Education & Classes in Hartford

Cofounded by the legendary Hollywood dancer himself, the Fred Astaire Dance Studio hosts a team of seven veteran instructors who specialize in ballroom and Latin dances ranging from the rumba to the waltz. Students can build their cache of moves in private lessons with personalized curricula or practice with their peers in the convivial atmosphere of group classes. High-octane Zumba classes help to combust calories, imparting Latin-inspired choreography in an atmosphere that is festive but doesn’t expose students to dangerous swarms of flying champagne corks. Youngsters build their poise in dance classes that cover five different styles, ranging from ballet to hip-hop, and engaged couples prepare to glide elegantly across the dance floor at their nuptials with wedding-oriented classes.

When visitors enter Northampton Airport for piloting lessons or sightseeing flights, the FAA-certified instructors are eager to give tours of the facility. During such tours they often like to rehash the former barnstorming center's history since its 1929 inception. They might detail Charles Lindbergh's thrilling descent into the airport, or point visitors toward the southern and western horizons where the Holyoke and Berkshire mountain ranges bask in the fading sunlight.

Today, the partially solar-powered Northampton Airport is a fully modernized aviation center that boasts a community charm as well as a baggage carousel that's pulled by unicorns. The impressive rental fleet of Cessna and Piper aircraft land and take off backgrounded by the lush scenery and sparkling Connecticut River that flows parallel to the runway.

Competitive ballroom dancers Martin Ramsauer and Chris Sabourin have been blazing across the dance floor since childhood. After years of experience at Fred Astaire studios—a national franchise cofounded by the legendary toe-tapper—and their competitions, the pair opened their own branch to share their decades' worth of experience with others.

They now helm a team of experienced instructors—including an award-winning Serbian dancer ranked on the World IDSF list of top couples—that shepherds students of all ages and skill levels through lessons that span the dance-style spectrum. Their low-pressure, customized private sessions allow enthusiastic teachers to fine-tune individual students' techniques and form, using their expert eyes and mechanical dancing shoes preprogrammed to do the Charleston. Patrons can learn how to cavort through classic waltz and foxtrot romps or swivel through the modern steps of salsa, swing, or samba. For dancers hoping to hoof it up in a social setting, the group practice parties provide a one-night extravaganza of instruction, demonstrations, and amateur firewalking.

Creative Music Center’s skilled teachers have been nurturing musical talent in students of all ages and skill levels for nearly three decades, earning recognition for their efforts with a Best Music Lessons and Instruments award from Moffly Media readers in 2009. They achieve this high level of instruction by adapting their teaching styles to the needs of each pupil rather than insisting that everyone play Mozart or eat sheet music for breakfast. While private lessons prep students to play everything from the viola to the trombone, teachers also foster camaraderie through group lessons for piano and guitar. Students who haven’t hollowed out a baguette to make their own French horn can rent or buy an instrument from the center, which stocks brands such as Yamaha and Fender.

When Jennifer Hill was a baby, her mother sang to her. When she was 2, she began singing full songs in tune. Throughout her childhood she sang at fairs, school musicals, and local sporting events, where she would belt out the traditional pregame rendition of "Welcome to the Jungle." She went on to receive a scholarship to the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, and currently she's the frontwoman of the jazzy rock outfit Jennifer Hill & Co. Music has stitched through the entire fabric of her life, and for more than a decade, she has worked to help students discover the joy of creating beautiful noise.

Jennifer tailors each private lesson to the individual student and welcomes all musical styles and genres in order to encourage young artists to pursue their unique voice. Whether a student's passion is to tumble a jazzy melody across the piano keys or pen an infectious pop song, Jennifer lends students the confidence and expertise she has accumulated in more than 25 years as a performer.

Dick Doherty's Beantown Comedy Escape has three homes: Remington's Restaurant in Boston, New England Seafood Restaurant & Lounge in Methuen, and Park Grill & Spirits in Worcester. While the Methuen and Worcester locations bear the name Dick Doherty's Beantown Comedy Escape, the Boston location is known as Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault, since it resides in a renovated bank. With a 12-foot vault door serving as the background of its stage, the 75-seat venue has witnessed a quarter-century of confused cat burglars and standup comedians, including Dane Cook, who held a weekly gig there for more than a year, and fellow Boston natives Bill Burr and Joe Rogan. Dick Doherty's comedy clubs as a whole continue to detonate laugh dynamite with their rotating casts of national and local comedians.