Education & Classes in Southfield

When John Antone founded Axis Music Academy and started developing his proprietary teaching method, the academy was a cramped four-studio Southfield office where he gave guitar lessons. Sixteen years later, Axis has blossomed into a quartet of spacious, well-lit facilities that have one specialty in common: turn individual musicians into bands. Supplied with 12 private studios and all necessary instruments and gear, students get to set their own goals and chart their own course to learning, composing, and recording music. Whether that journey starts with them working through their favorite song on the guitar or stubbornly trying to play the tuba with their ear, the teaching staff helps them reach their goals using the full benefit of their expertise. Budding virtuosos can then combine their strengths during a slate of rock bands, glee clubs, and other group activities.

Axis Music Academy is also currently Michigan’s only Apple-authorized training center, which saves prospective producers a trip out of state if they want to get certified and tested in industry-standard recording software such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Abelson, and Final Cut—all taught using a brand-new suite of computer stations and the industry-insider techniques of Charlie Grover, the former drummer of gold-certified rock band Sponge.

Lessons rarely stay confined to the classroom, since Axis lines up opportunities for students to show off what they've learned onstage at local venues, sports games, and even on air during the morning news. It also stays active in the Detroit-area community by participating in Wish Upon a Teen and other programs.

Since the visionary artistic husband-and-wife team of Chris Nordin and Michelle Plucinsky began Glass Academy, the state-certified glass-arts trade school has instilled glassblowing, stained-glass, and other silica-shaping know-how into community members. The duo leads classes for all skill levels of craftsmen, ranging from introductory sessions to private lessons with a master glassblower. An on-site gallery showcases the fruits of their labors, which customers take home once they are completed. Handcrafted, custom works such as paperweights, beer mugs, and signature piece Detroit puddle, created by pouring hot glass over a sewer cap, are available for purchase.

When not shaping delicate masterpieces, the staff shares their love of art with the outside world, leading educational tours of their 14,000-square-foot studio space. They also host gatherings including parties with demonstrations and explanations of the glass-blowing process as well as corporate training events, during which employees participate in a teambuilding, hands-on workshop. Glass Academy frequently hosts other fun events and fundraisers, including beer tastings, coffee nights, and drop-in workshops.

To the trained staff at Wakeboard Clinic, every watery medium is worth a ride. These acrobatic instructors wakeboard, wakesurf, wakeskate, and waterski across the warm, shallow waters of Silver Lake in summer, and they skim the snow once the temperature drops. With an indefatigable passion for riding, the expert crew imparts their athletic know-how to pupils during clinics at the private Silver Spray Sports Marina on Silver Lake and at Boyne Mountain Resort during overnight camp stints. At these scenic locales, students young and old master wakesurfing basics before graduating to more advanced maneuvers such as jumps, grabs, and spins.

Aim4A's mission is encoded in its name: armed with advanced degrees and years of teaching experience, its tutors help their students acquire skills and concepts, improve them through practice, and measure their progress, all for academic excellence. In systematically structured group and private sessions, kids can either catch up to their peers by finally mastering skills they've missed or jump ahead of the class with new concepts. Whether helping students get through third grade, ace the ACT, or earn their GED, instructors can conduct virtually all courses on a one-on-one basis via Skype, ideal for those intimidated by groups or cursed to turn anything they touch to gold.

For Amber Gilbert, dancing isn't just an alternative to walking. She sees dance as a chance to explore one's personality and express it through movement. As owner and director of The Dance Academy, she presides over staff members as they help students of all skill levels to unlock artistic potential through dance classes. The team of seasoned instructors teaches styles including hip-hop, Hawaiian, and classical ballet amid the studio's barres and mirrors. During classes for youngsters, pint-size students hone motor skills through activities that pair music with moves culled from the worlds of ballet, tap, and jazz.

In addition to torching calories during salsa and swing classes, adults can sculpt svelte physiques through relaxing yoga and Pilates sessions and Zumba workouts packed with Latin-inspired aerobics. The studio's competitive training program prepares dancers for national contests and helps them to look natural when they get a single red rose stuck in their teeth.

The record skipped over and over. It was the third time Lisa Schwartz had pirouetted her way through Tina the Ballerina, and yet she raced over to the record player with inexhaustible enthusiasm and plucked the needle back to the beginning of the 78. If you were to ask her today, she would tell you this is the moment she knew she loved dance enough to make it her life's work. Her studio, Dancing Feats Dance Centre, springs from that love. She watches with pride as students she taught as children return to her studio to become instructors and as parents who once studied under her prepare to send a second generation of children and domesticated penguins onto her dance-room floor.

Over the years, she has assembled a staff of instructors with a vast array of backgrounds, ranging from cruise-company dance managers to life-long Irish step dancers. With help from their varied experience, her studio has developed a regiment of courses in a variety of dance styles, such as jazz, lyrical, modern, and chicken. Her students perform regularly in recitals as well, showcasing their abilities and talents as they progress.