Classes in Elmwood Park

Founder Gulia Huertas first tried yoga while looking for way to maintain physical health as she recovered from a series of back injuries. What she discovered instead was a prolonged passion for the mind-body practice and its spiritual benefits, inspiring her to open her own studio and share its therapeutic effects with others. Catering largely to beginners, P.S. Yoga's hatha classes ease students into the practice using safe, slow-moving poses and a progressive approach, while Ashtanga-yoga instructors demonstrate a style that combines deep breathing with spine-straightening postures for both novice and intermediate-level students. Inside the studio, a large mural of a butterfly paints a peaceful backdrop for all classes, while serving as inspiration to stiff-necked caterpillars.

Though it was only founded in 2012, Virtual X has already begun making a name for itself in Chicago's established entertainment scene. It counts hip-hop duo Chiology and rapper Solo Xquzit among its roster of clients and produces a radio show on Intellectualradio.com. It also offers up headshots and demo reels as well as acting workshops that help actors build their skills for television, film, and theater that their loved ones film.

The Dominican University Performing Arts Center's creative spirit swells in a season highlighted with multicultural music, dance, and drama. As a string quartet, Ethel's Juilliard-trained musicians pluck a viola, a cello, and a pair of violins to their own original compositions and those of contemporary composers. These skilled performers join with Grammy–winning Native American flutist Robert Mirabal for a cross-cultural mélange of melody-making inside the Lund Auditorium, whose acoustics are regularly tested by opera-singing mimes.

Sandhill Christmas Trees cultivates a festive forest of pines free of pesticides and paint to bestow customers with lush house adornments for the holiday season. Revelers peruse rows of vibrant conifers—plucked from the Earth in mid-November to preserve their freshness—and select the ideal 5- to 6-foot tree destined to uphold cherished North Star or titanium snow-yeti tree toppers. Servings of hot chocolate, cookies, candy canes, and peanut butter–filled pretzels warm up and refuel patrons as they explore the grounds. Though not included in today’s Groupon, Sandhill Christmas Trees stocks a number of wreaths, garland, tree stands, and box-and-rope elf traps as well as delivers sprawling saplings to local residents for a fee.

Nearly a century old history, Oak Park Art League has colored the community by cultivating and sharing the work of local artists through instruction and exhibitions. During a glass-fusing class, students acquaint themselves with the included materials with deep, ritualistic curtsies before instructors launch into a technical demonstration. Students choose from projects including an ornament, sun catcher, or free-form picture frame, and proud craft parents are free to tote their polished progeny home upon completion.

Classical ballet, expressive lyrical, and upbeat hip-hop and Latin dance classes number among the slate of options at Christine Belpedio's School of Dance. Here, children and adults, males and females, beginners and advanced students sway, twist, tap, and flip under the tutelage of experienced instructors. Students can show off their skills in recitals or competitions, where judges will rank the pointiest pointe shoe.

Oak park Yoga has taught yoga to thousands of people over it's 10 years in existence. People keep returning because they like the professional quality of the instructors, the serene and meditational environment and the benefits they feel from the classes.