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Allerton Park & Retreat Center

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Wellness

in The Farms: An Allerton Folk School

Fix it! Create a Home Repair Tool Box

$55

with Lou Ann Koebel

Calendar Sep 11, 2025 at 4 pm

Experience Level: Beginner

Learn what tools to have on-hand when tackling simple home repairs at Fix It! Create a Home Repair Toolbox on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 4 to 6 p.m. in The Studio.

In this hands-on course, instructor Lou Ann Koebel will help students learn how to safely use the proper tools for several jobs around the house and take home a list to start building their own toolbox.

$55/person. Registration will close on Sept. 8 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 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.

Historical Dancing: Downton Abbey Ball

$30

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Sep 15, 2025 at 6 pm

Experience Level: Beginner

Give the beloved PBS series Downton Abbey a proper sendoff at Historical Dancing: A Downton Abbey Ball on Monday, Sept. 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Mansion Library.

This evening soiree — led by instructor Jeanette Watts — will feature fun and easy-to-learn dances covering the era of 1912 to 1930, from the time of the Titanic sinking to the birth of the bias-cut dress and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Students are encouraged to wear costumers appropriate to the time period. Partners are not needed, but the urge to find out what it was like to dance like a Crawley in Downton Abbey is recommended!

A bar will be provided.

The evening is also a primer for the multi-week Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies series being offered on Sept. 23 through Oct. 28. Get more information here.

$30/person. Registration will close Sept. 11 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 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.

Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies (Full Series)

$110

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Sep 23, 2025 at 6 pm, runs for 6 weeks

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.

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 Vernon and Irene Castle popular.

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

$110/person for the entire series or $25/class. Registration will close Sept. 11 or one week prior to each class, or when capacity is reached. All sales are final.

— Sept. 23
— Sept. 30
— Oct. 7
— Oct. 14
— Oct. 21
— Oct. 28

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

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.

Payment plan available: $55 deposit plus 1 payment of $55.00, paid every four weeks.

Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies (Sept 23)

$25

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Sep 23, 2025 at 6 pm

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. 11 or one week 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.

Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies (Sept 30)

$25

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Sep 30, 2025 at 6 pm

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. 11 or one week 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.

Therapy Monsters

$65

with Orrin Taylor

Calendar Oct 6, 2025 at 6 pm

Experience Level: Beginner (Ages 21+)

Combine artwork with self-care at Therapy Monsters on Monday, Oct. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Mansion Carriage House.

Instructor Orrin Taylor will guide students through using an imaginative approach to self-love and self-care. Using mixed media, students will learn a variety of ways to create humorous and therapeutic personalized characters to help deal with everyday life, ranging from paint to illustration, in a process that is not only therapeutic, but helps promote fun in art and connecting with one’s inner child.

A bar will be available.

$65/person. Registration will close Sept. 29 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

Orrin Taylor is a self-taught outsider artist from central Illinois. Working primarily in painting and illustration, most of his artwork is based on dreams and random mental spasms. He currently resides on a farm in the middle of nowhere with his wife and two dogs.

Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies (Oct 7)

$25

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Oct 7, 2025 at 6 pm

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. 11 or one week 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.

Historical Dancing: Titanic to the Talkies (Oct 14)

$25

with Jeanette Watts

Calendar Oct 14, 2025 at 6 pm

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. 11 or one week 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.





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