A few weeks ago, we posted an article about learning something new in New York City for free. Seriously guys, there’s just so much good stuff in this city, that we had to do a follow-up article with 5 more awesome ways to learn something new. Even better when you can learn something new for free.
Shake Your Bootie At Zumba
Shake what your mama gave you at Zumba, Belly, Buns & Balance, Body Bootcamp, and a host of other fitness classes offered each week by the NYC Parks & Recreation department. The classes are offered at dozens of locations all across the five boroughs for free, and no! You absolutely do NOT need to be a member of a recreation center to attend class. That’s right. You can officially take that $180 monthly Equinox membership and tell them where to put it, (while shaking it, of course).
Get Spicy At Friday Night Tango
My boo and I signed up for one of the free tango classes offered by Triangulo years ago, and we still rave about our experience, and encourage all our friends (couples and singles alike!) to join a class. You’ll mix and mingle with others learning the Argentine tango, while being ridiculously impressed by the instructors’ sheer passion and love for the dance. Sure, I discovered that my tango skills leave much to be desired (apparently I’m awful at following, who knew?), but it’s a whole lotta Friday night fun, for free.
Make People Laugh With Your Theatrical Improv Skills
The ability to make people laugh is most definitely an art form, and the great thing about improv is you don’t really have to even be funny to achieve this (coming straight from the lips of my high school theater teacher!) The Magnet Theater offers free intro to improv classes, including my personal favorite, intro to musical improv! Even if performing isn’t your thing, it’s a fab way to meet new people, improve those public speaking skills, and remember to never take yourself too seriously.
Discuss The Classics (And All The Rest) At Book Club
Being part of a book club is just so very New York, isn’t it? One of my very favorite institutions, The New York Public Library, hosts free book clubs at your neighborhood library on a regular basis (I want to say monthly, but I think it varies from location to location). Not only is it a great place to have adult conversations that revolve around something other than your job and what’s for dinner, but it’s a great way to meet other adults that most likely live in the same hood you do. Before you know it you could be meeting your next Sisterhood-of-the-Traveling-Pants-bestie.
Get Your Zen On
With long days at the office, too many social obligations, and fitting in all these “self-improvement” activities in between, NYC life can be completely exhausting. Find your center with NYC Meditation…a free organization that teaches you how to do the ultimate thing we’re so bad at here in New York: relax. In with the good, out with the bad. I don’t know about you, but meditation class sure trumps any college lecture I ever had to sit through.
Jessica Tiare Bowen lives in the juicy Big Apple with her adorable pink-nosed chihuahua, Gillman. He’s the inspiration for her first published children’s book, “Park Avenue Pound Puppy.” The book is the combined result of her two greatest passions: pooches and penning stories.
Her passions include art, urban hikes through Manhattan, drinking coffee with 3 creams and 6 sugars, making extremely detailed itineraries and traveling to far away places, singing along to Broadway shows, Netflix movie nights, discovering incredible treasures at Goodwill and thrift stores, and listening to stories from little people under 7 and big people over 70.
She started her career as New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching elementary school and theater arts at a special education school in the South Bronx for 6 years. She is now a Special Education School Improvement Specialist working in public schools throughout New York City. She is the Editor-In-Chief of the online New York City travel magazine, Used York City. The magazine focuses on finding the best of New York…as used by New Yorkers. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and an ASPCA Ambassador.
