Things to Do in Huntington

Although some would say a creative escape is sneaking out the bathroom window using only your wits and your pocket ladder, the friendly staff at The Creative Escape encourages you to escape via the customization of serving plates, piggy banks, saucers, and more. Decorate a dish or craft your own mosaic with pieces ranging from $14 to $50, with many items around $20. Select from a wide range of tools and paint colors as you craft a personal magnum opus that will be glazed and fired by the studio in one week's time.

Staring at a blank piece of paper can be intimidating, but browsing the blank, premade pottery at Kiln Creations draws hibernating creativity from its den, enticing the brain with shape, size, and bisque meat. Pieces range between $4 and $65, and all merry potters are assessed a modest studio fee—$8 for adults and $6 for children under 12—which covers everything required to design and fire a project, including time. Grab a blank plate and paint a meal upon it, stencil a cup with springtime flowers, or decorate a picture frame worthy of being hung inside itself. If the concept of whole objects is intimidating, spend time in the studio on a mosaic project and enjoy affixing a variety of vibrant tiles upon a wood base of your choice ($12–$65), then grout your gorgeous piece at home with supplied materials ($6–$8 studio fee applies).

American Style Ballroom's founder Patric Didier has light tripped his way to a couple of Indiana Classic wins, a few gigs dancing for the Brian Setzer Orchestra, and several commercial appearances. When he's not coaching professional competitive dancers, Patric teaches budding dancers of all skill levels how to gracefully hit the floor. Along with co-owner Jeanne Cross—a veteran instructor with more than 30 years of experience—the light-footed duo and its team lead private and group lessons at the studio's two locations. Students of any skill level pound the boards in styles ranging from raucous swing to elegant Viennese waltz to the slightly less elegant Viennese waltz on stilts. American Style Ballroom also hosts practice dance parties to give guests a chance to air out their new moves.

Fort Wayne Ballet began pirouetting in 1956 to enrich the community’s arts offerings with dance instruction and performances. Beginning with its inaugural performance of Cinderella, the ballet company has performed timeless pieces including The Nutcracker, Giselle, and Swan Lake. In addition to its shows and classes, Fort Wayne Ballet maintains strong links to the community, which is evident in its theme: everybody dances. The Ballet works to find adoptive families for dogs through the Muttcracker program, produces trading cards with dancers, I&M linemen and players from each of Fort Wayne’s minor league teams, and stages three main stage productions and three Family Series performances per year.

No matter their age or chosen discipline of dance, students can practice and learn their art at K. Monique's Studio of Dance Fitness Center. Instructors lead classes in a variety of styles, including jazz, lyrical and modern dance, hip-hop, ballet, and tap. Instructors also lead a number of fitness and health conscious classes, which range from Zumba to Pilates, Piloxing crossover classes that fuse Pilates and boxing, and boot camps that help burn calories with interval training drills.

Artist Mike Buszuwski wanted to create “an inspirational place for kids to come and explore art.” Thus, Painting Fun Spot was born. He and his artistic staff equip artists of all ages with all the necessary supplies—nontoxic, USA-made plaster pieces, paints, sealants, and paintball guns—to create colorful sculptures in a relaxed, kid-friendly studio complete with booster seats and pint-sized aprons. Vibrant walls and an undersea mural inspire creativity during studio time, summer camps, and parties and help budding artists bestow blank plaster canvases with hand-painted masterpieces.

Painting Fun Spot also hosts painting fun art classes, during which instructor Tonya Warnke Buszuwski, a professional artist with works in collections throughout the U.S., instructs adults in the finer points of pigment placement. She leads students step by step through a selected canvas work, capturing the tranquility of an impressionistic Tuscan countryside, the bold hues of a cross, or a trio of tulips playing poker with a basset hound.