Weekday Events: Community Dance Class, Idea Lab, And Free Wine Tasting

Here’s this week’s roundup of neighborhood events taking place through Thursday.

We’ll have your weekend schedule guide on Friday and as always, let us know if there’s anything we’re missing by emailing editor@bklyner.com!

MONDAY, MAY 4

Community Dance Class
When: Monday, May 4 from 6:30-8pm
Where: BRIC House at 647 Fulton Street
What: All ages and skill levels are welcome to join a series of FREE Community Dance Classes taught by Ronald K. Brown and members of his company, Evidence, A Dance Company. The company blends traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word providing a unique view of human struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. These classes are rooted in the Company’s fusion aesthetic and are the perfect alternative to another boring day at the gym. Come discover the joy of dance! No previous experience necessary.

Dance Fitness
When: Monday, May 4 from 7-8pm
Where: Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue
What: Free and no registration or prior experience necessary.

TUESDAY, MAY 5

Baby Breakfast
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 10am-12pm
Where: Habana Outpost at 757 Fulton Street
What: The courtyard of Habana Outpost is transformed into an into a toddler wonderland complete with toys, a water table and supervised art projects geared towards children 4 and under. Come meet your neighbors and watch your kids make new friends.  Presented in conjunction with My Brooklyn Baby.
How much: Free, rain or shine

Toddler Time
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 10:15-11:15am
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: Hear stories, sing songs, play with toys and meet new friends! For Babies (18-36 months) and their caregivers.
How much: Free

Preschool Storytime with FirstRIF
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 10:30am-11:30am
Where: Walt Whitman Library at 93 Saint Edwards Street
What: Hear stories and  sing songs.  Ages 3 to 5 years old. Get free books with the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program.

Babies and Books
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 11:30-12:30pm
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: Come hear stories, sing songs, play with toys and meet new friends! For Babies (0-18 months) and their caregivers. Playing with your baby is more than fun, it’s one of the most important ways you can encourage early literacy and language.

Babies and Book with FirstRIF
When: Tuesday, May 5 at 2pm
Where: Walt Whitman Library at 93 Saint Edwards Street
What: Enjoy stories, songs and play.  Ages Birth to 18 months. Get free books with the Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) program.

Free Yoga for Adults
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 6:30-7:45pm
Where: Clinton Hill Library at 380 Washington Avenue
What: Practice yoga with local yoga instructor, Jenine Osbon. All levels welcome. Limit of 10-12 per class.

Cardio Sculpt
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 7-8pm
Where: Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue
What: Free fitness class.

The Stoop Series: AUNTS populous
When: Tuesday, May 5 from 7-9pm
Where: BRIC House at 647 Fulton Street
What: AUNTS is about having dance happen. populous is the controlled management of 7 separate but simultaneous performances. Each performance is allowed unlimited construction of movement, sound, light, and energy within its parcel, within a 1 hour performance. The Audience is invited to move freely within designated audience areas within the performance space. AUNTS populous at BRIC will include performances by Chani Bockwinkel, Kim Brandt, Leslie Cuyjet, Luke George, Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson, Millie Kapp, and Jerome Ellis. Organized by Laurie Berg and Liliana Dirks-Goodman.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

Plant Sale at BBG
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 9am-8pm
Where: Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 990 Washington Avenue
What: Annual plant sale on the Cherry Esplanade offers the largest collection of plants in the metropolitan area and features free talks by BBG curators and free workshops by Brooklyn GreenBridge.

After-School Homework Help
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 3-6pm
Where: Clinton Hill Library at 380 Washington Avenue
What: Free homework help for grades K-8.

Teen Tech Time
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 4-6pm
Where: Clinton Hill Library at 380 Washington Avenue
What: Play on the Wii with neighbors.

DIY: Knitting
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 5-6pm
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: All ages are welcome. Please bring your own needles and yarn.

ShapeUp NYC Aerobics Class
When: Wednesday, May 6 at 6pm
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: Join this FREE aerobics class.  Class taught by NYC Parks Department community volunteer.

Dance Fitness
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 6:45-7:45pm
Where: Clinton Hill Library at 380 Washington Avenue
What: Free fitness class.

Idea Lab
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 7-9pm
Where: BRIC House at 647 Fulton Street
What: BRIC is collaborating with Our Goods, a network for the creative community that hosts a bi-monthly Idea Lab where 3-4 facilitators lead a group of 25-30 people in a peer-to-peer resource-sharing meet-up. Find out more on the Our Goods website. Whether you need help refining an idea, access to space or equipment, connections to a collaborators, or information about  venues for your work, you can find it at an Idea Lab!
How much: FREE, but you just have to RSVP.

Dance Fitness
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 7:15-8:15pm
Where: Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue
What: Free and no registration or prior experience necessary.

Author Talk: Cynan Jones and John Freeman
When: Wednesday, May 6 at 7:30pm
Where: Greenlight Bookstore at 686 Fulton Street
What: Welsh author Cynan Jones makes his US debut with The Dig, a short, searing novella which unfolds in a stark rural setting where man, animal, and land are at loggerheads. Built of the interlocking fates of a badger-baiter and a farmer struggling through lambing season, the book is no bucolic pastoral, but pared-down rural realism, crackling with compressed energy. Jones talks with his friend, renowned book critic and editor John Freeman, former editor of Grantaand executive editor of the soon-to-launch site Literary Hub.
How much: Free | $15.95 for the book

Trivia Night
When: Wednesday, May 6 from 8-11pm
Where: Putnam’s Pub at 419 Myrtle Avenue
What: Weekly trivia competition to win gift cards of $100 to Putnam’s. Beer specials all night.
How much: Free

Trivia Wednesdays
When: Wednesday, May 6 at 9pm
Where: Moot Bar at 579 Myrtle Avenue
What: Inaugural trivia night! Five rounds of 10 questions each on variety of subject matter from cereal box characters to physics. Winning team gets $50 off their bar tab.
How much: Free

THURSDAY, MAY 7

Plant Sale at BBG
When: Thursday, May 7 from 9am-noon
Where: Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 990 Washington Avenue
What: Annual plant sale on the Cherry Esplanade offers the largest collection of plants in the metropolitan area and features free talks by BBG curators and free workshops by Brooklyn GreenBridge.

Reading is Fundamental
When: Thursday, May 7 from 3:30-4:30pm
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: Kids and teens can earn FREE books by borrowing and returning books with their library card.

Vertical Thursday Wine Tasting
When: Thursday, May 7 from 5:30-8pm
Where: Corkscrew Wines at 489 Myrtle Avenue
What: Free weekly wine tasting. Educational and casual tasting to explore specific grapes or a region. Discover what makes your favorite wines unique. You are the expert of what works for you, Corkscrew is here for you to discover what that is.

Falun Dafa Exercise Class
When: Thursday, May 7 at 6:30pm
Where: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue
What: Free practice of meditation and slow-moving exercise. Eliminate stress, enjoy peace of mind.

Artist Roundtable: Chitra Ganesh: “Fragmented Narratives”
When: Thursday, May 7 at 7pm
Where: Brooklyn Museum, 4th Floor, at 200 Eastern Parkway
What: In conjunction with her Herstory Gallery exhibition, Eyes of Time, Chitra Ganesh invites friends, collaborators, and fellow Brooklyn-based artists Mariam Ghani and Christopher Myers to talk with her about the ideas that drive their practices. Hear artists with decades-long relationships with each other converse about how politics, narrative, and questions of identity are broken down and reconfigured in their work. All three artists use overlapping words and images to investigate how language systems shape our experiences in and of the world, and will discuss this in relation to individual and joint projects.
How much: Free with admission

Dance Fitness
When: Thursday, May 7 from 7-8pm
Where: Ingersoll Community Center at 177 Myrtle Avenue
What: Free and no registration or prior experience necessary.

Author Talk: Viet Thanh Nguyen
When: Thursday, May 7 at 7:30pm
Where: Greenlight Bookstore at 686 Fulton Street
What: Nguyen’s extraordinary debut novel The Sympathizer features one of the most unusual narrators of recent fiction: a conflicted Vietnamese communist sympathizer living in America after the Vietnam War. At once a gripping glimpse into the life of a spy, a moving love story, and a beautifully written, voice-driven piece of literary fiction, the novel explores the gulf between lofty idealism and unpleasant reality. Nguyen discusses his book with Peter Blackstock, his editor at Grove.
How much: Free | $26 for the book

IN|PRISM: Boxed In & Blacked Out in America
When: Thursday, May 7 at 7:30pm (through Sunday, May 10)
Where: JACK at 505 1/2 Waverly Avenue
What: JACK’s youth theater company-in-residence, led by Samara Gaev, presents their second original theater piece developed during their residency at JACK. Created through direct conversation with incarcerated people-of-color, IN|PRISM examines the impacts and practices of solitary confinement in US prisons, tracing one man’s remarkable capacity for liberation within the walls of death row. For this piece, Truthworker has had the unique and humbling opportunity to work directly with Jarvis Jay Masters, an innocent man on death row, who has been incarcerated since the age of 19 in San Quentin Prison and institutionalized since he was a young boy. Jarvis is working from the inside to collaborate with Truthworker through this creation process.
How much: $15. Tickets available here.

Comedy Thursdays
When: Thursday, May 7 from 7:30-10pm
Where: Splitty at 415 Myrtle Avenue
What: Greg Johnson and Larry Murphy (Bob’s Burgers) host this weekly comedy show featuring a curated night of stand-up, characters, and the unexpected.
How much: $5 cover

Function Thursdays Live Music
When: Thursday, May 7 at 9pm
Where: Putnam’s Pub at 419 Myrtle Avenue
What: Jessica Mahasin and DJs Jeff Haze/Asen James.
How much: Free

ONGOING

Fiasco Theater’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”
When: Through May 24
Where: Polonsky Shakespeare Center at 262 Ashland Place
What: Crackling and quick-moving, The Two Gentlemen of Verona may well have been Shakespeare’s first play. A seemingly simple tale of shifting devotions among mismatched lovers, it helped launch the enduring genre of rom-com. Yet its delightful madcap surface conceals undercurrents, as its putative hero proves a cad and a faithless friend. A beguiling, nuanced production from the theater that brought us Cymbeline, and Into the Woods to the Roundabout Theatre.
How much: $60-85 per person (use code: GENT55 for $55 tickets). Purchase online or by phone at 866-811-4111.