Things to Do in Phoenix

Founded by fourth-dan black belt Richard Poage, Peaceful Warrior Martial Arts & Healing Center continues his mission to help students build discipline and learn self-defense through classes that teach shorin-ryu karate, jujitsu, and kobudo weapons training. Camps and after-school programs keep kids from spending their days sprawled in front of the TV or taking catnaps behind it. The school's healing center keeps students in top shape with holistic health services such as massage, acupuncture, and shiatsu massage.

The vaunted, nationally renowned staff at Adage Dance & Fitness Studios has developed a curriculum of classes appropriate for kids aged 2–17 and a separate program for adults. Focusing on the fundamentals of jazz, ballroom, and hip-hop, among others, the studio is always humming with music and students passionate for the art form. Adults can take part as well, with grown-up-oriented lessons and recitals that aim to help them break out of their shells before they go all out in street dance-offs. The instructors also lead high-energy fitness classes that blend dancing and aerobics to help their clients drop pounds.

Pilates Joe's team of certified fitness trainers leads daily, one-hour classes designed to help students achieve lean, strong, and flexible bodies. Instructors take classes off the mat and onto the facility's signature Springwall to help students tone muscles from head to toe with a system of resistance springs. Students training for Rocky XXI: Rocky Versus Aliens, can opt to try their gloved hands at Piloxing, which integrates calorie-burning boxing moves with Pilates's core-centric foundation. To balance out the vigorous sweat sessions, Vinyasa yoga instructors soothe minds, bodies, and wound-up spirit animals with soothing sun salutations and stretches.

On her quest to further understand the relationship between physical motion and energy flow, certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor Angella M. Hamilton began studying the ancient technique of tai chi under the tutelage of master David Dorian Ross. Her fascination with the time-honored practice led her to forge her own variation, combining healing elements of tai chi and qI gong to create the free-flowing Zen Method. When stricken with breast cancer at the age of 36, Angella practiced the Zen Method to keep herself healthy and empowered. Through regularly scheduled classes and workshops, she now imparts the lessons she's learned both in terms of fitness and mental strength.

Studio manager, instructor, and musician Michael Jewell lives through rhythm. He sought ballroom dance as another means to express himself through music, and throughout more than a decade of mastering fancy footwork, he’s come to truly believe that anyone can learn to dance. That’s why he and his team of instructors welcome singles and couples of any experience level to their slate-blue studio's gleaming floors. They teach swing, latin, ballroom, and two-step styles in group and private lessons, and host biweekly social parties, during which students can show off their newly acquired grooves while mingling with other dancers. The instructors also take their students on group trips and “Out On The Towns,” where they can practice their moves in public settings, rather than putting on more performances in their bedrooms for audiences of teddy bears.