Education & Classes in North Richland Hills

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.

At Sigma Performance Swimming, dedicated instructors coach everyone from toddlers taking their first splash to adults training for professional trials. The waters in 25-yard indoor and outdoor pools are churned to a froth as swimmers work to hone the school’s three focuses: technique, speed, and endurance. With a ratio of five students to one instructor, pupils are granted ample individual attention as they learn basic aquatic strokes. Students can consult footage of their form during an underwater-stroke analysis to further refine their technique. As their talents grow, swimmers can join Sigma’s nationally competitive teams or set personal goals, prepare for races, and perfect their sailfish Halloween costumes.

"If you make it, you will taste it" is the motto founders Julie Fabing Burleson and Suzy Vinson Nettles envisioned when they created Young Chefs Academy. In addition to giving youngsters hands-on exposure to culinary techniques, kitchen safety, eating etiquette, and table setting, the academy's philosophy ensures that kids like 10-year-old former veggie-hater Camille gain an appreciation for healthy homemade cuisine. With centers in more than 10 states, Young Chefs Academy enriches growing minds ages 3–18 with engaging cooking classes, camps, and birthday parties that impart valuable life skills, such as self-reliance and how to trick a younger sibling into doing the dishes.

During A Piece of Work’s interactive classes, amateur artists receive the supplies they’ll need before relaxing at an easel with a bottle of wine. Background music fills the air and eclectic paintings splash color across the walls in the studio. A local artist demonstrates how to paint a copy of a masterpiece while the class of students follows along, unleashing their creativity and filling canvases with elegant reproductions of works such as impressionist paintings by Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. Kids' camps introduce young artists to the famous works of their forebears and impart crucial techniques, while paint-your-pet nights help students re-identify with man’s best friend.

Arthur Murray Dance Studios has been a leading name in ballroom dance since 1912, when the entrepreneur began selling mail-order dance lessons. Expanding his reach, he enlisted teachers to spread his signature dance lessons on first-class steamships and skyrocketed to fame in the '30s after introducing the public to such dances as the Lambeth Walk and the Big Apple. By the 1950s, Arthur and his wife, Kathryn, were hosting their own highly popular TV show on ABC, the Arthur Murray Dance Party, which ran for 12 years. Today, Arthur Murray's team prepares students for rug cutting at special events and weekend nightclub jaunts. Clients who arrive to lessons partnerless will be paired up with certified instructors, and the instructors will assess their current skill level and make recommendations on the most appropriate program. Throughout lessons, instructors teach the foundations of two to four dances from a long list of styles that range from Latin to country-western, helping students to learn basic step patterns, timing, and the ability to lead or follow.