When Meri Bender says she grew up in the business she owns today, it’s not an exaggeration. When she started dancing at what is now Bender Performing Arts, she was 5. The dance school was about a year old, and Meri was taught by its original founder, a single mom with a record player and tumbling mat in her Phoenix garage.
Meri continued taking lessons through high school and after graduating from a performing arts college in California returned to Phoenix at the dance school of her youth.
That same year, Meri met fellow dance teacher and co-worker Kevin Bender, who would become her husband and – when they purchased the school that bears their name in 1996 – business partner.
For the married couple of 31 years, Bender Performing Arts is not just their business. It’s been a very personal part of their lives. It’s also been a way to fulfill their dream of teaching and using the performing arts to bring out the best in students as kids and into adulthood.
“It helps them to be great human beings and gives them the confidence to do whatever they want to do in life,” Meri said. “That will always be our driving mission.”
This year, the school celebrates its 50th anniversary as the Valley’s oldest dance studio, offering nearly every style encompassing ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary and hip-hop.
At an alumni event in 2022, Kevin was listening to many stories from former students over the decades sharing what dance taught them, and how it instilled resilience and discipline in a way that other activities may not have. “I didn’t know how it affected them as adults,” Kevin said. “They got through college and their jobs because of that grit.”
Since the Benders took over, the curriculum has expanded to include private music and voice lessons, musical theater, and tumbling, pom and cheer classes for ages 2 1⁄2 to adult. It also creates original productions and pieces and gives students the option to compete or keep their dance recreational. What started in 1974 in a garage has grown into a state-of-the-art 14,000-square-foot facility.
The couple’s strong theatrical background inspired the additional programs.
“It’s a place for everyone, whether they are advanced and wanting a career or a beginner trying it out,” Meri said.
In its first year, the school, originally the Betty Johnson School of Dance, taught fewer than 100 students, Kevin said. In every year that followed, enrollment steadily increased.
“Every few years she kept moving up the street and into bigger spaces,” Kevin said.
When he and Meri purchased the school from the original founder Betty Johnson, it had 500 students. Today, Kevin said that number has doubled with Bend-er Performing Arts serving 950-1000 students at any time.
Bender is part of a U.S. dance studio market valued at $4.5 billion in 2023, according to business industry resource IBISWorld.
The evolution has created an intangible quality that reaches students beyond lessons and performances. Kevin uses the term “third place,” the sociological concept referring to social surroundings where people can have a good time and build relationships. This comes after home and work or school, the first and second places, respectively.
“We feel like we’ve been a third place for them to be themselves, be who they are and enjoy what they do with other like-minded kids,” Kevin said. “A place where they feel confident.”
That’s exactly how Karen Conway’s daughter Alyssa, 16, described the dance school she’s attended for nearly 10 years. “That’s a huge compliment as to what they teach and how the teachers love and treat them all the time,” said Conway, who lives in Phoenix. “It’s such a warm, welcoming place and she feels so safe there and feels loved and supported.”
Alyssa does ballet, contemporary, jazz and hip-hop. She is in her third year on the competitive team. Conway has noticed the impact on more than just what her daughter demonstrates in the studio or on the stage. Alyssa is very organized and disciplined, which shows in the classroom and on report cards. She doesn’t want to let down her dance teammates, so she puts the time and hard work into practice, just like an athlete in a mainstream team sport like basketball or football.
“She has all the life skills that will make her success-ful as a human and professional and they have really taught them in a very loving way,” Conway said “It’s really incredible and there is no other space I would want my kid, especially as a teenage girl, to be in.”
For Meri, teaching had always been her passion. After graduating from college in California, she returned to her hometown to teach for her first and longtime instructor.
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Kevin moved to Arizona with his family when he was 6. He had been a perform-er since he was a child, even having an agent, and did voice over work in addition to dance. Kevin was 15 when he started teaching tap dance to first graders. He went on to have a professional dancing career that brought him to Los Angeles, where he also taught. He had done mostly commercials and music videos for famous pop stars but during the writers’ strike in 1986, returned to the Valley for a break. One day Kevin came home to a message on his answering machine asking if he’d be willing to be a substitute teacher at Betty Johnson School of Dance. “I thought it would be temporary, but I never left,” said Kevin, who wanted to have a family one day and knew the nomadic lifestyle of a professional dancer was not conducive to that goal. “I wanted stability, and I got that with teaching.” Six years later, he met the new teacher who would be his wife and mother of his children. “We wanted the same things. Friendship grew into love,” Meri said. “We wanted to be entrepreneurs and have a family.”
In 1992, Meri and Kevin took over managing the school. Around that time Johnson floated the idea that she may want to hand over the ownership reins. Management allowed the Benders to experience and demonstrate running the school while learning about business ownership. Four years later, the Benders bought the school from Johnson. In 2006, they moved into a new built-from-the-ground-up building and renamed the school. They see this as a continuation of Johnson’s legacy. “Our goal was never to change what Betty did. It was to grow her vision and to keep the same culture and love for this,” Meri said.
Several community efforts and fundraising for various children’s charities enhances the mission. This includes a partnership with Valley nonprofit Moriah Co-operative, which provides inclusive social programs for children with special needs.
The number of Bender multi-generational families is another testament. Many students are children of former students. “Parents saw how the arts helped them as people and they want the same thing for their kids,” Kevin said. “Seeing the growth and experiences you can pass on to students and watching the a-ha moments… Those are rewarding.”
Many instructors and directors, like Meri, are former students who have returned to offer future generations the same treasured memories, experiences and friendships they experienced. “We look at the wall (of photos) of our staff and they grew up here as well and now they’ve taken the baton,” Meri said. “As a teacher, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your own students doing this success-fully as your employees.”