Education & Classes in Grapevine

Owners Maarten and Hanna Vanderstoel created Van Grow Studio of the Arts to promote creative thinking and problem solving in children through artistic crafts. Boasting degrees in fine arts and studio arts, respectively, Maarten and Hanna teach most of the classes and prepare the curricula for all of the studio's camps. TCU graduate Alma Worrell manages the open studio and paint-your-own-pottery rooms, which are also accessible to adults. Van Grow's upbeat instructors nurture creativity and confidence across three age groups, offering classes, parties, and workshops to pique a wide range of interests. Courses foster each student's individual vision, rather than a mastery of technique, and help to develop motor skills, self-esteem, and the ability to sculpt gummy-bear replicas of Rodin's The Thinker.

Cofounded by dancing legend Fred Astaire to train new generations of rug cutters with his signature easy grace, Fred Astaire Dance Studio uses a unique curriculum to create comfort on the dance floor. Instructors start with steps and rhythms common to most social dances, steadily building toward more specialized combinations of moves for a variety of rhythm-dance styles such as cha-cha and samba and smooth-dance styles such as the foxtrot and waltz. Once they've learned to follow, lead, or just pare down unnecessary finger-snaps, students can take to the purple-walled dance floor to practice their steps and try on new partners at social parties.

Every graduate of The Premium Institute of Bartending Schools' 34-hour mixology program can count on one thing—being hired as an on-call bartender with Premium Event Staffing, a company that provides staff for private parties and corporate events. Like a pie-fight truce, this guarantee benefits everyone involved. Students get to earn income while they use the institute's job-placement services to find a steady gig at an affiliated bar or elsewhere. Premium Event Staffing in turn gets access to bartenders who have completed the mixology program and who know their way around a muddler.

The reason even the institute's most recent graduates are so comfortable behind a bar isn't that they're wearing footie pajamas under their clothes—it's that classes take place in such a realistic setting. Students work at a bar setup that includes bar guns, liquor bottles, and 14 types of glasses, and they learn to pour on a real draft-beer system. This hands-on approach also characterizes the four-hour introductory classes the school holds for people who wish to learn to make martinis, shots, frozen drinks, or other specialties.

Since 2000, Art House has kindled creativity and a love of history by offering museum-quality art classes for budding Picassos aged three through adult. Inside each location, degreed artist-teachers helm classes year-round, guiding students through a structured curriculum in everything from drawing and painting to sculpting. The teachers combine lessons in artistic techniques with a study of art history in order to form a well-rounded educational experience that keeps kids from accidentally painting a self-portrait that looks exactly like Van Gogh’s. Art House also brings art-loving youths together in camps, workshops, and private parties.

The Dance Place nurtures nascent toe-tappers through a packed schedule of fun, energetic group classes held in a cheery, purple studio. Under the tutelage of seasoned instructors, daily classes cover a range of rug-cutting methods including waltz, cha-cha, foxtrot, salsa, and other varieties. Amateur dancers can flaunt their newly perfected twists as they solidify technique, socialize with other hip-shakers, and soak up a host of health and wellness benefits. Each class matches students of similar experience levels to avoid unnecessary stumbles as they try to keep up, or the humiliation of accidentally getting served by their partners.