Education & Classes in Williamsburg

Julie Fabing Burleson and Suzy Vinson Nettles feel that the kitchen is just another place for kids to flex their creativity. They opened Young Chefs Academy to provide kids aged 3–18 with cooking programs targeted to preschoolers and kindergarteners, elementary schoolers, and older kids ready for trickier techniques and intricate recipes. Regardless of a student’s age, he or she is always taught the pillars of home cooking, including how to be safe in the kitchen, how to properly handle and prepare food, how to bake, and how to talk down an oven that constantly overheats. While participating in the entertaining cooking lessons, kids may not even realize that each class also allows them to practice their math, reading-comprehension, and communication skills.

Young Chefs Academy provides a fun, safe, and motivating environment for kids to become acquainted with the art of food and food presentation. Engaging chef instructors instill lessons of kitchen etiquette and safety in youngsters growing up in a world full of laser can-openers and sharp pasta rakes, giving children a capable handle on their surroundings as they journey into the land of food. Classes educate a variety of age groups, with specially catered classes for junior line cooks, combining nutritional meals with basic food-prep skills that teach how to correctly follow a recipe to edible fruition. Senior flambéists are offered advanced classes that dig deeper into kitchen secrets and hone specific skills and techniques that expand the parameters of cooking creativity. Most classes last 90 minutes.

Executive Chef and Mise En Place owner Christine Wansleben captains a staff of culinary artists and sommeliers who teach visitors how to navigate the kitchen during an array of cooking classes. Aspiring foodsmiths follow their instructor’s lead as they get their hands messy slicing, dicing, and mixing fresh ingredients to build tasty meals in a variety of disciplines, including Tuscan and Southern styles of cooking. The culinary wizards demonstrate easy, straight-forward approaches to fixing dishes and robust sauces, teaching students that knives are best used for chopping, instead of throwing at people strapped to spinning wheels. The crew also hosts parties for both adults and kids, during which participants craft meals to share in the school's bright, airy studio, or at an off-site location, such as the celebrant’s home.

The ships of Norton’s Sailing School surge onward thanks to the winds of Chesapeake Bay and the words of instructors such as Brad Sindle—named one of the nation’s best ASA instructors in 2005, 2006, and 2008. Brad and his colleagues lead educational voyages for students of all experience levels, assisting them as they master techniques and learn the difference between southeasterly winds and sneezing shipmates. The school sends students out on late-model Hunter sailboats, which feature both inboard power and wheel steering for enhanced control on the water.:m]]

Named the Best Place to Take a Dance Class in 2012 by Tucson Lifestyle magazine, Shall We Dance boasts experienced instructors that help instill dancing wisdom and undeniable rhythm in people looking to twirl and sidestep across the studio’s hardwood floor. Students pair up during group dance lessons or work one-on-one with instructors during private lessons as they are shown how to gracefully execute an arsenal of dance steps in styles such as salsa, Argentinean tango, swing, and waltz. The studio also offers weekly dance parties (held Friday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.), which provide a casual setting for students to practice with different dance partners, ready couples for weddings, or prep solo dancers for musical housecleaning sessions.

Colleen Seely, a horse trainer and judge for local equestrian shows, channels her love for the gentle creatures into Fox Pointe Farm, L.L.C., which she opened in 2005. The 27-acre expanse houses two arenas—one lighted with professional footing and the other sandier than a hermit crab's beach house—as well as two barns' worth of stables, grassy pastures, trails, and a swimming pool. Within the tranquil setting, Colleen and her staff train and board steeds for showing at local venues or the farm's own school. Focus shifts from horses to riders during lessons for all ages and abilities, in addition to summer camps for avid athletes. Some overnight camps span an entire week, during which 10 girls bunk in the air-conditioned Fox Den cabin after a day of riding.