From the outside, the HazMat house in Oakland (which serves as a place for punks to live and play music) looks like any other warehouse.

But once a week you can find piles of hula hoops, bowling pins and tennis balls in a corner of the house's large central room. As music pumps from a stereo, Slim Chance the clown and his girlfriend Wunder Sqrrrl can be seen stretching, juggling and riding unicycles.

It's all part of what Slim dubs a "circus skillshare," where anyone can come learn to perform acrobatic feats, or just juggle a few balls.

The skillshare is part of the East Bay Free Skool, which helps coordinate several free classes like the one Slim Chance and Wunder sqrrrl help run. Students in the Free Skool can choose from courses like gardening, beer-brewing and radical parenting.

The classes, according to the East Bay Free Skool's website, provide a way for people to "share knowledge in a non-commercial setting to strengthen community."

Bryce Bugby, an Oakland resident and one of the attendees at the circus skillshare, said it was helpful for anyone looking to bolster their acrobatic or circus skills, in addition to being a nice place to socialize.

"Any kind of routine people can rely on for intimacy in a way that's positive, something that helps them learn things is good," said Bugby. "It's good to have friends that I go do nerdy things with."

Slim Chance said there was no one type of person who came to the skillshare, with people between the ages of 4 and 70 taking part.

"I've seen little kids come here and learn things that just blew their parents away," he said. "We love to see that. People just beaming with pride at their children, which every child should feel."

"And adult," he added, smiling.
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To find out more information about the circus skillshare class and where it meets, send Slim Chance an e-mail at slimchance@spaz.org.

To learn more about the East Bay Free Skool, visit their website at http://eastbayfreeskool.wikia.com.

-- Tabitha Russell