Things to Do in Gainesville

At Trapeze High, students ranging from novices to veteran high-fliers hone their skills in workshops held four days a week. Beginners learn key flight poses on the ground before donning safety belts to soar through the air under the watchful gaze of up to three trainers. Meanwhile, experienced aerial artists swing unfettered by safety gear, building a repertoire of circus-appropriate tricks ranging from the forward roll to advanced peanut-selling techniques. Enthusiasts can also celebrate occasions at the location of their choice with a circus party replete with all equipment and full-service event-planning.

Staring at a blank piece of paper can be intimidating, but browsing the blank, premade pottery at Doing Dishes draws hibernating creativity from its den, enticing the brain with shape, size, and bisque meat. Pieces range between $7 and $60, and all merry potters are assessed a modest studio fee of $6, which covers everything required to design and fire a project, including time. Grab a blank plate and paint a meal upon it, stencil a cup with springtime flowers, or decorate a picture frame worthy of being hung inside itself.

Originally built in 1927, 5 Points Theatre has undergone a transformation throughout the years from "talkie" palace to neo-modern nightclub to contemporary art-house cinema, earning accolades from the Florida Times-Union for its eclectic and offbeat lineup of films. The upcoming calendar hosts a variety of exclusives and special showings in addition to popcorn-popping Hollywood releases. Stop in for cult-classic midnight screenings, during which the theater transforms into a pumpkin carriage piloted by the delicate dreams of cinematic fans. The eclectic mix of motion pics ensures you'll still be able to catch Blue Valentine between viewings of foreign flicks, such as the Best Picture–nominated British historical drama The King's Speech.

Kristin Hendrix teaches students to create functional and decorative ceramics during Morning Glory Fire Arts' classes, field trips, and other hand-crafting adventures. All materials are included in the two-hour clay classes ($24/child, $30/adult) where students can sculpt a bowl, vase, or replacement sock before returning a week later to glaze the fired piece. Clay players can also put together a pottery-to-go kit ($7+ depending on selected item) packed with a custom set of brushes, glazes, and other materials to create and fire ceramics at their own pace. Hendrix will tote glazes, tools, and clay or bisque to a location of the customer’s choice for a reverse field trip ($5/person for groups of 12 or more), sparing supervisors the trouble of collecting notarized permission slips.

The dedicated instructors at Salsa Caliente teach salsa, mambo, and bachata dances with an emphasis on form, timing, and style. They separate their classes into four levels, allowing dancers to progress naturally. Beginner classes might teach forward spot turns, and level-four classes might introduce pull turns and flick spins. In addition to these drop-in group classes, Salsa Caliente offers private lessons and hosts dance socials.

Clattering pins echo off the kaleidoscopic murals beaming over Alley Gatorz’ synthetic lanes, which host a hurtling horde of orbs until 1 a.m. on the weekends. Multicolored kicks safeguard toes for rounds of celebratory pin punting, and cheese-smothered nachos from the snack bar sail down swallow tubes on sudsy waves of beer.