KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 News anchor Rae Daniel covers stories across Kansas City with a focus on community groups and highlighting fun things to do on the weekends. Share your idea with Rae by email.
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We've got another Weekend Fun event happening this Saturday! The Earlybirds Club hosts dance parties for women across the country!
This weekend, the club is coming back to Kansas City.
It starts early, at 6 p.m. and ends early, at 10 p.m. I spoke with Laura Baginski, one of the co-founders of The Earlybirds Club, who shared this is a way to take some stress off, have some fun and honor a legacy.
"The way music can bring you back to yourself is truly amazing and we're seeing that with people who come to our parties and they're like I feel like I'm 20 again," Baginski says. "But I'm smarter!"
The Earlybirds Club was founded by two friends named Laura Baginski and Susie Lee.
"We go way back to high school, in the suburbs of Chicago," Baginski said. "And we just bonded over our love of music, especially new wave music."
Two years ago, their love for music expanded into a dance party for women, by women.
"It was definitely an outlet," Baginski said. "But for us, it was absolutely the best time. We were both dealing with some really tough stuff."
Baginski's mother was battling brain cancer at the time. Baginski was her mother's primary caregiver until her mother passed away.
Lee was battling stage four metastatic breast cancer.
"Dancing unlocks a lot of pent up stress and that can be very freeing and emotional," Baginski said.
"It's not just a dance club. It's connection," Lee shared with a Chicago crowd at a dance event in February of 2025. "It's female empowerment."
Lee lost her battle to breast cancer in August of 2025.
"She was the funniest, most full of life person I've ever known," Baginski said. "Even when she was so weak, she would go to the dance parties and sit on a chair and have her cane that lit up and she would just go like this to the music and that's just the type of person she was."
Lee's legacy continues to stand strong.
"I feel Susie at these parties, I feel like she is still, I feel like she's still alive at these parties," Baginski shared. "I feel her presence like on every smile, on every face, that's Susie. She made this happen. I miss her...so much."
Baginski says they'll continue to honor Lee and also remind women who come to the events, to just have a moment to reset.
"This is a place where we don't have to take care of anybody," Lee shared in February of 2025. "We have no responsibilities."
"And feeling like they've taken care of themselves in this way, and being grateful for that," Baginski said. "And also knowing that you had a reset and now you can give everything to whatever you have to do, your kids, your career, caring for parents, whatever, you deserve that."
The Earlybirds Club has expanded to over 40 cities across the U.S. and this is their second time in Kansas City.
Here's the information for Saturday night's event:
It's at the Warehouse on Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri.
It's from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets are about $46 online, including fees. You can buy tickets here.
Ten percent of the proceeds will benefit Sleepyhead Beds, a local nonprofit that delivers donated beds to KC children and families in need.
For a look at other events happening this weekend, click here.
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