I might be biased, since I teach acrobatics myself, but I've always admired the athleticism of gymnasts and the way in which they effortlessly perform their routines. I remember patiently waiting for the Olympics to roll around every four years just to be glued to the tv as soon as I got up during the school holidays in hope that I'd get to see them bound across the floor, backflip on the beam and twist around the bars, but having always been part of dance clubs I never quite realised that the two sports could be joined together for "Acro".
After training as a PT, I was (and still am) looking for qualifications that can work alongside my knowledge and understanding from both a dance and sport perspective. I then trained with Acrobatic Arts (https://www.acrobaticarts.com) and Alixa Flexibility (https://www.alixaflexibility.com) to enable me to work with dance schools and individuals in the way that I wished I'd always be able to learn when I was younger; the power and strength that gymnasts ooze, paired with the elegance and suppleness of a dancer.
Acro teaches children to be stronger and more flexible and how to better understand the ways in which their body can safely move. Not only will they build confidence in themselves, but also confidence in others - whether trusting me to help them achieve a new trick, or whether they're working with a friend on a partner lift. Their awareness of coordination and balance also sees great improvements from acro, whether it's something as simple as a single leg hop in their warm up, or something as complicated as an aerial (a flying, non-handed cartwheel for those of you that have never heard of it before).
Although challenging, acrobatics is always fun and it's one of the disciplines of sport that I enjoy teaching the most; landing a trick that you've wanted to get for weeks - or sometimes even months - is a feeling that I would compare to getting your first pumpkin spice latte of the year when autumn rolls around... extremely sweet and SO satisfying!!! There's a type of addiction found within acrobatic lessons; learning all the basic steps to help you work towards various tricks and more often than not, it's always just out of reach, until one day all of that hard work, repetition and build up of progressions fall into place with the student achieving the stunt that they deserve.
It's a misconception that acro is only for girls (it's not by the way!) - of course I'd love to see more boys partaking in this sport since the strength and control that is required for most tricks gives a student of any age a better understanding of the grit and determination that it takes when striving for anything worth having. What's more, is that all of the stunts we learn within an acrobatic setting can be transferred to safely perform on a hard surface once comfortable on the mats. We won't ever stop children from "being children" - trying cartwheels, bridges or handstands amongst other moves in the garden, or on the trampoline - as more often than not kids are fearless. What we can do instead is teach them how to do all of this safely and to only work to their ability in order to minimise the risk of injury.
Acrobatics can also set anyone of any age up to better improve their flexibility and "un-doing" bad habits that we create from daily life; tech neck isn't a good look on ANYONE, so teaching students to stand up tall, pull their shoulders back (and eventually for acro students, to tilt back into a backbend) is always a good shout... as is teaching someone to effectively stretch their hips and glutes for a better split to counter-balance the amount of sitting down we find ourselves doing.
If you'd like more information on Acrobatics or Flexibility Training please don't hesitate to get in touch, and keep an eye out for more posts that I share on how you too, can complete your stretches or tricks safely and effectively.
AJR x
Comments