Don’t stay on the side­lines the next time a rogue Flash Mob strikes Rosa Parks Cir­cle, down­town Chicago dur­ing the North­Star Dance-O-Rama…or maybe even Hollywood!

Join an Arthur Mur­ray Grand Rapids dance stu­dio and learn some steps for our Flash Mob. Turn run-of-the-mill out­ings into flash-mobster extravaganzas!

Con­tact the stu­dio near­est you to “get connected.”

If you want to step up your Latin dance moves, don’t hes­i­tate to book your ses­sion with siz­zling Rhythm champ Juan de Dios Gar­cia dur­ing his spe­cial visit to the Grand Rapids Arthur Mur­ray Stu­dios June 4th and 5th.
Juan de Dios Gar­cia has been with Arthur Mur­ray since 1998. He and his wife Cari are Cham­pion dancers and fran­chisees of the suc­cess­ful Arthur Mur­ray Dance Stu­dio in San Jose, CA. In addi­tion to own­ing the stu­dio he also trav­els the world con­sult­ing for Arthur Mur­ray Inter­na­tional Inc. as one of the orig­i­nal mem­bers of the Inter­na­tional Train­ing Team. His goal: to help moti­vate and inspire the future gen­er­a­tions of Arthur Mur­ray stu­dents and staff.
Talk to staff at one of Grand Rapid’s three Arthur Mur­ray Dance Stu­dios to book some les­son time with this out­stand­ing pro!

We’d like to send a big thank-you to all the Arthur Mur­ray dance stu­dents, local celebri­ties, and atten­dees who helped The Van Andel Insti­tute raise a whop­ping $82,000 for can­cer research at this year’s Danc­ing for a VARI Good Cause!  Local celebrity boot-camper Jaime Mills won both the fan favorite and the over­all event and Dr. Sapp was the other final­ist.  John Roberts and Anna did two fan­tas­tic num­bers to fin­ish the evening.  The Waltz was espe­cially mov­ing! A great time was had by all at the Amway Grand. If you missed it this year, be sure to join us next year for a fab­u­lous evening as our local celebri­ties strut their stuff for a great cause. Check out some of the stun­ning pho­tos cap­tured by local pho­tog Brian Kelly for VAI. Exquis­ite! For the full gallery, visit VAI’s Face­book Page.

Check out this great inter­view on the Wood 8 West pro­gram, fea­tur­ing our own Mrs. Marlow!

The Arthur Mur­ray Grand Rapids group of stu­dios in Kent­wood, Plain­field and Grandville would like to send out a big thank you to every­one who helped us cel­e­brate Arthur Murray’s very spe­cial, World­wide 24/Hr Birth­day Celebration!

We had a fab­u­lous time at the JW Mar­riott Wednes­day night, with a Flash Mob dance-through-the-eras, dance-offs, and great times rem­i­nisc­ing about our involve­ment with the founder of dance him­self. Our lead­ing lady, Mag­gie Spearin, was kept busy recount­ing Mr. Spearin’s days at the New York stu­dio with Arthur, and the 50 years she’s been involved in the enterprise!

We cap­tured a few can­did shots and video clips that we’re happy to share with stu­dents. And as Mr. Mur­ray always said, put a lit­tle fun in your life — dance!

We caught some fancy foot­work on can­did video, includ­ing the dance instruc­tors’ “Flash Mob” through the ages, an out­stand­ing Charleston, and some group fun.

We hoofed it through 100 years of dance on Wednes­day night as part of the Arthur Mur­ray World­wide 24/Hr Dance celebration!

We hope you’re plan­ning to cel­e­brate Arthur Murray’s birth­day with us on April 4th with world­wide web­casts and tons of fun! Check out this anniver­sary story by Fox5 in New York!

Arthur Mur­ray cel­e­brates 100 years: MyFoxNY.com

And Dance Across the Decades!

Where: JW Mar­riott
When: April 4, 7 — 10 p.m.
Tick­ets: $60 per per­son, avail­able by con­tact­ing your stu­dio.
Fea­tur­ing: Danc­ing, Heavy Hors d’oeuvres, Cash Bar, Con­tests — dress as your favorite dance decade!

WHY: A Cel­e­bra­tion of Arthur Murray’s birth­day and 100 years of dance that will be part of a WORLDWIDE WEB CAST. We’ll fea­ture staff shows, dance con­tests, and show off the best COSTUMES (OPTIONAL) from dance through­out the decades to salute the man who taught the world to dance! A night of spot­lights is in store, with dance com­pe­ti­tions like Peabody, the Twist, Charleston, Lindy, Elec­tric Slide and more!

His­tory

Mur­ray stepped onto the dance floor and into the his­tory of Amer­i­can pop cul­ture when he was a stu­dent at Geor­gia Tech. Known best for the iconic Arthur Mur­ray Dance Stu­dios, Arthur Mur­ray, the man, was a bril­liant mar­keter and inno­va­tor, start­ing his dance teach­ing career in 1912 at the his­toric Geor­gian Terrace.

“Most peo­ple remem­ber Arthur as an older gen­tle­man smil­ing in grainy dance photo poses from the 1950s, many times accom­pa­nied by his wife Kathryn, a tele­vi­sion celebrity in her own right. But Arthur was a vision­ary,” said John Kim­mins, Pres­i­dent of Arthur Mur­ray Inter­na­tional. “Fueled by a pas­sion for shar­ing his love of dance, Mur­ray cre­ated new mar­ket­ing meth­ods and embraced the lat­est in tech­nol­ogy and media to bring joy to millions.”

Check out a new web­site, http://www.100yearsofdance.com, where there are YouTube video clips, a photo gallery, and more details on our 100th Anniver­sary! And please join us to fete Mr. Mur­ray and his accom­plish­ment by danc­ing the night away!

Danc­ing for a VARI Good Cause

Loca­tion: JW Mar­riott, Grand Rapids
Date: April 27, 2012
Start Time: 7:00 PM

You’ve heard of Danc­ing With the Stars…now Van Andel Insti­tute and Arthur Mur­ray Dance Stu­dios Grand Rapids present Danc­ing for a VARI Good Cause!

Watch local celebri­ties com­pete in the ulti­mate dance-off. And, as a spe­cial treat, Jonathan Roberts and Anna Tre­bun­skaya of Danc­ing With the Stars will give two spec­tac­u­lar performances.

All pro­ceeds ben­e­fit dis­ease research and sci­ence edu­ca­tion at Van Andel Institute.

Online reg­is­tra­tion will be avail­able on March 1.
Stay tuned for ticket links!

Cock­tail Attire

Local Celebrity Dancers Include:

• Michelle Mck­o­rmick, radio per­son­al­ity on 97 WLAV and 1340am WJRW
• Brent Aschcroft, on-air per­son­al­ity on WZZM TV 13
• Dr. Mar­vin Sapp, pas­tor of Light­house Full Life Cen­ter Church and award-winning gospel singer
• Aaron Wong, attor­ney at Price Hen­eveld LLP
• Jamie Mills, Pres­i­dent of Mills Ben­e­fit Group
• Emily Lin­nert, anchor / reporter on WOOD TV 8

Please con­tact Sarah Lamb at Van Andel Insti­tute at 616–234-5712 or via email if you have any ques­tions or would like to become a spon­sor.

Spon­sor­ship Oppor­tu­ni­ties (down­load PDF) are available.