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Head Over Heels About Acro
By Tori Melby
Acrobatics builds confidence and offers new challenges
Acrobatics has
always been an important part of my dance curriculum and as
such it’s something that I want to pass on to future
generations. As the daughter of a dance teacher, I have
continued to give to my students the basics that I
received during my dance training. Acro was a big part of that
foundation.
If you’re wondering
whether an acrobatics program is right for your school,
consider this: I have noticed that students who take
acro classes seem more confident than those who do not. We
attend conventions each year that have audition classes.
Usually there is an improvisation section that allows the kids
to add to their routine by expressing themselves creatively
and impulsively. My students always throw in something
acrobatic. Plus, at many of the national title competitions
one of the optional competition classes is acrobatics. My
students normally do very well; often it is one of their top
scores.
On the downside, you
might end up juggling schedules because your acro students
will also make very good cheerleaders—they are good tumblers,
with great balance and agility. Very few of my students who
try out fail to make the squad, so I try to schedule my
classes around the cheer requirements as much as possible.
This makes getting them all there at the same time for dance
class a problem. Although I do not lose many students to
cheer, the newest craze seems to be competition cheerleading,
and accommodating multiple schedules does get harder each
year. But in my mind, the benefits of acro outweigh that
risk.
Beginners
At my school,
Dancer’s Workshop in Sanford, NC, we begin acro with
preschool-age children as young as 2 in a combination class of
tap, ballet, and tumbling. They begin with basic stretches and
then move onto the wedge, which provides an inclined surface
that makes learning such moves as pencil rolls, forward rolls,
baby crab walks, and back rolls easier. At ages 3 and 4 they
begin to work on the mats instead of on an incline, which
makes the movements a bit harder. They begin doing push-up
backbends, lying on their abdomens and touching their feet to
the back of their head, and working on the concept of a
cartwheel (which some will get and others will not). Jumping
on one foot and playing hopscotch are fun activities that help
with balance and motor skills.
With this age group
I normally do most of my spotting by hand; however, I do use a
karate belt to save my back when the children are working on
backbends. I teach beginners ages 6 and over the same way,
using the wedge as much as possible. I have them begin with
the same skills as the preschoolers, then advance to
headstands, handstands, and backbends from standing to floor
and up again. Then we progress to one-handed cartwheels,
roundoffs, front limbers, and back walkovers. I also begin to
introduce running tricks such as running cartwheels, roundoffs,
and front handsprings.
Intermediate
level
Intermediate classes
begin with a full stretch. We then work through the
progressions of the basic skills before tackling the harder
skills. I try to keep this interesting by combining tricks and
making the students do them on both sides. For example, I
would give them a combination like this: handstand, front
roll, step out, one-handed cartwheel, roundoff, and pike back
roll; then ask them to do it to the other side. Then we would
progress to walkovers of all kinds, Arabian limbers (any trick
that takes off from two feet and passes through a handstand;
variations include tuck front, pike front, straddle front, and
back Arabian), spotting cartwheels, cartwheel drop splits,
elbow stands, shoulder stands, hand walks, simple double
tricks (like double cartwheels and butterflies), and back
handsprings.
Advanced level
Advanced students do
the basics and progress through to aerial cartwheels, aerial
walkovers, and back tucks. This is the class in which I
introduce specialty tricks such as full reverse walkovers
(forward and backward), runarounds, butterflies, six types of
Valdez, half reverse tensica, castovers, double back
walkovers, triple cartwheels, aerial walkovers holding hands,
and so forth.
Students reach the
advanced level at different ages (or not at all); at my school
they range in age from 8 to 18. Getting to this level is not
necessarily determined by how many years of training they have
had; it is how well they adapt to it. I have students who have
taken acro for many years and still can’t master the basics of
an intermediate class.
In my opinion, the
three things that make a great acrobat are a lack of fear
(they have to be unafraid to try new things and trust me when
I say that they are ready to do something), strength (which
plays a major part), and flexibility.
Teacher training
and liability
Due to liability and
insurance issues in studios today, often teachers are afraid
to offer acro because of what could happen if a student gets
injured. However, if you hire well-trained teachers who know
how to spot correctly, this should not be a problem. I have
had more injuries occur with students in tap shoes than I have
had in acrobatic classes in 22 years!
When looking for an
acrobatics teacher, it is essential to have them demonstrate
for you, with a student, how they would spot the various
skills. Do they know what they need to protect and the best
way to do it? For instance, forward and backward rolls need to
be spotted by the hips to keep pressure off the student’s
neck. A standing backbend should be spotted by standing in
front of the student with one foot between their legs and the
teacher’s hands or a belt around the student’s back. This
gives the spotter more leverage than if they were standing
beside the student. Back walkovers should be spotted from the
side of the extended leg, with spotting hands at the back and
behind the working leg.
Also make sure that
prospective teachers are knowledgeable about the normal
progressions in an acrobatic class. In other words, students
shouldn’t try a back walkover if they can’t do a backbend from
a standing position without assistance, nor a back handspring
if they can’t do a handstand.
I address parental
concerns about safety by advertising that all of my teachers
are certified to teach by Dance Masters of America. I also
allow parents to watch while their children participate in a
class before they sign up. In the few instances when children
have been hurt, I have been very lucky that their parents were
understanding. Most of the injuries have occurred when the
students were doing something they already knew how to do and
were not being spotted, or when they tried something that I
had not told them they were ready to do. The easiest way to
prevent this, with younger students, is to have them sit and
wait their turn. Then you know they can’t be at the other end
of the room, behind your back, trying something they
shouldn’t.
Teaching aids
There are so many
teaching aids for acrobatics, including wedges, octagons,
mats, and belts. My favorite is a karate belt, because it is
simple to use, lightweight, easy to get on and off, and
doesn’t have the hard hooks and latches that swivel
belts have. The proper use of these aids comes down to knowing
which parts of the body you have to protect for certain
tricks. All of this is outlined in the DMA acrobatic syllabus,
which can be purchased through their website or from a state
or regional DMA chapter.
We have three
different sizes of wedges, and they are used for any trick
that is easier to do going downhill, from rolls with the
preschoolers, to front limbers, walkovers, back handsprings,
and back tucks. Octagons are great for tricks in which the
back needs to be protected. Again, we have three sizes, and we
use them for students of all ages. These are good for limbers,
back handsprings, dive rolls, front handsprings, and
headsprings.
For advanced moves
like front aerials and back tucks and twists, I require two
spotters, each of whom holds one end of a karate belt that is
wrapped around the student’s waist and twisted on
either side. While a spotter’s hands could possibly lose
contact with the student, that can’t happen with the belt.
Towels make great spotting aids for aerial cartwheels and
anything that travels. The spotters stand on either side of
the map, holding the ends of a twisted towel, and the student
does a running preparation toward them and goes over the
towel.
Getting started
School owners who
are interested in starting an acro program can find a nearby
DMA chapter and attend a syllabus review. Or consider having
someone who is well versed in acrobatics teach a class with
you and a few students. Let them give you the hands-on
training you need to start a beginner group in each age level.
The following year bring them back for an intermediate level,
and so forth.
In terms of
staffing, preschool teachers should have the basic knowledge
to incorporate acro into their classes. One teacher can cover
the other age groups.
I suggest
introducing acro in a summer session or dance camp; however,
because of the cost of the equipment (a minimum of three
four-panel mats and one wedge, which would probably cost
around $800), interested owners should make sure there is
enough interest to justify the expense.
At my school acro
classes are quite popular; I would say that 93 percent of my
students are in either an acrobatic class or a combination
class that includes tumbling. We may have 20 kids in one
class, but because we have at least two teachers at all times,
we don’t have waiting lists. Our classes are divided by age as
well as ability. We have a beginner/intermediate class for
ages 6 to 10, then an advanced group that ranges from age 8 to
10. We offer the same classes for students 11 years old and
over.
At my studio, all
students ages 5 and under are in combination classes. However,
the Centre of Performing Arts in Graham, NC, where I work with
the competition teams and teach some advanced acro classes,
has 45-minute tumbling classes for children as young
as 3 and Mommy and
Me classes starting at 18 months, and they are filled to the
rim.
If you’re looking
for a way to expand your curriculum, challenge your students,
and create more versatile dancers, consider adding acro to
your class offerings. Not only does it provide flexibility,
strength, and agility, it also gives students a veritable
performance edge over those who can’t function upside down.
Above picture: Under close supervision by trained
teachers, children of all ages can enjoy acro.
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