Synergy Dance Club officially came into existence on July 6, 2008 - with its Grand Opening Party.

Synergy was created by Jonathan Anderson and several other “club aholics” that had previously promoted and completely built up other clubs under the umbrella of Party Posse Promotions. This group truly liked and cared about 16+ clubs and events in Minnesota, and figured that if they could get their own venue they could put together better events then anyone had ever seen before in the Midwest. Their goal was not to make a ton of money, but rather to host really cool parties that were affordable for all teens.

Prior to this point in time most 16+ clubs in the Twin Cities were created with one purpose, and that was not to cater to the teen market, but rather to simply find a way to make money on their “off nights.” In effect the various club owners didn’t care about making the parties being “fun” or “cool” but only cared about making as much money as possible. In effect, this lead to a string of closers that had left the 16+ club market incredibly bare. Prior to Synergy there had been (in order) Alleygators, Rush (Gold Rush), Waterworks, The Backdoor (Tropixs), Playground (Warehouse), Cancun, Aftershock, Krush, Nitro (Myth), Kraze (Karma), and Rumor. Only one teen club (Nitro) remained in operation when Synergy began.

Club Nitro at Myth had become the dominant force in the 16+ marketplace. In effect running all of the other 16+ clubs including the prior dominant one (Energy) out of business. As a result Nitro was able to continually increase their prices to as high as $15 per event. In effect, this alienated a large percentage of the teen population and after peaking with an average of 1500 teens at each event, Nitro began to decline in the spring and summer of 2008. At this time Energy had completely gone under and thus the home of Energy (Stargate Nightclub) was on the verge of financial bankruptcy.

The general perception up until that point in time was that teens had nothing to do and if someone had a 16+ event then teens would flock to it. This perception had developed because throughout the 90’s this is basically what had happened. However, what most of these owners didn’t understand was that the teen marketplace had become more selective and careful about where they went. They no longer simply wanted to go out to any random club, for the vast majority of them; if they were going to go out they wanted to go to a well put together party with tons of people. Because most of these clubs never catered to the 16+ market and essentially just took their money and never did anything cool that would make teens want to come back, for most teens they would go once and never return, and as a result clubs couldn’t maintain viability and systematically went under. 

After months (and in some cases years) of working and making Nitro as dominant as it was, many of the promoters had become disenfranchised with Nitro because once again the emphasis was put on making money rather than throwing cool parties. As a result when the opportunity arose to start up a new club concept in the home of what was once the original dominant teen club (Energy). The various promoters jumped about the “Party Posse” bandwagon and began a promoting blitz to establish Synergy Dance Club at Stargate Nightclub.

Stargate’s teen night, Energy, had completely dissolved into a club that only a handful of people went too because it was perceived and seen as ghetto, trashy, and dirty. However, the club itself, Stargate, was still fairly nice and could still be used if the proper image was put together and the promotion was molded to target a nicer type of crowd. By restructuring the way it was marketed, it in turn created a much more desirable event that people actually wanted to come too.

At that point in time Synergy’s primary focus was to create a new club concept that everyone would be excited about. The goal was to get as many people to the club as possible and thus making it super popular and packed each and every week. To do this, and to compete with the juggernaut that was Myth, Synergy introduced the lowest cover charge in teen club history. If people came before 9 p.m. they only had to pay $3 and if they had a flyer only $2. Teens across the metro loved this concept and Synergy was able to remain financially viable because so many people worked to get the word out that so many people came which made the lower cover charge add up.

On July 6th 2008, with only 10 days to promote that first event, Synergy opened its doors to an amazing 628 people. Over the next several weeks, until the end of the summer, Synergy was able to pull in an average of 500 people each week despite being in the shadow of Myth. Synergy attracted and slightly classier type of crowd that tended to be more suburban than any club before.

A dress code was emplaced after the second event that made it so people who didn’t meet the standards couldn’t come in. In effect, further losing money for Synergy, since each week over 100-200 people were turned away for not meeting dress code, it fostered a better atmosphere inside the club that lead to a more continuous prosperity because the club goers knew the standards of the club and those standards created an aura of friendliness and comradary that had not been present at other clubs. This made Synergy become the talk of the town and continued to make word of it spread throughout the metro area.

Because of Synergy’s success over the summer and Stargates financial failing on their other nights, Stargate was eager to have Synergy move from Sundays to Saturdays when the school year started.

This made it so the Synergy would be the first 16+ in over 5 years to be on Saturdays.

Over the next two months during football season Party Posse Promotions worked tirelessly to establish the new Saturday nights.

When Halloween came, Synergy ended up throwing the biggest, fully themed party ever seen, which easily eclipsed Nitros Halloween party that year. Synergy used Stargate’s “Club Crystal” room to create a haunted house that people had to find their way through to get to the dance floor where a huge costume party took place. The party was epic and launched Synergy into the Stratosphere of clubbing.

During the month of November, Synergy continued to grow and expand. Following the success and positive word of mouth from the Halloween party, Synergy began to grow even larger and even MTV heard about it and came in twice to do casting calls for their upcoming shows. Thanksgiving saw the biggest party Synergy had ever had and what turned out to be the last one at Stargate. 

Synergy was abruptly forced to stop having events in December due to Stargate’s financial failings. As a result it was thought Synergy’s run might be over. However, Party Posse refused to give up and within 6 weeks had secured an alternate venue from which to hold parties at.

Synergy moved to ImPulse Nightclub, which was run out of the Profile Event Center, across the street from the Gophers Stadium at the University Of Minnesota.

While the transition wasn’t as smooth as everyone had hoped, and unfortunately they still couldn’t do weekly events, eventually Synergy got reestablished and was able to throw special event themed parties about twice a month. The increased competition from another break off group from Nitro, Make Some Noise Produ. ctions, which began hosting special events at Valentino’s, also made it more difficult to establish Synergy’s “special events parties” since people had become accustomed to weekly events.

During the summer of 2009 Synergy secured a contract to do weekly events throughout the summer at ImPulse. Despite stiff competition from Nitro and Valentino’s, Synergy was able to maintain a decent, not great, attendance level at the beginning of the summer.

What was more impressive was the fact that attendance grew throughout the summer, and although levels were lower then what they wanted, they were still able to hold cool theme parties throughout the summer.

What really cemented Synergy’s legacy was that Valentino’s did so poorly that they shut down at the end of July, and because of massive internal problems at Myth and low attendance numbers (for such a large space) Nitro also essentially went under at the end of the summer.

This made Synergy the sole surviving club at the end of the summer.

Unfortunately Synergy’s contract expired and due to new licenses and restrictions from the City of Minneapolis, and the fact the Profile Event Center was doing wedding and private events for the University over the Fall, Synergy decided to look for another venue.

Since the previous fall had seen minimal attendance due to football games, The Party Posse set its sights on another “Huge Halloween Haunted House/Costume Party.”

Since The VIP Olmeca Event Center opened in September they figured it may be a viable option. It was and Synergy was able to hold the Halloween event there.

Even though it was farther south than any club before, since it went so well, Olmeca wanted to do more parties. Synergy decided it would be best to do a series of Special event parties until summer. So, over the course of the next few months, Synergy used its tremendous resources to throw some of the biggest parties they had ever had, topping 1000 twice during the month of January.

In February Olmeca decided to move to a 18+ Friday Night format which meant Synergy wouldn’t have any move events there until, at best, summer.

Due to the extended layoff, Synergy began looking for another possible new venue in the northern suburbs, as a way to hold events during the layoff, and possibly expand when summer hit.

During this search Synergy found a brand new center right up the road from Stargate, and as a result, Synergy decided to give it a shot and throw a couple parties at Prestige Nightclub.

The parties went well but due to some internal problems back at Onyx and the fact that Prestige was undergoing a remodel during this summer; Synergy was once again left without a permanent home.

Synergy had planned to do weekly events at Onyx in Burnsville every week during the summer.

Unfortunately due to a series of internal problems at Onyx (that we may be able to spell out in more detail later) and the remodel at Prestige, Synergy doesn’t have any event currently scheduled for summer.

However, Synergy is continuously looking and working with various venues to do new and more events so hopefully we will have another one for you all soon.

If a solution can be reached and if Onyx can be reopened sometime soon we will let everyone know. If you have any questions feel free to text the “Minnesota 16+ club hotline” 763-670-9238.