BREWER – Age does have its benefits. Well Forms, Twin Spin DJ Service and Frank’s Bakery have joined together to present A Gift for the Holidays, a dessert and dance series for senior citizens, planned for 1-3 p.m. Thursdays, Nov. 6, 13 and 20, and Dec. 4, 11 and 18 at Well Forms, 611 Wilson St., in the former Hamel Fuels building. The dances are free of charge.

“We had no idea there was such a following, that seniors were out there in the community dancing,” said Deb McCue, manager of Well Forms.

Twice each week, she said, as many as 30 seniors, ages 60-90, gather at the facility to dance for health and fitness.

“They do ballroom dancing, swing and line dancing. And they get dressed up to come to dance,” she said. The seniors dance to maintain strength and for conditioning, she said. Dancing is so popular that two teachers now work with Well Forms to offer dance lessons to the seniors.

McCue heard through the ballroom dance community grapevine that 60 seniors meet at various Brewer restaurants each week to have lunch.

“We started thinking about having a dance for them after lunch,” she said, and that’s how the dance series got its start.

Well Forms has been open only six months, McCue said, and the response has been “very positive.” It was built by owner Christopher Hutchins of Bangor, who wanted an alternative to gyms and exercise centers to help address health and fitness issues of his own.

“It was an ‘If we build it, will they come?’ kind of thing,” McCue said. “We didn’t know the dance floor would be so popular.”

Frank’s Bakery will provide sweet treats at the dances, and Art Dearing of Twin Spin DJ Service will play vinyl 45s and LPs and compact discs featuring music from the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.

Dearing, retired from the U.S. Army, is donating his time to spin platters for the dance series. He brainstormed with McCue and others to come up with the dance series idea.

“I wanted to give something back to the community,” he said. He will bring 4,000 45-rpm vinyl records to the dances. “I also play today’s music. I can fill 99 percent of the song requests I get.”

The Well Forms fitness center is a new idea to the area, McCue said. “We are pleased by the variety of people who come here to dance – everyone from toddlers to 90-year-olds.” There are no membership fees and no registration. People just show up, she said, and pay by the class or for a series of classes.

Those who attend the free dance series on Thursdays can look forward to dipping and swaying in the waltz, fox trot, two-step, polka and cha-cha. Floor space, McCue said, is limited and reservations are recommended. For more information, call Well Forms at 989-9730.