FractalU Summer 2026 ☀️
An improvised college in New York City. What's FractalU? · What's the broader Fractal collective?
| Class (hover for description) | Instructor (hover for bio) | Day & Time | Dates | Location | Price | Apply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lost Generation Close Reading Literature | Elena Navarrete | Wednesdays, 7–8:30pm | Jun 17 – Jul 8 | NoHo, Manhattan | $160 / $200 | Application Form |
| The Odyssey Close Reading Literature | Elena Navarrete | Mon 7–8:30pm + Wed 11am–12:30pm | Jul 6 – Aug 12 | NoHo, Manhattan | $240 / $300 | Application Form |
| Sara Cunningham | Thursdays, 6–8pm | Jul 9 – Jul 30 | Brooklyn (address sent to accepted students) | $170 – $350 | Application Form | |
| Improv Writing Lab Writing | Crystal Duan | Wednesdays, 6:30–8pm | Jul 29 – Sep 2 | Fractal Campus, 111 Conselyea St | $175 – $500 | Application Form |
| Intuitive Movement Movement | Clara Wiest | Wednesdays, 6–7:15pm | Jun 17 – Aug 19 | Lower East Side | $250 – $750 | Application Form |
| Parkour for Everyone Movement | Jianing Zhao | Mondays, 6:30–8:30pm | Jun 29 – Aug 10 | Outdoor parks, Manhattan | $230 – $450 | Application Form |
| Butoh: Into the Depth Movement | Vangeline | Wednesdays, 6–9pm | Jul 8 – Jul 31 | Gowanus, Brooklyn | $150 – $500 | Application Form |
| Applied Taijiquan Movement | Michael Weston | Sundays, 6–8pm | Jul 5 – Aug 30 | Fractal Campus, 111 Conselyea St | $20 / session | Application Form |
| Dhamma Dance Club Movement | Michael Tong | Tuesdays 7–9pm + Thursdays 10pm | Jun 30 – Oct 1 | Bushwick | $360 – $1,260 | Application Form |
| Jessica Wang | Tuesdays, 7–8:30pm | Jul 14 – Aug 25 | Merlin's Place, Bushwick | $200 – $500 | Application Form | |
| Drum Circle 101 Music | Christian Mortensen | Mondays, 6–7:30pm | Jul 13 – Aug 24 | Merlin's Place, Bushwick | $200 – $500 | Application Form |
| Surya Raghavendran | Wednesdays, 6:30–8:30pm | Jul 8 – Aug 12 | Homebrew | $250 – $500 | Application Form | |
| Build a Poker AI Bot Technology | Arnav Sood | Sundays, 2–4pm | Jul 5 – Aug 9 | Jersey City (remote for Aug sessions) | $140 – $320 | Application Form |
| Basics of Computational Biology Technology | Mike Saint-Antoine | Sat + Sun, 10am–5pm | Jul 25 – 26 (weekend seminar) | TBD (address emailed to enrolled students) | $20 | Application Form |
| Mel Brand & Julianne Lefelhocz | Tuesdays, 6:30–8:30pm | Jun 30 – Aug 18 | Bushwick | $300 – $550 | Application Form | |
| Mel Brand & Julianne Lefelhocz | Sunday, 10:30am–5:30pm | Jul 12 (one day) | Bushwick | $250 – $350 | Application Form | |
| Unconscious Mind Journey Group Mind & Body | Christian Mortensen | Thursdays, 7–9pm | Jul 9 – Aug 20 | Merlin's Place, Bushwick | $300 – $700 | Application Form |
In this series, we'll use the writers of the Lost Generation (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein) as a master class in close reading. You'll learn to slow down on the page, notice what the prose is doing beneath the surface, and build the kind of literary attention that transforms how you read any book.
This course will explore the art of deep engagement through the practice of close reading. Using The Odyssey as our guide, we will move deliberately through key episodes of the epic, returning to specific passages, tracing patterns, and asking what Homer reveals about topics such as wandering, homecoming, desire, restraint, and recognition. Each session includes guided close reading, structured discussion, and selected supplementary materials to deepen our understanding of the poem's historical context, oral tradition, and enduring philosophical force.
In this class, we'll be writing flash fiction. We will also be practicing how to see the world in a way that will carry over to your writing. In this class, you'll encounter: generative prompts, homework reading and writing assignments, discussions of writers' "strategies," and new uses for those scraps of conversation you hear on the subway.
Lab to help writers overcome writer's block and develop spontaneity and authenticity through timed writing exercises and coaching.
Movement is a tool for us to feel more connected, aligned and alive. In this course you will be given the space and tools to start creating and/or deepening your relationship to your body. The goal of this course is that you leave feeling more in tune with yourself, find a sense of play, that you leave with tools to keep deepening in your relationship with yourself on your own.
This course invites students of all backgrounds to explore efficient and expressive ways of moving through urban space that feel playful and accessible in their own bodies. Through guided individual and group exercises, we'll interact with everyday features like walls, railings, stairs, benches, and trees, and see familiar parts of this city in a fresh light.
Learn to meditate through movement, tapping into subtle body systems and the unconscious. Butoh, the dance of darkness, is a transformative practice from Japan being taught in Brooklyn by renowned teacher Vangeline. Open to dancers and non-dancers alike.
Delving into the concepts and practices needed to build practical skill in the martial art of Taijiquan, this class focuses on learning in layers to examine the form's nuanced meaning, and training ways to bridge that meaning into detailed body awareness, dynamic problem-solving, and powerful movement literacy.
Attendees will deepen easeful concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity and integrate them in social contexts. They will also build confidence to move authentically in and out of the club while exploring nightlife in NYC.
Have you ever wanted to feel more confident on the dance floor? In this course, we'll explore street dance styles including hip hop, house, and vogue: styles born on dance floors and at parties, each offering a different way of relating to music, self-expression, and movement. Built for complete beginners and taught from scratch, this course will help you become more comfortable, expressive, and confident whenever there's music.
Do you want a deeper understanding of rhythm that makes singing, dancing, drumming, and even walking more fun, groovy, and natural? In this 7 week rhythmic journey we will explore drumming and percussion in ways that can be applied anywhere – your body, voice, the kitchen table, drums, shakers, pots and pans… your imagination is the limit!
Much of what you're taught about music looks arbitrary - twelve notes to an octave, some intervals consonant and others not, every instrument tuned slightly wrong - but almost none of it is. Over five weeks we work out the mathematics behind it, from how the ear hears a pure tone to the symmetry of the chromatic scale, picking up Fourier analysis, a little number theory, and some group theory on the way.
Over 6 weeks, we're going to build a bot to play a variant of poker. By the end, you'll have learned the underlying theory and have a functioning bot. After the class I'll test the bots against each other and give a prize to the top bots.
This course is a basic introduction to computational biology / bioinformatics, meant for programmers who already know a bit of Python. No prior biology knowledge required!
In 6 weeks, learn how to build a 3D model and design by making a lamp. No experience necessary, this will be an introductory course. We will discuss 3D modeling best practices for 3D printing, as well as making methods such as sewing and soldering.
Make your own 3D printed planter and become an emerging 3D modeler from no previous experience!
Join us for a journey into the unconscious mind, where limiting beliefs, identity, habits, and blocks live. In this 7 week course we will update your inner landscape to be healthy, supportive, positive, and optimized for you to live the life you want to live!
Clubs & Open Groups
| Club / Group | Schedule | Location | Join |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Squad Do you like burning calories and burning tokens? Wanna set PRs while merging PRs? Then join the Claude Squad at Vital Williamsburg every other Thursday as we prompt, lift, sauna, and dine together while aura farming and friendshipmogging everyone with our matching outfits! Make no mistake, we're the funnest fitness and computing cult in NYC 💪 | 6:30 pm, usually every other Thursday. Join the WhatsApp group for dates. | Vital Williamsburg | Join WhatsApp → |
Do you like burning calories and burning tokens? Wanna set PRs while merging PRs? Then join the Claude Squad at Vital Williamsburg every other Thursday as we prompt, lift, sauna, and dine together while aura farming and friendshipmogging everyone with our matching outfits! Make no mistake, we're the funnest fitness and computing cult in NYC 💪