Swingshift and the Stars

SwingShift and the Stars is a dynamic, inventive dance-off to benefit area nonprofits, including the Traverse Bay CAC. Six local celebrities paired with six local dance instructors have pledged to sacrifice sore feet and hours of practice time, to entertain an audience and encourage vote donations. 

In a series of five live performances the audience will have the privilege of voting for their favorite couple for a minimum donation of $5 to go towards one of the six charities selected by the competing couples. 

Meet the CAC's dancers

Denise Busley, star

Denise grew up in Portage, Michigan with her seven-member family until she was 22.  While living in San Diego with Mike, her husband of 29 years, they became inspired by the nostalgia of homemade pies and pursued the idea of opening a pie shop in Traverse City. They were impressed with the natural beauty, quality of life, and all of the things to see and do and they feel truly blessed to call Traverse City home.

Denise’s greatest joy and most amazing love is her family.  Kellee, 25 and Bobby, 20 both attend MSU, following in Mom and Dad’s footsteps and have each worked in the pie shop in some capacity or another since Grand Traverse Pie Company opened in 1996. Denise believes that it is the duty of a community to protect it’s most pained citizen. This conviction led her to the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center where she is convinced that the services they provide to victimized children will help to make our community a better, safer and more nurturing place to live

Rodney Woodring, instructor

Family roots run deep in the Traverse City area for Rodney. He finds the people are friendly and there are so many things that you can do indoors and outdoors each season. Traverse City has a small town atmosphere with big city activities. Rodney and Cheryl have been married for ten years and he has two stepsons, Edward and Travis, and his daughter who attends medical school in Wyoming. His mother, sister and brother all live in Traverse. Rodney loves golf, down hill skiing, acting in local theater, dancing and being the SwingShift and the Stars stage manager. He is a proud member of the Grand Traverse Pipes and Drums playing tenor drum. He is currently taking bagpipe lessons and hopes to play with the band full time by next summer.

After serving in the Army Rangers and a twenty-year stint in a factory, Rodney went back to school and became a medical massage therapist and is now the owner of A Body Balance Clinical Massage. Having been integrally involved with SwingShift and the Stars from the beginning, Rodney is super excited to be able to teach someone that anyone can dance while representing their charity well and exciting the crowd. He is most thrilled by the sense of community that this event inspires even during tough times.