Things to Do in Cudahy

"One man's trash is another man's treasure" may be an overused saying to some, but to Art Rebel's crew of painters, it's a mantra. The instructors believe in dreaming up creative solutions to help the environment, and that includes teaching their students how to transform discarded items into masterpieces during eco-art classes. Nontoxic, eco-friendly paints grace paper and canvases in a variety of sessions with different themes, from graffiti-art to cartooning. Elsewhere, beautification meets youth outreach when Art Rebel's team teaches children how to paint public works and encrust their favorite foursquare court with bottle caps.

The world may never know how many it really takes to tango (what about the musicians, don’t they count?), but today’s Groupon will answer more basic questions, such as how to move your hips, with four beginning classes at Oxygen Tango for $25 (a $49 value). Beginner classes are available Monday through Thursday from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and are divided into four different, four-week units (Tango 101, 102, 103, and 104). You can take the units in any order, and instructors shift timeslots for the various units each month—making scheduling as flexible as your limbs will soon become.

At Brentwood Dance and Activewear, owner Taryn Chase and her staff of professional dancers draw upon knowledge gained from their years of light tripping and active lifestyles to help pint-sized patrons find the perfect high-quality children's dance apparel and activewear. Beneath twinkling chandeliers, budding ballerinas and seasoned twirlers alike prepare for future classes, performances, or visits to the dentist with leotards, skirts, and tutus from lines including Motionwear, Body Wrappers, and Danshuz ($18–$48). The knowledgeable staff can also guide hoofers through dance-shoe selection ($18–$68). The boutique's activewear, including sweats, tops, and shorts ($14–$68), cozily ensconce little limbs as they fly through dance routines and story-hour music recitals. Nondancers can get in on the action with books, games, and toys, along with girly jewelry and bags ($12-$58) that prepare wearers for reality-TV-themed Halloween parties.

Student-created artwork lines the white walls of Hands-on 3rd's two studio spaces, the second of which belongs to partner company Art Works. The organizations share talented instructors, filling up the schedule at each location with drawing, painting, and sculpting classes from Art Works and yarn-work and sewing classes from Hands-on 3rd's staff. Whether a project requires a fresh stick of charcoal or a darning needle, an ample inventory arms students with the supplies needed to finish their projects, such as sketching a mustache on a dozing deskmate.

As a child in Buenos Aires, Angel Echeverria would sit on the porch of his family home and watch his aunt and uncle dance the tango. Music often spilled into the streets of his neighborhood, where many tango musicians lived. By the time he was a teenager in the early 1960s, Angel began studying the tango himself, and nearly 50 years later he founded The Tango Room Dance Center with Julie Friedgen. Like Angel, Julie grew up watching her parents’ Argentine friends dance tango at parties, and eventually became a ballet and flamenco dancer. Though she didn’t begin learning the tango until 13 years ago, once she started she immediately knew it was the dance to which she would devote the rest of her life.

Not surprisingly, The Tango Room is dedicated to the Argentine style of dance; many of the instructors hail from Argentina and lead classes in traditional, contemporary, waltz, and milonga variations. On Saturday nights the school transforms into El Encuentro—which translates to “the encounter”—a fast-paced dance party modeled after the tango clubs of Buenos Aires. Beyond tango, the school also hosts classes in salsa, belly dance, and R & B line dancing as well as Zumba and bujinkan, a Japanese martial art.