Put sizzle in your summer

By Cynthia Lee

If you think the sizzle at UCLA cools down to a simmer during the summer, take another look around. There's still a lot of life left on campus if you look in the right places. In fact, this may be the best time to take advantage of this special place where you work. What other employer offers you noontime concerts, yoga and Tai Chi classes, après-work jazz/rock sessions, exhibitions and films all summer long? Best of all, they're free — and you don't have to deplete your gas tank to get to these events. You're already here!

Box Lunches with Your Buds

Shake off those budget blues at the UCLA All-Staff Picnic, where you can fall under the spell of a DJ who knows how to bring crowds to their feet. "This is one of those great feel-good events," explained Kyrie Bass, incoming president of Staff Assembly, which co-sponsors this fun gathering with the Chancellor's Office. "It's our kick-off event of the new year when staff members get onboard and feel excited about being part of the campus community." Be there on August 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Dickson Court.

Gutsy Southern Blues with a Twist of Jazz

It's happening at the Hammer at 8 p.m. every Thursday from July 3–July 24. Hear back-to-back sets by some breakthrough bands handpicked by radio powerhouse Indie 103. The museum's galleries stay open for browsers until 9 p.m. Then JazzPOP picks up the beat Thursdays, July 31 through August 14, at 8 p.m. In the lineup are Graham Connah's Detention Seven, heavyweights from the Bay Area, and Denver trumpeter Ron Miles and his keyboard and guitar-driven group, Blossom, with an infusion of jazz, folk and pop sounds. www.hammer.ucla.edu.

Give Me Classical

Spend your lunch hour with Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Brahms, thanks to a few generous alumni and faculty. UCLA's own Summer Chamber Music Festival will feature such favorite chamber groups as Mládí, La Camerata, the Armadillo String Quartet and the iPalpiti Soloists. Hosted by the UCLA Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies, concerts run 12:30–1:30 p.m. at Korn Convocation Hall in the Anderson School from July 7–24. www.humnet.ucla.edu/ humnet/c1718cs/calendar.htm.

So You Think You Can Dance?

Prove it. Instructor Alondra Ramirez, principal dancer and assistant choreographer of Ballet Folklorico Flor de Mayo and Folklorico de Santa Monica College, will teach you a lively, traditional courtship dance from Jalisco in western Mexico that has — and here is the challenge — some intricate footwork. Beginners can join this four-week series of classes, beginning August 7 at 7 p.m. on the Fowler Museum Terrace. www.fowler.ucla.edu.

A Lunch Hour Workout

Who says you need to join an expensive gym to look like a million bucks? For $25 this summer, get a mini-FIT pass that entitles you to a 40-minute Express Workout twice a week at 12:10 p.m. through Sept. 10. Or, at no charge, you can take yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong classes or join a Lunch Time League for basketball and soccer. Walking groups are looking for lunchtime participants Mondays through Thursdays. See www.recreation.ucla.edu/weeklywalks or go to the FITWELL desk in the John Wooden Recreation Center.

High-Noon Screeners

If you happen to have an extra long lunch hour, you can go nautical at noon. The Fowler Museum's 2008 High Noon Film Series, created with the UCLA Film and Television Archive, launches Wednesdays from June 25–July 23 at Lenart Auditorium with six featured movies, all with a sea theme to get you in the mood to visit the exhibition, "Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and its Diasporas." See www.fowler.ucla.edu to learn about this and other events going on at the Fowler this summer.

Make the most of your summer by staying in touch at www.today.ucla.edu. Upcoming campus events will be featured all summer long. And check out "Out to Lunch," UCLA Today Online's calendar of lunch-hour activities on campus.