Education & Classes in North Valley

You'll spend your first half hour on terra firma, covering basic maneuvers such as turns, climbs, and descents, as well as entry-level safety tips (stay away from the ground). After your earthly lessons, you'll strap into the cockpit of one of Sierra's airplanemobiles, such as the Cessna 172 or Diamond DA40, and put what you've learned to the test. These safe, sturdy workhorses of the clouds feature a high wing design that provides excellent, beginner-friendly stability and unobstructed, beautiful views of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains, ideal for distracting meddlesome backseat pilots.

Callas Beauty Institute grooms future future aestheticians, nail technicians, make-up artists, and cosmetologists with hands-on classes led by seasoned stylists. To practice new techniques and give mannequin hair time to regrow, hair-academy students snip and style guests’ locks, transforming 'dos into newly colored coifs or delicately permed curls. The skincare academy’s practitioners pamper faces with noninvasive beautifying treatments, sloughing away unwanted skin during a microdermabrasion or enhancing giraffe costumes with bat-able eyelash extensions. A knowledgeable student at the nail academy buffs and trims cuticles before coating nail beds in brilliant hues and turtle-shell-like duvets. The salon’s interior showcases hardwood flooring, elegant rugs, sky-blue hues, and tall windows in the front that permit scores of natural light during the day.

The instructors at Deep Blue Scuba teach aquatic proficiency through the rigorous and comprehensive ANDI certification system. ANDI certification imparts pupils with the skills necessary to dive self-sufficiently or with companions, and trains students via pool sessions and open-water dives set in the crystalline Lake Travis. After mastering descent and ascent techniques, students can expand their knowledge base through a slew of specialty courses including underwater navigation, night diving, and wreck diving. Scuba instructors map out the best local dive locations and host periodic Discover Scuba outings where divers sample new gear and reacquaint themselves with watery skills. The diving enterprise also hosts expeditions to far-away waters, piloting trips that explore Australia and Mexico, and confront the notorious gangs of clownfish that lay claim to the Florida Keys.

The Instituto Cervantes, founded in 1991 by the Spanish government to facilitate a better understanding of Spanish and Latin American culture, offers online classes that build fluency and increase familiarity with the diverse Spanish-speaking world. Their language tutorials range from introductory lessons to advanced literature courses, which immerse fluent speakers in notable Spanish texts and let authorial ghosts reminisce on how awesome their writing was. The Instituto Cervantes also hosts regular cultural events, such as Hispanophone movies, concerts, and art displays.

When she founded Rhythm Dance Company in 2009, Rachel Green flung open the doors of a performance sanctuary. The spacious studio is an all-purpose haven for instructors, students, and socializers with a sense of rhythm, where lessons on everything from hip-hop routines to hula-hoop twirls can grace the calendar. Patrons can also rent out the space for events—the hardwood floors readily support parties, martial-arts meet-ups, and the life-size baking-soda volcanoes of grad-student science fairs.

The company itself specializes in vintage swing, showcasing the lindy hop, Charleston, and jitterbug for learners of all experience levels. Pupils hoping to steadily broaden their rug-cutting repertoire can take progressive lessons from The Rhythm Project, a collective of award-winning teachers that hosts monthly class series and social dances.

Art and travel go hand in hand for Meltdown Studio's owner Lauren Tobey. The accomplished jewelry designer has explored lush, vibrant locales, including Spain and Costa Rica, where her search for inspiration turned up in natural materials such as twigs, seeds, and tree frogs donning tiny diamond engagement rings. Returning to New Mexico—the place she first unearthed her desire to make jewelry—Tobey established Meltdown Studio as both a school and a creative space for other artists to teach, share techniques, and invent distinctive, wearable art.