey, get your danceable friends and fam to sign up for Dance Benzie email updates – always at the top right of this page. They”ll love you even more!

If you don’t have any friends, this might be a good way to get some.

We have members!

Dance Benzie welcomes our first 4 members, whoop! Earl, Emily, Dan and Ann Marie are not only enjoying a radically cost effective dance experience AND making themselves eligible for all kinds of VIP benefits (think cupcakes), they are also serving the greater good by making sure Dance Benzie grows up big and strong.

Andy, Dawn and Kim

Of course, we all know that membership ultimately supports our fabulous venue, the Mills Community House, one of the friendliest spaces for dance in the region – huge! The Mills Theater also sports a crispy sound system, warm vintage lighting and verticality rivaling (perhaps even surpassing) the Traverse City Opera House – so your every swish and swoop is that much nearer the stars.

Ann Marie and Michael

Our goal is 30+ members, so please – get in on the fun! Sure, drop-ins are great, we love it when ANYONE dances. However, the savings of membership are huge, about 1/3 the price of dropping in, whether you join as a working stiff or student.

Members can bring in guests for FREE. What?! Yes, that’s right, for FREE. This is perfect for reluctant spouses, shy friends and/or those who cherish *anonymity. After attending three times, guests can either pay as a drop-in price or just join.

Let’s do the math, shall we? If you drop in at Dance Benzie 4 times with a date, that’s $64 for the two of you. Joining for $60 at the start of October let’s you dance through March (21 times) and your guest gets in FREE. If you bring the same guest three times, then the 4th time they’ll have to either drop-in or join. Let’s say they drop-in, that would be $67, but YOU are still ahead of the game cause you get to keep dancing for the rest of the membership AND you can either bring 6 other people 3 times, or 9 people 2 times OR 18 other people once – a new guest every night! This is slightly skewed against monogamy and family values, but hey… it’s just a dance. So much intrigue for just $60, yum.

Join the euphoric gathering of Tuesday evening co-creative movement enthusiasts and become a member of Dance Benzie today. Wait – did you say you DON’T dance? PLEASE! Just come and an attractive and experienced dancer will gladly give you the basics in 10 minutes – you don’t need steps or much of anything except maybe a bit of curiosity and a dash of courage, (non-liquid variety). We’re waiting for you – yes YOU!

Andy (again) and Ann

Dance Benzie Membership October 2014 – March 2015

working $60
student $30

Dance Benzie Drop-In

working $7
student $5

Do pass this email along to anyone who might want to move beautifully Tuesdays or just needs a little lift today. (That one was for Steve Elrick, the pun king. Get it – ‘need a lift’? Dancers… lifts,,,?).

Oh… and send people to the top right of this page to register for Dance Benzie emails. It’s highly likely they’ll never regret it.

* See Dan to join with an encrypted alias to hide your identity – another VIP member service for super heros and militia members. “Dan” may not actually be his name, btw.

Dance Benzie Flyer

Here’s our new flyer, do print and post where ever dancers might be.

Dance Benzie now has memberships!

Every Tuesday from 7:30 – 10:00 pm at the Mills Community House Theater, get together with the improvisational, connected, co-creative dancers of Dance Benzie. You don’t have to memorize steps or styles to partner dance.

By relaxing into a shared center of gravity, you can move with another easily and with grace, even if you’ve never partner danced before. A few minutes of basic instruction will set you up for hours of smiles – and there are always at least 3-4 experienced dancers who are happy to show you how. We’ll get you moving, we’re not shy. 😉

Dance Benzie is social, good for your body and most of all – fun! All ages can learn and are welcome, but it’s mostly a grown-up thing. You don’t need to come with a partner, there are always plenty of people to dance with.

Dance Benzie is the weekly venue for improvisational partner dance in Benzie County. We rent the amazing Mills Community House theater every Tuesday night to gather and grow the local community of dancers, this means YOU.

New drop-in rates are $7 for working folks and $5 for students. For those of us who want to dance every week, (and who doesn’t?) that can add up, so Dance Benzie has introduced a hassle free low cost alternative – memberships.

This month, pay $60 and dance right through to March 2015. That’s just $2.30 a night, a 60% discount! Even if you come every other week, your still making out like a bandit. Join this October and a 6 month student membership is just $30!

Members get to bring a guest every Tuesday – a new person or someone who can only come occasionally. After coming 3 times, guests can either pay the drop-in rate or become a member.

Members also get discounts on classes and special events, like the live music shindig we’re thinking about for the holidays.

Improvisational Partner Dancing (co-creative, connected dance) is a homegrown Northern Michigan innovation. Mykl Werth teaches an excellent semester class at Northwestern Michigan College and hosts open dances Wednesday and Friday nights. Every few months Dance Benzie will host an intensive workshop – either by bringing Mykl down from Traverse City or Zipper Dance‘s family Shaberg from the UP.

Make Tuesday evenings awesome – become a member of Dance Benzie today. You’ll also be helping to sustain an important initiative in Benzie County – bringing local people together for friendship and connection at our LOCAL social dance venue.

Drop ins

regular $7
student $5

Members (October – March)

regular $60
student $30

Be sure to sign up for email updates at https://dancebenzie.com