I'm a dance studio owner looking to start-up an acro program.

Do any of you teach in a dance studio environment?

I have a few questions and I would really appreciate any help you can give.

What supplies I will need?
What is the best way to break up the age groups?
How do I go about hiring?

Thank You!

Hello,
I've been teaching Acro for over 20 years. I have developed a syllabus to assist dance teachers and studio owners with starting up an Acro program. Check out my website at acrobaticarts.ca

In answer to your questions,
You will need mats. It is easiest to go with folding mats, as they can be used in many different ways to assist acro dancers with a wide varity of skills. Additional supplies could includ a crash mat, an incline mat, a mini trampoline, balancing boxes or stands, small hand weights and skipping ropes, to name a few.

I find it best to break up the dancers by ability, since in Acro you will often find that some six year olds are better than some sixteen year olds. You want to sart as young as possible (5 years) for the best results! At this age, they are usually quite flexible and still fearless!

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Mandy
acrobaticarts.ca





You

You will need some type of matting, skills need to be first learned on a softer surface for safety. This also allows more repetitions of skills.

I have found a springboard is invaluable for teaching various skills and a mat of similar height to the springboard. Great from front handsprings, back handsprings, front and back tucks, aerials etc. You can get creative with it, if you out the springboard under a mat it becomes an incline, it can al be used to train bridge kickovers etc,.

I have been doing acrobatics for 15 years and have taught in a dance studio setting. I think as for equipment you will need some panel (fold out) mats, a crash/sting mat, a cheese mat, mini trap, spring board (if the ceiling is high enough)and small, medium and large octagons to teach regular/dive cartwheels,front and back walkovers and handsprings. You may also want to get some handbalancing blocks as well. The octagons are good to use if you are having trouble spotting someone or they are having trouble gaining momentum for the skill. It is also good to use the small or medium one (depending on their size)when a student is trying for example a back handspring for the first time by themselves. So if something happens they just land on their back on the octagon and if they do it right they won't touch it at all.
As far as age groups I would break it up into 5-8 year olds, 9-12 year olds 13-16 and adults. As you get more students maybe combine the 5-12 year olds and separate them by level and the same for the 13-16 year olds and adults.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck.

I agree with most of the comments above. Make sure that the teacher that you hire for this class is versatile and can teach a wide variety of levels. I find that a lot of Acro coaches are only able to teach more advanced students or just the little ones. The best coaches can teach all levels and don't let the intermediate kids fall through the cracks.

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Mandy
acrobaticarts.ca

Try the adapt syllabus that is what we use at my studio

Try the adapt syllabus that is what we use at my studio

I've been considering doing this for a while now, I'm from a dance only background so I feel like I'd certainly need a specialist to come in and teach a class as part of the dance school, definitely going to look into this! x