Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about the high-energy dances that dominated the early 20th century at Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies on Tuesdays, Sept. 23 through Oct. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Instructor Jeanette Watts will help students explore the one step, castle walk, tango, foxtrot, Charleston, black bottom and other delights of early jazz.

In this era, the music was so infectious it required new kinds of dancing to go with it! Ragtime took over ballrooms with dances that shocked as well as delighted, while syncopated rhythms turned into the jazz of the Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, Rudolph Valentino’s movie tango kept ballroom dancers like Irene and Vernon Castle popular.

$25/class (or $110/person for the entire series). Registration will close Sept. 21, two days prior to each class, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jeanette Watts has been teaching historical dances for more than 20 years. She is the founder of the Terpsichorean Delights Dance Assembly in Dayton, Ohio, Queen City Vintage Dance in Charlotte, North Carolina, and spent covid writing an 8-volume series of instructional dance manuals for historical museums.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn how to bring new life to an old lamp at Fix It! Basic Lamp Re-Wiring on Thursday, Oct. 16 from 4 to 6 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will lead students through changing out the plug, adding a switch and/or replace wiring in lamps. This hands-on course will cover basic electrical wiring.

$55/person*. Registration will close Oct. 13 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

* Students should bring:
— A lamp to work on 
— Wire cutter & stripper (example here)
— (optional) Black electrical tape and small retractable measuring tape 

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel currently leads a weekly dulcimer jam for the East Central Dulcimer Illinois Dulcimer Club at Lincoln Square. She also plays in a local band that visits and performs at local assisted living facilities.

Koebel has taught beginning dulcimer classes for The Farms, where she has had a wonderful time teaching the group and realized her love of teaching and passing on the tradition of playing a mountain dulcimer. Lou Ann also plays at area music festivals.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn to make your own soap at a Soap Making Demonstration on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium.

Artist Sally Walsh will lead students through the process of making soap, including the science, safety, ingredients used and the herbal benefits. Students will take home a bar of soap in addition to a booklet of instructions and recipes.

$45/person*. Registration will close Oct. 11 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should wear old clothes.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Sally Walsh is a retired art teacher from Richland Community College in Decatur. She has more than 30 years of teaching experience and has led previous art classes at Allerton.

Experience Level: Beginner (Ages 21+) 

Make your own drink mixer from natural ingredients at Creating Cordials on Saturday, Oct. 18 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Greenhouse Auditorium. 

Instructor Heidi Leuszler will introduce students to three plants —  Elder (Sambucus Canadensis), Black Walnut (Juglas Nigra) and Black Currant (Ribes Nigrum) and discuss their natural, cultural and culinary histories. Students will then learn to prepare the ingredients into cordials to take home and mix with their preferred beverage to make a tasty refreshment! 

$95/person (Ages 21+). Registration will close Oct. 13 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.  

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu. 

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken. 

About the instructor 

Heidi Leuszler grew up harvesting and foraging wherever she lived: mangos in Florida, morels and mustang grapes from the back acre in Missouri, wild strawberries and holly grapes in the Colorado mountains and chokecherries in North Dakota. Those passions remained as she added culinary skills in addition to becoming a professor of environmental science, ecology and botany at Parkland College. 

She started Berries and Flour in Champaign as the synergy of several passions: culinary, ecology, growing of plants, foraging and teaching people about the plentiful Midwest land. Berries and Flour teaches how to harvest, process and consume regional foods, collaborates with others to promote food accessibility and justice, and produces value-added products from its commercial kitchen. 

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about the high-energy dances that dominated the early 20th century at Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies on Tuesdays, Sept. 23 through Oct. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Instructor Jeanette Watts will help students explore the one step, castle walk, tango, foxtrot, Charleston, black bottom and other delights of early jazz.

In this era, the music was so infectious it required new kinds of dancing to go with it! Ragtime took over ballrooms with dances that shocked as well as delighted, while syncopated rhythms turned into the jazz of the Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, Rudolph Valentino’s movie tango kept ballroom dancers like Irene and Vernon Castle popular.

$25/class (or $110/person for the entire series). Registration will close Sept. 21, two days prior to each class, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jeanette Watts has been teaching historical dances for more than 20 years. She is the founder of the Terpsichorean Delights Dance Assembly in Dayton, Ohio, Queen City Vintage Dance in Charlotte, North Carolina, and spent covid writing an 8-volume series of instructional dance manuals for historical museums.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about the high-energy dances that dominated the early 20th century at Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies on Tuesdays, Sept. 23 through Oct. 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

Instructor Jeanette Watts will help students explore the one step, castle walk, tango, foxtrot, Charleston, black bottom and other delights of early jazz.

In this era, the music was so infectious it required new kinds of dancing to go with it! Ragtime took over ballrooms with dances that shocked as well as delighted, while syncopated rhythms turned into the jazz of the Roaring Twenties. Meanwhile, Rudolph Valentino’s movie tango kept ballroom dancers like Irene and Vernon Castle popular.

$25/class (or $110/person for the entire series). Registration will close Sept. 21, two days prior to each class, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Jeanette Watts has been teaching historical dances for more than 20 years. She is the founder of the Terpsichorean Delights Dance Assembly in Dayton, Ohio, Queen City Vintage Dance in Charlotte, North Carolina, and spent covid writing an 8-volume series of instructional dance manuals for historical museums.

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn about how to improve your health by letting go of highly processed foods at Basics of Plant-Based eating on Wednesday, Nov. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Karla Freeze will share the story of how she regained her health by adding more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds to her diet. She will also provide resources and tips for a healthy journey, including the six pillars of health as outlined by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

$25/person. Registration will close Oct. 29 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Karla Freeze credits the plant-based lifestyle she switched to about 12 years ago for greatly improving her health, helping her to reverse ailments including type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, psoriasis, sleep apnea, while also helping her lose weight.

“Plant-based education is my passion,” she said.

Karla has done many educational sessions throughout central Illinois and worked with an international dining services company in presenting health sessions in Dallas and Houston.

Experience Level: Beginner

Give new life to an old picture frame at Fix It! Picture Framing Basics on Thursday, Nov. 6 from 4 to 6 p.m. in The Studio.

Instructor Lou Ann Koebel will cover the basics of picture framing with store-bought mats and frames. This hands-on class will safely cover how to handle plate glass and use both hand and cordless drills as students work on a small framing project to take home.

$55/person*. Registration will close Nov. 3 or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

*Students should bring:
— Scratch awl (example here)
— Side cutter pliers (example here)
— 12-inch ruler or retractable measuring tape
— Medium-size Phillips screwdriver
— Students are also encouraged to bring a picture frame project to discuss in class, their matt and  hardware options.

Learn more about the space where your course will take place here. If you will need disability-related accommodations to participate, please email Olivia Bunting at owarren@illinois.edu.

By attending, you consent to your image being used in Allerton marketing, social media and publications. Please alert the photographer or videographer if you do not want your image taken.

About the instructor

Lou Ann Koebel currently leads a weekly dulcimer jam for the East Central Dulcimer Illinois Dulcimer Club at Lincoln Square. She also plays in a local band that visits and performs at local assisted living facilities.

Koebel has taught beginning dulcimer classes for The Farms, where she has had a wonderful time teaching the group and realized her love of teaching and passing on the tradition of playing a mountain dulcimer. Lou Ann also plays at area music festivals.