Blog > 2011 > December

New Year’s Eve Vinyasa
Saturday December 31
4:00-5:45pm

Please join Brittany’s regular Saturday 4pm class on New Year’s Eve as we clear our paths of what we no longer need and set grounded intentions as we move gracefully into this new year. 4:00-5:45pm (15 minutes extra!)

ZoomDance Winter Session
Thursdays, January 12 – March 1

ZoomDance classes at Studio34 are offered at a sliding scale of $90-$110 for the whole 8 weeks, which also gives you unlimited access to all the ZoomDance classes around the city. Or buy a 5-class card for $70, no expiration. For more information, please visit the ZoomDance website at http://www.zoomdance.com/.

10:30am – 11:15am Thursdays, 1.5-3 years
ZoomDance: This is a high energy class of dance, music, story-telling, imagination and fun! Over the course of the session, children will develop agility, coordination, rhythm, and balance through a dynamic range of actions. There is an emphasis on creativity and building confidence through songs, stories, and performance. Each week we’ll read a new story and then explore the movement and adventures of the characters. Kids have the opportunity to show off their favorite moves, invent characters, and try lots of new movement ideas. Grown-ups are encouraged to participate in this class with their small dancers.

4pm – 4:50pm Thursdays, 3-5 years
Intermediate ZoomDance: This class has the same essence as the younger ZoomDance class, with lots of energy and focus on exploring new ideas. We will start to push the edges of dancing the spectrum from wild abandon to careful details. In addition to learning trickier “moves”, we will start thinking of phrases and dances instead of only individual moves, and students will perform for each other in class. When acting out the story, our teachers will encourage students to offer their own ideas too. Grown-ups drop off their dancers for this one, and are invited in on the last day to see what we’ve been working on.

Buddhist Meditation Classes
Overcoming Anger
Mondays 7:00-8:00pm
January 16th-February 20th
Class Cost: $8
Conference Room of Studio 34

Join us for a weekly beginners’ meditation class on Monday evenings. We will be examining the Buddhist approach to overcoming anger and learning how to deal with problems in a healthy way. This class begins with a relaxation meditation, a brief teaching on Buddha’s view of anger, and ends with another energizing meditation. The topic of each class will be:

Jan 16 – The Ugly Truth about Anger
Jan 23 – Why We Get Angry
Jan 30 – Letting Go of Anger
Feb 6 – The Cooling Waters of Acceptance
Feb 13 – Learning not to Retaliate
Feb 20 – The Spiritual Practice of Patience

This 6-week series of classes is being offered by Amitayus Kadampa Buddhist Center (www.meditationinphiladelphia.org) at Studio 34 and will be taught by Salena Alberti, a meditation teacher who has over 10 years’ experience practicing and studying Buddhism.

New Year’s Eve Yoga and Mochi
December 31, 2011
8:00pm – 10:00pm
Suggested donation: $5-$15

Wring out your body before you ring in the New Year with this special 2-hour all-levels hatha yoga practice. Class includes brief meditation, pranayama (breathing), seated and standing poses, plus special sequences for reflecting on the past year while looking forward to the future. After practice, enjoy hot tea and mochi (sweet Japanese rice cakes) in the warmth of Studio 34′s community lounge.

Holiday Yoga Intensives
10:00am – 12:00pm
December 25, 2011 and January 1, 2012
$10

Expand your horizons with these 120-minute morning Forrest Yoga intensives. The December 25th class reflects on the many ways we celebrate tradition and brings that sense of celebration into the way we practice yoga. The January 1st class uses a dynamic future/past meditation as the foundation for creating our yoga practice. Both classes feature pranayama (breathing), seated and standing poses, plus some challenging inversions, arm balances, hip-openers, twists and/or backbends to warm you up for winter weather and the year to come.

Taina Asili y la Banda Rebelde
Friday, January 27th, 2012
8:00pm
$10

Puerto Rican vocalist Taína Asili carries on the tradition of her ancestors, fusing past and present struggles into one soulful and defiant voice. Her newest artistic work is with la Banda Rebelde (the Rebel Band), a six piece international ensemble based in Albany, NY. This dynamic force brings love, resistance, and ancestral remembrance to venues, festivals, conferences and political events across the globe. Powerful vocals laid over an energetic fusion of Afro-Caribbean, reggae, rock, and hip hop sounds, the band’s eclectic style represents the diversity of its members, who have origins in Puerto Rico, Sicily, Greece, Spain, Brazil and Ghana. Taína Asili’s voice exudes strength of Spirit, filling its listeners with the fervor of freedom and inspiring audiences to dance to the movement of rebellion.

Taina is a former resident of the West Philly community, and she is also expecting a new baby! She is excited to return for a special pregnancy performance!!

www.tainaasili.com
facebook.com/tainaasilimusic

Kids Yoga Class Series
with Lily

Drop-ins are welcome for this series!

Mondays 3:45-4:30 (ages 4-6)
In this fun-filled class, kids explore breathing exercises, games, poses and relaxation. They are introduced to communication skills in a playful, inspiring style to support themselves, their classmates, and their families. Class ends with relaxation to send kids home renewed and replenished.

Mondays 4:45-5:30 (ages 7-12)
Students explore ways to maintain balance in both their minds and bodies in this interactive, fun class. They learn how yoga can influence other aspects of life by
building emotional intelligence, boosting self esteem, and inviting challenge through group and partner activities. This is an engaging, inspiring class that includes breathing exercises, games, poses and relaxation.

Studio 34 Presents: Sweet Sound of Music
Saturday, December 3 @ 7:30p
$10 suggested donation ~ hot spiced cider on us!

This December will mark the 2nd anniversary of the Sweet Sound of Music shows, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with an all-Philly line up of incredible music-makers! West Philly’s own Buried Beds (recent tours with Dr. Dog and Murder By Death) will bring you a scaled-down version of their dreamy, poetic and quirky sound. Joshua Marcus returns with an all ukulele set, playing tunes from his latest album, “Uke Yr Illusion,” and Heyward Howkin brings his soulful pop sound all the way from South Philly.

Come to what has become the coziest music-listening and loving experience around, curl up on a couch or cushion, sip some cider, and prepare to be carried off by the sweet sound of music!

Buried Beds

The story goes that during the yellow fever epidemic back in the early days of Philadelphia, the city made everybody bury their bed to curb the spread of the disease. Meaning essentially, Philadelphia is built on buried beds. Inspired by this odd, historical bit, Philadelphia-based chamber-poppers, Buried Beds, craft upbeat and off-kilter songs that are as heavily percussive as they are nimbly orchestrated; rife with strange and imagined histories.

Eliza Jones and Brandon Beaver formed Buried Beds as a duo a few years back. Since then, the band has grown into a five-piece featuring a raucous mix of big drums, electric guitars, viola, piano, and heavy doses of three-part harmonies that mesh together with a mesmerizing and palpable chemistry. The band’s debut album, “Empty Rooms,” won them many fans and accolades, including Best Band in Philadelphia Magazine and a spot on Believer Magazine’s yearly music compilation.

Buried Beds recently put the finishing touches on their sophomore album, “Tremble The Sails.” Recorded by Beaver and Jones and mixed by the Spinto Band’s Nick Krill, Tremble trades their previous album’s delicate banjos for dueling guitars that create a landscape where love, death and your future-self throw a party. Tremble The Sails is filled with pop ecstatics that harken back to the Athens bubble gum psych revival of the 90′s with the occasional nod to Jeff Lynne. Joyful songs like “Breadcrumb Trail” and “Ivory Towers” will transport you, toes-tapping, into visions haunted by regal ancestors, hollow earth, and mystical creatures that give a general feeling that the world is a dark and beautiful place.

This year has been an exciting one for the Buried Beds, including tours with Dr Dog and Murder By Death, as well as, the release of their latest album, “Tremble The Sails,” on March 1st, 2011 via Admiral Byrd Records!

Joshua Marcus

Joshua Marcus performs “Uke Yr Illusion,” his new collection of six arrangements built around simple ukulele tunes. “Uke Yr Illusion” is a refreshing return to simpler songs for Marcus, after a few years performing the complexities of “Reverse the Charges” and seriousness of “This Land” on the banjo. As always, expect a peppering of crafty lyrics and syllabic phrasings, as well as a handful of Joshua’s friends to flush out these tunes on the recording. Tonight he’ll be performing with a band of friends.

Heyward Howkins

After getting his start playing guitar in Philadelphia’s The Trouble with Sweeney, Heyward recently embarked on a solo career. Heyward is currently recording a debut release with a full band and innovative production from the esteemed Chet Delcampo.

Heyward crafts smart, soulful pop music–equal parts British tweed (see Nick Drake, John Cale, The Kinks) and backwoods American (see Bon Iver, M. Ward).

Heyward also sings first tenor in the a capella supergroup Silver Ages with members of The War on Drugs, BC Camplight, Windsor for the Derby, Nightlands, National Eye, Buried Beds, Dr. Dog, Spinto Band, and The Capitol Years/Sweetlights.

Debut LP forthcoming: Winter 2012.

Buddhist Meditation Classes
Mondays 7:00-8:00pm
November 14th-December 19th
Suggested Donation $5-8
Conference Room of Studio 34

Join us for a weekly beginners meditation class on Monday evenings. We will be examining the Buddhist approach to making our lives more manageable and happy through utilizing the power of our own peaceful mind. This class begins with a relaxation meditation, a brief teaching on Buddhist topics, and ends with another energizing meditation. The topic of each class will be:

Nov 14- Learning to meditate
Nov 21- Nature of the Mind
Nov 28- Reducing Stress
Dec 5- Buddha’s Four Noble Truths
Dec 12- The Anger Problem
Dec 19- Living a Meaningful Life

This 6 week series of classes is being offered by Amitayus Kadampa Buddhist Center (www.meditationinphiladelphia.org) at Studio 34 and will be taught by Salena Alberti, a meditation teacher who has over 10 years experiencing practicing and studying Buddhism.

Restore
Saturday, October 15th, 1:00—2:30pm
Saturday, November 12th, 1:00—2:30pm
Saturday, December 10th, 1:00—2:30pm

Restore is designed for people experiencing stress, crisis, or trauma in the service to others. Participants include social workers, counselors, childcare providers, teachers, professors, health care workers, and community activists; all who struggle with stress are welcome Restore offers a safe place for personal growth. Each session introduces guided-discussion through poetry and stories, life-giving conversation, and soul-sustaining practices participants can use in their daily life.

Light snacks will be served. We are happy to provide childcare if you email us by the preceding Thursday.

Facilitators: Jim Schroder and Joy Howard

Please email if you have questions or would like more information: restore@vineyardwestphilly.org

Workshop Series: The Rainbow of Desire
7 Mondays • November 7-December 19 • 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Tuition: $55-$135 sliding scale • no one turned away.

To pre-register email tophilly@gmail.com
or call 215-730-0982

THE RAINBOW OF DESIRE is a family of theatrical techniques developed by Augusto Boal, founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed. Called “the Boal method of theatre and therapy,” the Rainbow of Desire replays situations from our everyday lives and reveals invisible elements of our relationships, such as emotions, mental obstacles (a.k.a. “Cops in the Head”) and desires that may be of hindrance or of help. Each session will begin with theatrical games that develop the theatrical vocabulary and build group dynamics, then we’ll move into sharing stories, choosing one to be acted out. From here, the Rainbow of Desire goes beyond the goal of helping us “get over” our past experiences; as in all branches of Theatre of the Oppressed, these workshops strive to vanquish ongoing oppressions, transforming individuals, relationships and society as a whole.

Please pre-register for this 7-week series by emailing tophilly@gmail.com or calling 215-730-0982. No prior experience is necessary, though to get a taste of what we’ll be doing, you are invited to come to the Cop in the Head performance on October 14th, as well as our Games classes on October 17th and 24th.