With warmer weather, a winding-down semester and spring-cleaning comes rebirth of cultural opportunity! Philly offers plenty of outside-the-box classes to broaden your stifled palate and up your cachet. You can always be more creative, more intellectual, and more flexible (in the physical sense). With the advent of spring, get going. Who ever said, "April is the cruelest month?"
Circus Aerial Skills
Ever wanted to join the circus? Have a Cirque de Soleil fetish? Air Play Philadelphia offers training courses in Static Trapeze, Spanish Web, Corde Lisse and a host of other sexy-sounding apparatuses. Small classes (maximum of three people) running in four- or five-week sessions will whip your yoga ass into serious carnie shape.
www.airplaytrapeze.com
101 W. Harvey St.
(215) 849-1991
Glassblowing & Beadmaking Studio
Looking for a quirky pastime to one-up all your artsy friends? With weekly classes, ongoing demonstrations and private workshops, Hot Soup Glass Studio, located in off-beat capital Old City, can help. Accessible for all ages and abilities, the classes will run you a small fortune ($495 for the eight-week beginner session) but will provide limitless cultural capital.
www.hotsoupstudio.com
26 S. Strawberry St. (between 2nd & 3rd, Market & Chestnut)
(215) 922-2332
Japanese Tea
Ceremony Class
Reito Kano offers instruction in one of the oldest, most honorable Japanese traditions, happening every Sunday for $28. Not Asian enough for you? Catch sushi-making seminars at the same restaurant.
www.lechampignon-tokio.com
122-4
Lombard St.
(215) 922-2515
Argentine Tango Music and Dance Seminars
Members of GoTanGo, a group of Philly-based tango professionals, instruct beginners in the art of making dance-love. $8 gets you 90 minutes of Argentine history, music appreciation, some sexy moves AND refreshments. Ole!
www.temple.edu/boyer/dance/DancingForSchools/FestivalDetails.htm#Seminars
5:00 - 6:30 p.m.: 4/3
Mitten Hall, 1913 N. Broad St.
(215) 204-7613
Old-school Art Lessons
A Center City meeting place for aspiring-artsy bohemians, the Philadelphia Sketch Club offers low-cost, public studio classes in several disciplines for all levels. You'll find a cheap ($8) workshop any day of the week. Longer-term students can join a six-week intro session and profit from readily available exhibition space.
www.sketchclub.org
235 S. Camac St. (between 12th & 13th, Locust &
Spruce)
(215) 545-9298
Media
Education
The Scribe Video Center has been promoting the video-as-progressive-medium since 1982. Take a workshop for a brush-up in such skills as Camera & Lighting, Sound Recording, Linear & Non-linear Editing, Blogging and Scriptwriting for fiction and documentary film. This hub also offers access to work space and equipment rentals.
Classes run anywhere from a three-week seminar ($75) to a 14-week session ($250). www.scribe.org
4212 Chestnut St., 3rd floor
(215) 222-4201
