JustDoIt ClassesWorkshopsTuition Course you can If you feel like a little self-improvement but aren’t sure where to begin, Niki Boyle is on hand to guide you through the range of course and classes you can start this September
Langside College, see Dance, Glasgow. RDW Glass, 23 Fleming Street, 556 3312 / 07792934562, www.rdwglass.co.uk. Fireworks Ceramics, 35A Dalhousie St, www.fireworksceramics.co.uk. Go Potty Ceramic Studio, 691 Great Western Road, 341 0520, www.createartstudio.co.uk.
Edinburgh Edinburgh College of Art is considered one of the top art schools in the country – Turner Prize-winner Richard Wright is one of many notable
alumni. Competition for places, then, can be pretty tough, but the college itself lends a helping hand in the form of its Portfolio Preparation course, which helps you put together your portfolio over ten weeks at a cost of £160–£170. Courses covering the actual practice of artistic technique – including sculpture, tapestry, textiles and more, are roughly £178–£220 for ten weeks, with some five- or six-week courses costing £90–£120. Outside ECA, You can barely set down an easel without landing on a venue offering artistic guidance. Jewel and Esk Valley College offers courses
DANCE Glasgow
Glasgow’s resident dance academy is Dance House, which offers tuition on a wide variety of dance styles at an average price of £48. The company has also been known to arrange sessions at off-site locations such as The Arches, CCA and 77 Trongate, for one-off fees of £3-£5; the best deal by far, though, are the three-in-one taster sessions: three dance styles covered in an hour, for the princely sum of £5. Some of Glasgow’s educational
establishments are also getting in on the act: Cardonald College offers 14-week terms of zumba dance classes for £80 (for the uninitiated, it’s a sort of high-energy, latin-infused aerobics class), and Langside College has belly dance tutorials for all abilities at a cost of £75 for ten weeks. ■ Dance House, 21–24 St Andrews Street, 552 2442 / 07747 742 547, www.dancehouse.org. Cardonald College, 690 Mosspark Drive, 272 3331 / 272 3373, www.cardonald.ac.uk. Langside College, 50 Prospecthill Road, 272 3600, www.langside.ac.uk.
Edinburgh
The main location for fancy footwork in Edinburgh is Dance Base: its main premises are located on Grassmarket, although the new Thomas Morton Hall venue in Leith will be opening soon. A wide range of dance styles are taught, from ballet and ballroom to yoga and jive; 12- week courses are available from £66.50–£90, and there are also one- off drop-in classes from £6-£8.50, in case you don’t want to commit to anything right away. Elsewhere in town, the City of Edinburgh Council’s (CEC) comprehensive Adult Education Programme covers the ballroom, latin, ceilidh and ceroc (a salsa/jive fusion) genres of dance for £45-£66 a term, and the Edinburgh Tango School spreads its knowledge of the forbidden dance in various venues for as little as £2 a time. ■ Dance Base, 14–16 Grassmarket, 225 5525, www.dancebase.co.uk. CEC, venues vary, 556 7978, ces.egfl.net/programme. Edinburgh Tango School, venues vary, www.edinburghtango.org.uk. 14 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010
ARTS & CRAFTS Glasgow
The Department of Adult and Continuing Education (DACE) at Glasgow University provides a wide range of short courses on a number of subjects; in terms of arts study, their drawing and painting composition course runs for 22 weeks at a cost of £443. Strathclyde University offers a range of classes across both its campuses, including drawing, painting, calligraphy and pottery, as well as photography and accompanying Photoshop skills, from £11 individual classes to £252 semester-long courses. The famous Glasgow School of Art
– which counts Alasdair Gray, Peter Capaldi and Franz Ferdinand among its former students – has a predictably massive range of artsy options, from the rudiments of drawing and painting, to more esoteric subjects such as silversmithing, woodcarving, etching, sculpture and embroidery; full-term courses range from £200-£600. Various colleges offer their own creative courses as well: Cardonald College teaches pottery, woodcraft, metalwork and creative textiles among others, from £95-£182; North Glasgow College does millinery, dressmaking and Celtic knot courses for around £135 each; and Langside College charges £100 for lessons in henna art, glass mosaic and photography, as well as more traditional classes such as drawing and painting.
Outside academia, RDW Glass has
workshops and six-week evening courses for £125-£130; once you’re proficient in stained-glass and fused- glass art, studios can be rented for £15 an evening, with assistance on hand if you need it. Ceramics studios Fireworks and Go Potty offer varying lengths of study: Fireworks runs a six- week course for £90, while Go Potty charges £70-£150 for seven- to ten- week courses. ■ DACE at Glasgow University, St Andrew’s Building, 330 1835, www.glasgow.acu.uk/dace. Strathclyde University, 16 Richmond Street, 552 4400, and 76 Southbrae Drive, 950 3000, www.strath.ac.uk. Glasgow School of Art, 168 Renfrew Street, 353 4500, www.gsa.ac.uk. Cardonald College, see Dance, Glasgow. North Glasgow College, 123 Flemington Street, Springburn, 558 9001, www.northglasgowcollege.ac.uk.