Kindergarten clubbing

Tucked into a greige industrial shopping strip on a nondescript road in Voorhees is the hottest club you've never heard of. That is, unless you run with the in-the-know kindergarten crowd.

Just ask Olivia Oberle, who celebrated her fifth birthday with 23 of her besties at the Groove Lounge on a recent Saturday night. "I wish there was a place like this when I was growing up," said Olivia's mom, Anne Marie Oberle, as she handed out beaded necklaces to the kids. "I have to live vicariously through them."

For three years, Cherry Hill resident Betsy Fischer has been throwing nightclub-style dance parties for the pint-size set in the South Jersey space that she has converted into a dance studio/club.

Her parties are miles away from shindigs at Chuck E. Cheese or the local lanes. Rather, they're targeted toward the American Idol-loving, Just Dance Wii-gaming, Disney teen-worshipping generation.

As the kids file in and hug hello - the girls in Madonna-esque sequined puffy skirts and leggings, the boys in hip T-shirts - Fischer grabs the mike from the DJ booth. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " plays in the background.

"Who is ready to get the party staaarrrttteeed?" Fischer blares. "I can't hear you! I said, who is reeeaaadddyyy?"

And just like that, the dance floor darkens, "Happy Birthday Olivia" flashes on a flat screen, the disco lights swirl, the plush zebra-print lounge cubes glow, and Fischer, the party starter, has everyone's attention. (The smoke machine will puff later on. It is, after all, only 5:30 p.m.)

The big kids, as Fischer calls them, linger near the boozeless bar and watch as their offspring are led through a series of dances. They see the Cupid Shuffle (which brought many moms out to the parquet) and the Olivia dance, named for the birthday girl, where the spotlight seekers of the group take turns leading the dance. (Stephanie and her mom got big cheers when they whipped out the Running Man.)

There's Justin Bieber and the Limbo, giveaways like flashing microphones, and cake. The music is loud. Basically the party is a Sweet Sixteen for those who haven't yet reached the double digits, and at half the cost. Packages start around $23 a child, pizza included.

While all parties at the Groove Lounge involve movement and music, there are also karaoke, Zumba, or game-show themes, in which teams play name that tune and answer trivia questions about the honoree. (For kids 4 to 94, says the Groove Lounge website.)

"I honestly have kids cry when it's over," Fischer says. Wearing a purple tie-dyed T-shirt, sneakers, and wireless headset, she keeps the event flowing. It's hard to believe the high-energy, nimble, rhythmically blessed Fischer has teenagers at home.

It was all the schlepping that inspired Fischer to convert her mobile DJ business into a bricks-and-mortar location. "Life as a DJ is hard work," she says. "I'm a one-woman show most of the time. No one was helping me load equipment at midnight in the snow."

Now she has about 10 parties a month, and offers adult and kid dance and exercise classes in the space during the week.

Fisher has a master's degree from Temple University, where she wrote her thesis on the intersection of handicapped children and the performing arts. She taught special education in public school for 10 years and always incorporated theater and dance into lesson plans.

When she was growing up in North Jersey, there was a guy who used to come to her synagogue and teach social dance. It was an experience that stuck with her, so after she stopped teaching to raise her own kids, she started leading dance classes at Woodcrest Country Club in Cherry Hill, in the mid-'90s. That evolved into the DJ business.

Pulling from her days in the classroom, each party has a lesson-plan-like schedule, which keeps things organized. Name tags keep things personal. Games are interspersed with dancing. "There are some kids who don't like to dance," Fischer says. "Even if they don't, we do limbo and scooter relays. There's no pressure."

At Olivia's party, it's the big kids who don't want to leave the dance floor. It's a welcome Groove Lounge side effect. "We want parents involved," Fischer says. "There's hardly much better in life than having parents dance with their kids."