Our Training with Acrobatic Arts

My Thoughts

We completed our Acro training in April 2018 and received expert tuition from both Jen and Sandra. We both loved the training and got high scores in our exams, Lisa particularly well... 100%!! Very impressive!👌🏻 I am so pleased that we picked the Acrobatic Arts curriculum.

The Acrobatic Arts programme is so much fun for the Dancers, we had the pleasure of taking a handful of our own dancers along to help us learn spotting techniques etc. They had a fabulous time but they also learned such a lot. We could see that after just a few days, their strength and flexibility had already improved and we know that if they carry on with this programme, their dance ability will go from strength to strength but what has impressed us most of all about the curriculum, is how safety conscious it is towards the dancers.

The programmes huge success is progression. Simply, if the dancer is coached correctly through each and every progression at their own individual pace, they will be able to achieve their goals without the risk of injury.

All dancers begin at primary level and work through the levels at a pace suitable to them. It depends a little on age but more so on ability as to how quickly they work through the levels. Once they can perform a progression perfectly and for the required amount of time, it is added to their achievement card and at that point, they are able to attempt the next progression. The dancer themselves will, by then, feel confident and strong enough to move on as well as having a great sense of achievement.

Once the dancer has found their suitable level, they will normally spend around year or so working at it, with every small achievement recorded along the way.  Ultimately, they will be offered the option to take an exam in that level. 

There is also a great deal of care taken in the teaching of Acro that both sides of the body are worked evenly, which as a Pilates and Ballet teacher, this really does please me!  So often I come across dancers with notable misalignments in their posture due to overwork on their 'favourite high kicking leg' or they may have a best side for a cartwheel for another example. Dancers studying the Acrobatic Arts programme will be required to display their work on both sides of the body equally before progressing to the next level. By emphasising this even way of working, the Acrobatic Arts programme is excellently designed to give the dancers, grace, strength, flexibility and a beautifully, even aligned posture that they will be able to carry through to adult life. 

As a Pilates teacher, I can not recommend this programme highly enough! It is so incredibly well researched and designed and is one of the best exercise programs for children and young adults that I have come across!

October Stretch of the Month

Ideally to be practiced every day for the month of October and then be amazed as you watch your position in bridge improve along with more mobile and beautifully performed forward and backward walkovers.

A printable copy can be requested from your teachers!

(Prize at the end of the month for the dancer who has practiced this stretch and demonstrated the most improvement!!)

Please send us your photos of you practicing at home!!

Dance Acro Workshop Photos

 

Thanks to all our lovely dancers for joining us on our first workshop! We had a very successful day learning new tricks and creating two fantastic dances, choreographed mainly by the dancers themselves.

A few awards were given out.....

Choreography Superstars were, Evie and Laura, Balance Superstars were, Maddie and Abigail and Gold raffle prize winners were Jessica and Lily. All our dancers took home one of our brand new LA Dance Acro T-Shirts designed by vade-invader as a special thank you for coming to our first workshop.

Morning Group

Afternoon Group

If that wasn't a good enough day already, amazingly, we had some huge success with dancers getting their aerials for the first time!

Up In the air!!

Congratulations to Katie, Sophie and Sofia for achieving their side aerials and huge congratulations to Abigail for achieving her front aerial! If you would like to see this in action, please just hit the button....

Why LA Dance Acro?

Hello Parents and Students,

We just wanted to introduce ourselves and explain a little bit about what we do here at LA Dance Acro.

Angela Routledge, an ex-professional dancer, Pilates instructor and RAD Ballet teacher and Lisa Bailey, an accountant, trained dancer and fitness enthusiast, are both fully qualified Acrobatic Arts teachers and are thrilled to be joining forces with Emmerson School of Dance to add this exciting discipline to the timetable in September.

Acrobatic Arts is a beautifully designed, expertly researched, progressive, technical and safety conscious program, designed especially for young dancers wishing to learn exciting acro skills and tricks that can be safely performed on a hard stage or studio floor.

Differing to gymnastics, which is designed to be coached and performed in a purpose built, crash matted gymnasium, 'Acrobatic Arts' teaches dancers to land and flow safely from one movement to another so to avoid injury but also to add grace and elegance to the movement. 

In April 2018, we ran a practice taster term of classes with dancers aged 8-12 yrs which was a great experience and a lot of fun. In April 2018 we extended the program to all age groups. We are loving teaching the classes and the dancers really seem to enjoy them. We have been amazed to see the improvement in the strength, flexibility and confidence in the dancers! 

Stretch of the Month (June 18)

Stretch of the Month (May 18)

Improve your 'Square Split' position!

This stretch is excellent for improving the 'square splits' position.

Lots of our dancers have been surprised to find out that when they attempt the splits with their hips in a square position, they can no longer achieve the splits! Please don't worry, this is only temporary. With a little bit of practice for a month or so the splits will once again be achieved but this time with great technique and much safer for your knees, hips and lower back! We will be working on this stretch in all of our classes over the next month but the more you practice the faster you will achieve! Any fully filled out charts of dancers with noted improvements will be entered into a prize draw at the end of May!

HAPPY STRETCHING!!

Why Square Splits??

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Our Training with Acrobatic Arts

My Thoughts

We completed our Acro training in April 2018 and received expert tuition from both Jen and Sandra. We both loved the training and got high scores in our exams, Lisa particularly well... 100%!! Very impressive!👌🏻 I am so pleased that we picked the Acrobatic Arts curriculum.

The Acrobatic Arts programme is so much fun for the Dancers, we had the pleasure of taking a handful of our own dancers along to help us learn spotting techniques etc. They had a fabulous time but they also learned such a lot. We could see that after just a few days, their strength and flexibility had already improved and we know that if they carry on with this programme, their dance ability will go from strength to strength but what has impressed us most of all about the curriculum, is how safety conscious it is towards the dancers.

The programmes huge success is progression. Simply, if the dancer is coached correctly through each and every progression at their own individual pace, they will be able to achieve their goals without the risk of injury.

All dancers begin at primary level and work through the levels at a pace suitable to them. It depends a little on age but more so on ability as to how quickly they work through the levels. Once they can perform a progression perfectly and for the required amount of time, it is added to their achievement card and at that point, they are able to attempt the next progression. The dancer themselves will, by then, feel confident and strong enough to move on as well as having a great sense of achievement.

Once the dancer has found their suitable level, they will normally spend around year or so working at it, with every small achievement recorded along the way.  Ultimately, they will be offered the option to take an exam in that level. 

There is also a great deal of care taken in the teaching of Acro that both sides of the body are worked evenly, which as a Pilates and Ballet teacher, this really does please me!  So often I come across dancers with notable misalignments in their posture due to overwork on their 'favourite high kicking leg' or they may have a best side for a cartwheel for another example. Dancers studying the Acrobatic Arts programme will be required to display their work on both sides of the body equally before progressing to the next level. By emphasising this even way of working, the Acrobatic Arts programme is excellently designed to give the dancers, grace, strength, flexibility and a beautifully, even aligned posture that they will be able to carry through to adult life. 

As a Pilates teacher, I can not recommend this programme highly enough! It is so incredibly well researched and designed and is one of the best exercise programs for children and young adults that I have come across!