About Us
Our Philosophy/Approach
All programs and classes at the Enchanted Garden are based on the premise that the arts are vital for a well-rounded education. Teachers at the Enchanted Garden School and Conservatory are highly trained and strive to instill a love of lifetime learning in all students.
Our History
"The Enchanted Garden" began as a public access television show based on the Music, Mommy & Me program that founder Judy Hirt-Manheimer developed in her living room in 1989 to teach music to a handful of friends and their young children. As interest grew, the class moved to Ridgefield Parks and Recreation, then into a storefront in downtown Ridgefield, and finally into its award-winning building at 165 Danbury Rd. (Rt.35). At its expanded space, The Enchanted Garden grew to include a comprehensive dance and theater program, a preschool and pre-K program, an early childhood parenting class, birthday parties and yoga classes. In 2004, after Judy's sons Noah and Isaac completed their graduate studies in music and joined the school's staff, The Enchanted Garden expanded again. With the addition of a beautiful state-of-the-art facility on a two-acre site along Route 7, the E.G. Conservatory could now offer private music and voice lessons, additional dance and drama programs and classes, digital arts classes, a recording studio, a performance space, and ongoing art exhibits. Today The Enchanted Garden is one of the area's premier arts education centers.
Our two locations in Ridgefield conveniently serve many neighboring towns in Fairfield County Connecticut as well as Westchester County New York. Our students come mainly from the following towns in Connecticut: Ridgefield, Redding, Wilton, Weston, Westport, Brookfield, Danbury, New Canaan, New Fairfield, and Norwalk. In Westchester County NY: South Salem, North Salem, Lewisboro, Pound Ridge, Katonah, Cross River, Goldens Bridge and Brewster.
What we Offer
The Enchanted Garden offers one-of-a-kind early childhood and parenting classes, including mommy and me music for babies, toddlers and twos, twos drop off, preschool & pre-K. In addition, we make our state-of-the-art studios available to selected arts educators in dance, theater, music and yoga, each of them bringing their own teaching techniques and styles into their classes. Dance instruction includes ballet, jazz, tap, modern/contemporary, breakdance and hip-hop. Theater classes include acting, improv, audition preparation and Shakespeare. Music instrument instruction includes piano, guitar, drums, strings, brass, woodwinds plus ensembles in classical, jazz, rock and voice. All levels of Yoga are offered mornings and evenings plus weekends. The Enchanted Garden also offers summer programs in music, dance, theater (including our Shakespeare Summer Institute), award-winning birthday parties, computer arts, and a cutting-edge recording studio.