The Z’s Creative Classroom offers performing arts classes to learners of all ages and abilities in a variety of mediums. It’s a safe and inviting space for all to explore their curiosity and interest in the arts. To lead these classes, we’ve selected the top teachers, performers, and artists in the Southcoast. Not only do they leverage their talent and experience to bring out the best in each student, these local artists are also employed for work in their craft.
The arts are a powerful tool that deepens our connection to the world and can reveal new ways to see it. That’s why we aim to make Creative Classroom as accessible as possible with a “pay what you can” model. Choose a price at check-out.
Please note that a limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early! Registration closes a week after the first class.
If you have any questions regarding any of our classes please contact our
Director of Education and Community
,
Blair
Taylor
.
We want to hear it! We welcome suggestions for classes or workshops from teaching artists and instructors.
In this 5 week course, you'll learn Acogny: the only recognized contemporary dance technique created in Africa. Acogny is based on traditional African dances from Senegal and Benin and Western dance techniques like classical ballet, release, and Graham technique. Acogny asks us to place ourselves inside the community and nature and encourages us to become aware of our own bodies: by feeling, touching, and enjoying them. Acogny celebrates that every body is different and talks about life and the connection between human beings and nature. Joy, play, love and music are at the heart of this technique. You will receive 2 free passes to practice yoga at the School of Yoga New Bedford, valid during the Creative Classroom time period, when you sign up for the class!
Participants need to be in conformable clothing, bring water and towel. Participants are encouraged to dance barefoot.
Saturdays, May 6, 13, 20, 27 and June 3, 10 -11am.
Ages 18+
You can now purchase a single class for a drop-in rate of $10!
This class is at the School of Yoga New Bedford, located at 628 Pleasant St., New Bedford.
In this class you will learn the fundamentals of Cuban motion, basic steps, and figures. No prior dance experience or partner required.
Mondays, May 8, 15, 22, and June 5, 12, 19. 6-7PM. Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St.
Ages 16 +
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
In this class we will review the fundamentals of Cuban motion, basic steps, and figures and students will grow to incorporate more in depth steps. Student in this class must have command of the basics. Bringing a partner is preferred, but not required.
Mondays, May 8, 15, 22, and June 5, 12, 19. 7-8PM. Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St..
Ages 16 +
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
Step outside the constructs of musical skill and step into the soul of improv! In this 5-week course, you will not only explore jazz’s roots in the African diaspora and gain insight into the history of jazz music, but you will have the opportunity to jam out with other musical enthusiasts. No prior musical experience is necessary, but if you have an instrument you’d like to bring, we encourage it.
This class is a continuation of the previous session, but is still entry level for newcomers.
Participants should bring their musical instrument (if they have one) and/or voice and be ready to play for the last 30 minutes of class.
Tuesdays, from May 9, 16, 23, 30 & June 6, 6:30-8pm. Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St.
All ages welcome.
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
Join other young people for 7 weeks of musical fun learning the fundamentals of playing the ukulele. No prior musical experience is necessary, but participants must bring their own ukulele.
Need a ukulele? Call the New Bedford Public Library to rent a uke for free from their Funbrary using your library card or call The Symphony Music Shop to purchase one.
Wednesdays, May 17, 24, 31 and June 7, 14, 21, 28 from 5:30-6:30pm. In Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St.
Ages 6 - 15 years
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
Join us for 7 weeks of musical fun learning the fundamentals of playing the ukulele. No prior musical experience is necessary. Participants must bring their own ukulele.
Need a ukulele? Call the New Bedford Public Library to rent a uke for free from their Funbrary using your library card or call The Symphony Music Shop to purchase one.
Wednesdays, May 17, 24, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, 6:30 - 7:30pm. Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St.
All ages welcome.
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
Join us for 7 weeks of musical fun expanding your ukulele playing skills. Students should have completed a beginner course and be comfortable with beginner level skills. Participants must bring their own ukulele
Need a ukulele? Call the New Bedford Public Library to rent a uke for free from their Funbrary using your library card or call The Symphony Music Shop to purchase one.
Wednesdays, May 17, 24, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, 7:30 - 8:30pm. Zeiterion Lounge on the corner of Purchase St. and Spring St..
All ages welcome.
Pay what you can! Choose $20, $10 or $5 (Card to Culture) per class at check-out.
These prices reflect our commitment to pay our teaching artists a living wage. Card to Culture pricing is available for EBT, WIC, and Connector Care cardholders to ensure that our Creative Classroom remains accessible to all. If you are not eligible for Card to Culture, you may choose between the $10 and $20 per class options on our sliding scale. A limited number of tickets are available at each price point, so register early!
The arts are a powerful tool that deepens our connection to the world and can reveal new ways to see it. That’s why we aim to make Creative Classroom as accessible as possible with a “pay what you can” model. Choose a price at check-out.
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Emmanuel “Manny” Escobar is a dynamic musician and educator, with roots firmly planted in Jazz, R&B and Afro-Latin creative traditions. He is a graduate of the Alice S. Pfaelzer Conservatory at Merit School of Music and Berklee College of Music and studied under Jan Berry Baker at the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Emmanuel has performed and recorded with; Esperanza Spaulding, Reggie Workman, Loren Allred, Mayra Andrade, Pentatonix, Thaddeus Hogarth, Louis Cato, Roberta Miranda, Jermaine Paul, Cesaria Evora Orchestra, Grace Evora, Mika Mendes, Boy Ge Mendes, Tito Paris, former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Emmanuel is an endorsing educator for Cannonball Musical Instruments, Rigotti Reeds and Syos Mouthpieces, a signed performing artist with Nightshift Entertainment - New England, adjunct faculty at Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts, and Music Director at Providence Country Day School.
Poetry Instructor
Sarah Jane Mulvey is a poet and writer, and co-founder of Anomaly Poetry. She is the host of a monthly open mic night at the Co-Creative Center in Downtown New Bedford. She also performs with The Collective NB. Sarah is currently serving as the City of New Bedford’s Poet Laureate.
Improv Instructor
Garrett Olson is a professional working actor, director, screenwriter, film maker, and seasoned fight director/stunt coordinator for stage and screen. He is currently the Technical Director and Associate Artistic Director for the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company, co-founder and one of the managing/creative producers for Danu Pictures, and is the former Technical Director/acting coach for the Boston Zombie Apocalypse. An accomplished teaching artist and combatant instructor, Garrett’s classes in public speaking, acting, staged violence, and improv are crafted for students of all levels and abilities. Classes include adaptive programs to accommodate all abilities creating a truly immersive and inclusive opportunity for learning and growth.
Drama Instructor
Elizabeth Rapoza is a veteran theater educator, multi-discipline performer, popular and award-winning youth playwright, and puppeteer/puppet constructor. Liz currently teaches theater courses at Cape Cod Community College and the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. Liz's youth plays have been performed across the continent and in Europe and Asia. You can find many of them on Dramanotebook.com.
Ukulele Instructor
Deb picked up her first ukulele and instantly fell in love with this small but mighty instrument. Her passion for the ukulele led her to become one of the few New England teachers certified by the prestigious James Hill Ukulele Instructor Institute. A lifelong music lover, she also directs a ukulele band and has studied with musicians both local and international.
Mekbul Jemal Tahir is an international choreographer, dancer, and teacher. He is one of the founding members of Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company, which is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since completing a five-year training program accredited by Middlesex University (UK) in 2001, he has been performing and teaching African contemporary dance, contact improvisation, and community dance and theatre in Ethiopia and abroad. Among others, his projects have included the 2005 Kin-Addis Project in the DRC, Ethiopia, and France, and the 2006 Can Do Can Dance Project in Hamburg, Germany. In 2007, he performed a lead role in As the Mother of a Brown Boy, which opened at Chickenshed Theatre Company in London and later traveled to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for two awards. Most recently, he was an invited participant in two international dance workshops at L’Ecole des Sables, Toubab Dialew, Senegal, under the direction of Germaine Acogny. He is also one of the the dancers who was selected to study Germaine Acogny’s dance and certified to teach her technique. Now a resident of Massachusetts, he divides his time between work with Adugna in Ethiopia and projects in Africa, Europe, and the United States.
Improv Instructor
Jess Wilson is a former C-level executive leader with extensive experience as an actor, tech, designer, producer, playwright, and director, and is the Artistic and Managing Director of the WatermelonAlligator Theatre Company. An experienced actor-combatant, she also works as an Intimacy Director, Fight Captain, and Safety Coordinator for stage and film. Jess is an accomplished author, consultant, executive coach, teaching artist, and speaker who conducts classes and workshops on writing, public speaking, leadership skills, and a wide range of theatre disciplines, and frequently speaks across the country on a variety of healthcare, leadership, and humanitarian topics.
Dance Instructor
Sue Young’s passion for dance started at just 6 years old when her mom signed her up for dance classes, laying the groundwork for a lifelong love of dance. She has studied under a diversified group of instructors and is experienced in ballet, jazz, tap, Irish Step, Latin, swing and ballroom. After recuperating from open heart surgery in 2012, she returned to teaching and became The Z’s Salsa instructor in 2016. But Sue doesn’t just stay in the classroom, she’s also a Zeiterion Volunteer Usher!
You will be emailed the link to participate as soon as you enroll. To ensure you receive this link, we suggest enrolling in one class at a time. Please use an active email address and be sure to check spam folders.
The virtual classroom will open 30 minutes before the start of class using Zoom. You do not need a Zoom account, but you will need to download the free app prior to the start of class. You can find it in the app store or visit zoom.us to download.
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