Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / The Evolution of Acro

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The Evolution of Acro · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Each week, we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: In the dance competition world today, it's almost as common to see a dancer doing an aerial as it is to see them do a pirouette.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Acro has evolved over the years to be a staple of the dance competition scene, from tumbling passes to partnered weight sharing.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Today's episode explores the world of acro as it pertains to dance competitions and whether it's necessary for a winning routine.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact a Dance Competition Podcast.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I am here today with my co-host Leslie Mueller.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Hey y'all! And today we are here to talk about acro at competition.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: We have some amazing pros with us today, and they're going to give us the scoop of the tricks of the trade.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: But first we want to say thank you to everyone who's been listening and subscribing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like always, we love you all so much, and it's been so much fun doing this podcast and making this happen.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Please make sure that you are subscribing to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: You can listen on our website, we're on Stitcher, we're everywhere.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Please make sure you subscribe.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if you love what you've been hearing, then you can also leave us a review and let us know what you think.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: We would love to hear from you.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of reviews, we've had some really great ones.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, shout out to everyone who has left us some awesome reviews.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: We are so thankful.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Your reviews help us to know what we're doing right and to know what we want to do in the future, so we just really appreciate you.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to give a special thank you to user Alyssa41544, who says, I love this podcast.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: I am a dancer and have been dancing for 15 years and competing for eight.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Hearing what the judges want to see and what they love to watch helps me put more into my dances.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so beyond excited about the upcoming 2020 season, and I'm even more excited to go into it with these new tips and tricks.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yay, Alyssa, thank you so much.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're a rock star.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're here to talk about acro, and we have two IDA judges and special guests here with us tonight that know all about acro dance in the competitive world.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we are going to meet these fabulous people, and first off, let's start with the fabulous Drew.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello, how are you?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm great.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so happy to have you here.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Please share with everybody in Podcast Land a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and your background in the dance and acro world.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, my name is Drew Burgess, and I grew up uh doing all forms of dance, including acro.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was born and raised in Millersburg, Ohio, and then I actually went to high school in Los Angeles.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I was working for a Cirque show and Cirque style production company from age 14 to about age 21.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I also have currently like I certify teachers uh worldwide with acrobatic arts.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm one of the faculty and one of the uh trainers for acrobatic arts, and we go all over the world teaching teachers how to teach acrob.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you literally like are everywhere.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like you are traveling every weekend.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gone every weekend uh doing a little bit of everything, but one of the main companies that I work for right now is Acrobatic Arts, and I absolutely love it.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's huge.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a huge, huge uh vital program, and it's very foundational, and it's nice to be in the trenches with the teachers and helping them get their students to be where they want to be.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Really, really great stuff.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us, Drew.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're super busy, so we're excited to have you.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Happy to be here.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and next up is my girl Marissa, and she is a longtime friend of mine and fabulous stantern acroteacher.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, how are you?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Courtney.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, Leslie.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hello.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Please share with the world a little bit about you and where you're based and your background, career credits, and anything else you want to share.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, everybody.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: My name is Marissa Stanick, newly Marissa Anderson.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: I just got married.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: I am thank you.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: I am from Sterling Heights, Michigan.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's where I grew up and trained.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: I am well versed in all genres of dance.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: My acro experience spans very, very far back.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: I started when I was a young child.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: I grew up at a very heavy acro studio.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: I also went into cheerleading around junior high and trained at an elite Olympic gym, Olympic style gym.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: And from there, I continued my dance training at Western Michigan University.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: I received my bachelor's in fine arts there.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: I worked for companies like Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Spirit Dublin Productions.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: I've worked for a cabaret company for the last couple of years called GP Productions.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: I currently live in Long Island, but I've lived in New York City for the past 10 years and I've had a wonderful time judging and yeah, just experiencing New York City life.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yay! I'm super happy to have you here, Marissa.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And to let everyone know, Marissa is also one of the admins on IDA.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: So she does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work as well as edits our podcast for us.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: So she listens to every single episode on this podcast that you have heard so far and makes it sound beautiful for all of your listening ears.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I love it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: We couldn't do it without you, Marissa.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And also, shout out to Marissa's own podcast.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: She has a dance podcast that you should all check out.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's called Beyond the Mirror, a Dancers Podcast.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find that on Apple Podcasts.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: So go subscribe to Marissa's.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, season two is coming out in 2020, everybody.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: Woo! I love it.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right on.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: Guys, we are gonna have such a great time tonight talking about acro.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you both for being with us and sharing your time.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: As busy dance educators, we just know how much your time is valuable.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: So we want to say thank you.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Happy to be here.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we are basing all of our episodes this season on the blogs from the past.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: This blog from Impact Dance Adjudicators was released in March of 2018.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's called Reaching New Heights, Acro at Competition.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: So after the episode, if you are interested in hearing even more thoughts and feelings about Acro, check out the show notes to find that link to read more.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, guys, so let's just jump right in.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: We are here to talk about acro.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Both of you had a lot of experience in acro growing up.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: I want to hear from you kind of your history in acro, how it developed for you personally and how you've seen it develop over the years into such an integral part of the dance competition world.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up wanting to be an Olympic athlete.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be an Olympian.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be a male artistic gymnast.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And long and short, as I was training at a very young age for that, my gym coach actually moved further away.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: We were already driving an hour and a half to get there.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So he moved three hours further away.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so my mom was like, How about that dance studio?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: You just do all the tricks that you already know, but do them on both sides of your body and it'll be great.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: I love your mom.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually really grateful for that opportunity because it actually did force me to work on my weaker side, my less dominant side, an acro.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: So although I've missed out on more apparatus training, I basically was taught how to tumble at a dance studio, more or less.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And am really grateful for that training because it has obviously translated into a huge aspect and huge part of my career.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: My first job was actually in a circ show and I was tumbling.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was their tumble track, if you will, like their spot for that.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I mean, I wasn't necessarily doing hard things.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was only doing maybe like cartwheels with one hand and rolling tinsicas around a German wheel, but it was acro, the reason why that I had an acro background, if you will, or could tumble or could do a few tricks.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I booked my first job.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the rest is sort of history.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, it's always been part of my life.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've never known that it wasn't optional.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's very interesting to see this huge resurgence of acro kind of coming about because it's everywhere, it's on TV, it's to the masses.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can't not watch TV or click around on anybody's normal social media and you see some type of tricking skill, or you know, it translates into so many different facets of the dance world right now, which is really, really fantastic and it's actually great.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, it's actually always been around.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm sort of like, you guys are a little late to the train.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wish that people would were embracing it forever.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in Canada, acro's been around forever.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's been around since like tap dancers were even using it.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's not uncommon to see like tap old old school tap videos and they're actually doing acro tricks in heels.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a girl, I I forget the actual name, but the girl who's doing front aerials in tap shoes, like in heel tap shoes, like spotting front aerials over and over and over.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been around for a long time.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that I think that it's catchier to the people's eye, and because it's on TV so much now, it's more embraced and it's more recognized.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I'm at with it.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's interesting.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's interesting that you said that you do work for a Cirque because I feel like Cirque is a huge reason of why we had that resurgence of sort of the silks and the Lyras and all of the acrobatic work that goes with that and all of the partnering that goes in that too.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like that was such a huge part of the transition.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's dancing, but in the air.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's why a lot of ballerinas and/or a lot of Olympic gymnasts that they're they transition very easily into a circ style or an acrobatic element of life because it's aesthetically pleasing, but it's just in the air.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they've always wanted to fly since they were a little kid.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: What do you guys think?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: You just mentioned, Marissa, some of like the partnered acro that you see with the weight balancing and weight sharing kind of stuff.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Why don't we see more of that?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Is that something you guys both have experience in?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: I've anytime I've seen anything like that at competition, it's like very few and far between, but it's always so impressive to me because I feel like that is something that kind of lives on its own and doesn't necessarily get translated into the dance world as easily.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely think it's more of an advanced skill because not only are you responsible for yourself in the lift, you're responsible for others in that lift too.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes putting that responsibility on children is a little bit more than they can take on at that moment in their training.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Now, I have seen it in competition and it is definitely impressive and it is definitely well done.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's just that I think it's the trust factor.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I feel the same way, still, even to this day, honestly, as a professional dancer and having to do partnering, not even acro crazy, like counterbalance partnering.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Partnering in general is a scary thing to do because you do have to really trust your partner.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that probably is why we, like you said, we don't see that as often on the competition stage when it comes to like acrobatic partnering.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I have seen it and it's very impressive and very exciting.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what will get you a job in Circ if that's the route you want to go.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know, down the road, it's definitely helping that, you know, reach that goal.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Acro yoga, I think, has actually expanded the uh audience of uh partnered yoga or partnered acro skills a little bit more, and even like cheerleading aspects as well, the the partnering, the stunt work that's involved with all of it.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So as teachers and choreographers are becoming more, more aware and just adapting more and more to the strengths and and andor weaknesses of their dancers, they can actually play off this strength factor or the wow factor or add more more zest and spice and flavor into their routines as long as the kids have the right training and are obviously being as safe as possible.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the main factor with all of it.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that it needs to be safe and it needs to not scare the audience members or the judges.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's, I mean, when I'm behind the table and I'm not confident in what you're doing, I'm definitely as distracting and it's detracting, you know, from my enjoyment of the piece.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I just need to know that you are confident in what you're doing.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I totally agree with that.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: A good rule of thumb is that if you can execute the skill 10 times in a row on the Marley, that it's safe to put in a routine, or at least it's somewhat routine ready.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, if it's Yahtzee or if it's Russian roulette in any of those aspects, or if it's like we have to kiss it up to Jesus and pray that it's all gonna go well, if the stars are aligned, and you know, it shouldn't have to be like that.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: You should be able to do it on any floor at any given time, in any shoe.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't really matter.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't make it, it shouldn't make that big of a difference.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: I agree because if I choreograph something that has an acro trick in it and the student cannot execute it perfectly every single time, then I'm sorry, but I'm just not gonna put that in your solo.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna put that in your small group and have that featured because God forbid, like something happens and you know the trick isn't executed properly, you end up injuring yourself, or it ends up looking, you know, like you said, like you sort of cringe when you watch it.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there are so many times I'm sitting in the judge's chair and I literally like jolt in my seat out of like terror.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm terrified at what I just witnessed you trying to attempt on stage because you're not ready for that trick, that that acro skill.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that the dancer andor the teacher or both, they think that having that in there is gonna get them bonus points because oh my gosh, you can do this awesome backhand spring step out pass.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I was actually more nervous and like sitting on the edge of my seat.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: And usually as a judge, we can tell based on the preparation if it's gonna be good or bad.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: If, you know, we see you doing this like full-blown run across the stage, like you're on a football field, and however, you even just start for that hurdle leading in, I already know if you're making this acro trick happen or not.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And if you know the foundations and the fundamentals of how to execute it properly and technically correct.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and Drew, I'm sure that you see this, but if you see somebody going for a round off back tuck and you don't see them set in the air, I automatically my heart drops because you know what's about to happen.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, he's podcast listeners, you can't see him, but he just had like this major like attack.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: He was he was shaking his head.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's scary.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't be scary to the audience and it shouldn't be a guessing game as to whether the student is gonna nail it.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, long-winded setups and preparations for skills that are kind of half baked are really not going to get any bonus points.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they actually deter me from giving a higher skill altogether.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, it's a choreographic choice and decision.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so these routines are usually reflective of the choreographer or at least the studio owner, or or at the most the studio owner as well.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to give, I don't want to see what kids are still working on in class.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see what kids do really, really well.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if oftentimes a a back layout or any any side aerial tumbling skill that's a little bit sketchy doesn't really resonate to me with a high score, especially if I like I especially if they're competing at somebody who has a really nice bridge variation or holds a handstand beautifully, or does a really controlled chest roll out of a handstand that has so much fluidity through their entire spine and so much control through their biceps and triceps that you can't help but go, okay, that's a great acrobat.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: That that dancer takes acro, their acro class seriously.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I they didn't have to throw themselves across the stage or run five million feet for me to know, oh, they're probably good in an acro class too.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: They can do a little bit of everything.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like overly gratuitous acro tricks can almost make the judge's panel sort of like question or or start a guessing game as to like what category is this.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that shouldn't be the case either.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Has to be a happy medium and a good blend of everything.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, when preparations are hidden, that's when you're gonna get that quote unquote bonus point.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: When I don't see the acro trick coming up or I'm surprised by it, that's when I'm usually like, oh, I wouldn't have thought to do that variation or that transition, or look where that came out of.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: It came out of nowhere.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you were walking forward, then all of a sudden you just did this beautiful, like front hand spring into Pike, and you just happened to be perfect, like went right with the music.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: It had all of the right elements.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it takes the right balance of everything to to make up those nice skills that we actually do want to see.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that that was something I want to I want to discuss because when you were talking about that and talking about, you know, having the aerial in there, having like the front front area or whatever it is, I was curious if you were discussing acro in general in any genre of routine, or if you were specifically talking about acro in an acro routine, you know, that's classified and labeled in the category of acro.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that being said, let's discuss what you we look for as judges in the acro category.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think Drew, you summed it up pretty well in what you just said, because you talked about all of the different types and styles and variations of acro dance in that category.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to just see you do passes the whole time.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's other elements to acro.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Can we kind of just list the things we look for?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I don't, and I'm not sure about you, Marissa, but I always look for the five elements of acro.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I always look for strength, flexibility, balancing, limbering, and tumbling.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it can be in any of those orders, sprinkled throughout the entire piece, but there should be good pacing, good variation, good timing, good rhythm.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: There should be an ebb, like a nice ebb and a flow to throughout the entire piece, and it should look like they can get through it multiple times.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't look like the the last 30 seconds is just all prayers, hopes, and dreams.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I 100% agree with you on that.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: I also think that just like in any other genre, there has to be a fluidity to these amazing tricks that you're doing in any genre.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: You just can't whip out all of Sicone turns, you just can't whip out multiple backhand springs.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: There has to be a purpose, there has to be an ebb and flow of energy, there has to be a statement on stage.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: Going kind of back to the genres that I don't want to see acro in.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, look, it is Yes, please tell me.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's a free country.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: You can do whatever you want.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: But if you have a point shoe on, please don't put a walkover, please don't put any any of that in there.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, maybe that is a little bit harsh on my part, maybe that opinion's a little too conservative, but I would much rather see your point work if you're in a point category.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: Same thing with tap.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you have wonderful acrobatic skills.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I've seen back hand springs done in tap shoes.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't know how much it adds to the piece by doing that.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me nervous when I see it.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm like, oh, don't fall.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm scared.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Don't, you know, like I and and I don't know if they're actually good at executing a back handspring.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: They're in the top category.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So and I think as judges, we just want to see what is like if you're gonna do back hand springs and acro in tap shoes, then go and open, I guess.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I but that's not something we don't work on back handsprings in top class.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, you know, so like it's not part of your across the floor progressions, absolutely.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm glad that you brought that up, Marissa, because I feel the same way.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I think that we can say a lot of things about this, so I'd love to let this discussion go in that direction.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: The competition world has like evolved in a million trillion ways as far as like acro in all styles of dance.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd say within maybe the past 10 years, definitely the past five, 100%.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that I I think acro is great and I love it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that it helps us in our strength and our flexibility and our control and execution uh in other genres.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know if I want to see over the limit of how many acro tricks you're supposed to be technically in the rules doing based on the genre of dance that you're entered in.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that people are abusing that because no one's enforcing the rule for that specific rule.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And because acro is so heavy in the competition world now, and everybody can do an aerial, and everybody can do now, like the next new thing is everyone can do a front aerial, which is like a hard acro skill, but like everyone can do it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: So now we're putting it in our dance.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the limit might only be two acrobatic tricks in your routine.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: What do we consider that?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think people are confused as to what that is.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: Some people say any sort of pass when your your legs go over your head, anything upside down, but like do chin stands count?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do elbow stands count?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is that considered an acrobatic skill?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it only like a tumbling pass?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And are two aerials the trick?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think the rules aren't defined enough.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So people are just essentially doing a contemporary acro dance instead of doing a contemporary dance.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's a yoga solo.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: A yoga solo.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh god, a new category.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Here we go.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yoga dance.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what it ends up being.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Scott Fowler, he judges a lot with me, and he said he says that about dance that it's turt a lot of contemporary solos now.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're just they should be renamed yoga solos because they're leaning towards a contortion, very acrobatic side of things.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we still do want to see you dance.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like contemporary usually is stemmed from modern and from ballet.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: So like those bases of dance still need to be present throughout.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's when these acro tricks get overly gratuitous, when choreographers maybe take a little bit too much liberty, an artistic license with what they consider an acro trick.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then you just might as well put the piece in open, or you might as well put it in an acro category because it's an acro dance by the end of all of said and done.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So be specific and be true to the genre that you're in.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to guess which category it's in, it shouldn't be like you know that you have it in the wrong category.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: And there are judges out there who do take the the trick limit, if you will, and that score and that rule, they take it very seriously.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm one of them.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like when people are use acro too much in the wrong category because then it takes away from like the meat and potatoes of what I was actually judging.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you're you're trying to sway me in a direction that is not based against the category itself.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's hard to judge like true classic jazz dance with zero tricks in it at all compared to one of those kids who's a a bit of a trick monkey or has all the flash and all the sass and all of the tricks in their and in the arsenal, and you know, they're they've got everything but the kitchen sink in their jazz solo, quote unquote.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: But really, it should be in the wild card category or the open routine category.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need to compare apples to apples as much as possible.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'm not against tricks.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: I love doing tricks too because I do have this acrobatic background.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: In college, when I was studying m strict modern and I was studying release technique, we actually did do a lot of inversions in modern class.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: Our feet did leave the ground, our shoulders and our hips were in line with our hands in the ground.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, and and my acro background actually ended up helping me in that sense.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Would I call that a trick, a little like inversion, a little floor work that you happen to put your, you know, your weight into your upper body?
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: No, not really.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't count that as an acro trick, but I think actually hit the nail on the head, Courtney, is that it's hard for judges to sort of draw the line, and it's hard for competitions to sort of draw the line when the line has been so blurred in the last 10 years as far as the fusion between lyrical, contemporary jazz, acro, yoga.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's we're no, we're sort of in this era right now where everything is fusing together and we're seeing sort of this melting pot of styles and talents.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: And and it's just sort of hard to define through you know, three acro tricks or less in your jazz solo in order for it to be jazz when, or even contemporary, when you want to put an inversion or a crazy like floor section in there.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I think it's important for listeners and parents and teachers, you know, who come to these competitions and students to understand that like we're all doing this to ourselves, like this whole fusion situation, like instead of being black and white, ballet tap, jazz, lyrical period, we're doing this to ourselves.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_02: So like you're doing it, teachers, by creating this, thus you're making our job harder, which it just is what it is.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_02: And there's not change, we're not changing that.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: But like recognize that if you're confused about a score or a placement, go back and really think, okay, what would I have done?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I saw Sally Sue with her tricked-out jazz solo against, you know, whoever else with her fierce, clean jazz solo.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, you can't we can't deny that these impressive tricks, if they were indeed impressive and done well, are that's what they're meant to do.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're meant to impress, they're meant to stop the show.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, it is it is a very slippery slope and a tricky time that we live in to do these jobs because we are trying our best to be fair, but like what's fair when acro yoga ballet is a thing?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Gray area of dance.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's very gray right now.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, and on the one hand, like, gray is a beautiful color.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how cool is that that we can have this melting pot of genres and in different, you know, views and different creativity levels.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: And like, I think it's really, really cool.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: But to be able to judge it and then quantify it, I think that's the right word, it it makes it very difficult.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: Drew, I wanted to go back to I'm so I'm not super versed in acro.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't do it at my studio when I was growing up.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Really, none of the studios in my area did it heavily.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I I do a lot of listening when I judge acro and I and I listen to people like Drew and I listen to people like Marissa and ask in between, just so I get a better understanding of what I need to be looking for.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned the five, what is it, the five tenets of acro?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Five elements of acro.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Five elements.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: Can you explain a little bit further for those of our listeners who may not know what those are?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you have strength and you have flexibility, you have balancing, limbering, and tumbling.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: So your strength is like basically your control factor, which is actually going to tie a little bit into your balancing, if you will.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Flexibility is incorporated throughout all lines of dance.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: So not just acro itself, but you're actually working through split lines within the air and or upside down if you're in a handstand, right?
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have balancing, limbering, and tumbling.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: And all of those elements start to stack up onto themselves.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So with your balancing, you're using your strength, you're using your flexibility to show off that line and to hold and maintain that still picture, that still position, or incorporating multiple inverted balances where you go from a hand stand, maybe then to a forearm stand, and then a forearm stand to a shoulder stand, or a shoulder stand to a chest stand, or anything like that.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're all you're incorporating all those elements of acro.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then limbering and tumbling, limbering is more like your where your walkovers are going to start to come into play.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your like your front Arabian limber, your back Arabian limber, pushing off of two feet, go landing on two feet, passing through a bridge, and then recovering.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Walkovers are part of that limbering category usually.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have your actual tumbling elements, like where you would have side aerials, where you would have back hand springs, you have like then aerial tricks like back layout, back tuck, back layout, step out, all of those elements, if you will, kind of stack up throughout all of acro.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: To me, at least that's what that's what I think acro makes up as well.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, you also have elements of rolling, elements uh that are that do go above and beyond the normal, like just strength balancing, flexibility, libering, tumbling.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can get as crazy as you want to off of with all the offshoots of that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: But tumbling is actually part of like rolls, if you will, are part of tumbling to me.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like I, when I'm teaching the tumbling section in my acro class, we start with forward rolls and straddle rolls and back somersaults and back straddle rolls and handstand forward roll and then back extension roll.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all, you know, progressions moving forwards and backwards.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the most important part is that we want to see strong, safe, able-bodied dancers that are executing skills at the right level and uh are working within their range and not jumping the gun.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love that.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's, as we've said many times before on this podcast, that is what we're all looking for is your dancers to be doing age, age and level appropriate skills, you know, acro, tap, ballet, jazz, otherwise.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for all that helpful information.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have a random question.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: What are you- I haven't seen this recently, but I occasionally see it at competition.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts when people bring out like straight up acro mats on the competition stage for acro routines?
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're nanny.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh, they're faces.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's an A, I think.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's an A.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's hear it, let's hear about it.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Best way that I can explain it is like when you come out on stage with one shoe, you're already telling me that you can only turn on that one foot.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: By using mats, you're already telling me that you are not as confident in your skills as you could be when dancers are throwing twisting full layouts on hard floor.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: And that's okay.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's okay not to be ready to showcase your trick or whatever it is that you're about to do on stage.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's a competition.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: You want to put your best foot forward.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_03: And by putting mats on the stage, you're not quite showing and giving that message.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: So mats on stage, not a bad thing if it's a more recreational recital-based thing.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like when there's kids that are a little younger, or when, you know, gr grandma, aunts, and uncles come to the holiday Christmas show at, you know, you know, Susie's Tap and Tumble, they probably want to see a little acro demonstration.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a bad thing for that exhibition, if you will, where they like get a chance to run across the mat and do a cartwheel.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm all for that.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're in a competitive venue and when you're on a competition stage, you have to do realize that your competition has been trading on the Marley floor the entire time, where you whereas you have you your teacher has been letting you use mats.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna feel the security and the safety of the mats, and you're gonna think you need that when really you shouldn't have had the mats if you're a competitive dancer at all.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a competitive acrobat, you work on what floor you're given, whether you have asphalt, or whether you have like wood floor or like wood parquet ballroom floor, or whether you have perfect Marley that is totally even and seamless taped underneath.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's usually not a thing.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like most of the time you're on a raked stage or you're on something that's a little bit shaky.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where also that safety aspect of things comes into play as well.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: That dancers need to make smart choices and they need to be mature enough to know that I can't do my chest rolls in this piece because there's like the the or I have to move it upstage to be in that section of floor that's totally even and flat.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they just have to think about that.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it shouldn't throw off anyone's game.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: It should always be, you know, flowing and continuous, and there should be good progression throughout everything.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: And of course we want the dancers to be safe, but if you cannot safely execute the trick without, you know, with met on hard floor, yeah, you you then maybe it's not time to put that in front of your your judges.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be more common that people would break mats, and I haven't seen it in a while, but I do still see it at a recital every now and then.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't bother me for the younger dancers because I think that it's actually kind of cute, but you have to place it in the show the right way too.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure that you're you're you're timing that just so so that way everything keeps flowing and you're doing it right before an intermission break or whatever, you know.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I haven't I haven't seen it either, but I kind of thought of that and I went back to having seen it and I was like, hmm, what are we?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was just kind of curious.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that the reason that we don't see it as much anymore is because acro has took such a heavy turn to the industry and studio training and acrobatic arts has been, you know, you drew and all of your the people at Acrobatic Arts are traveling around and teaching the acro dance properly and correctly.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: So now people know how to do it correctly and you know don't need the math.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a great thing.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Another thing that we kind of briefly touched on, but I feel like is worth also mentioning in that same regard is the same thing applies in the sense of like if you can't do it without a math, then you can't do it on stage.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: The same applies to, you know, let's say a soloist is working on an acro skill in August, and that's when the dance was choreographed.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: However, the skill isn't there yet.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: And the teacher says, okay, let's put it in and you'll work towards it.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully by the time February or March and competition season comes around, you'll have your front aerial.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't have your front aerial, guess what?
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta take it out.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: Get out of here, I'm sorry.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I love that the teacher has this idea of this will help them work on this and inspire them to nail it and they'll they'll get this.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I and it's like a you know, a checklist for the kid, like I'm gonna get this by March.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: I got this.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_01: But at the same time, teachers also need to know when we need to take it out.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, the mom might be upset and the dancer might be upset, but the teacher knows best for safety purposes because that's really the main thing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Acro is a very hard dance genre and gymnastics genre to do, and it very much comes down to how to do it safely because longevity is extremely important.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: We only get one body and we don't want to break it when we're only 12 or 13.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know that's our that's our mission at Acrobatic Arts is to basically prevent backyard acrobatics from happening.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of kids, because it's so prevalent, you can see kids doing side aerials in their backyard now, and we actually don't want that.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: We would, if they are gonna do side aerials in their backyard, we want them to try to do it on both sides of their body.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, like overuse is basically the most common factor when it comes to dancers getting injured.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if they can only do things on one side of their body, they're actually not, they're not securing any anything in the bank, so to speak.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually taking away that deposit all the time.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're withdrawing out of the bank instead of actually depositing into training, if that makes sense.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually eliminating that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to actually try to trade teachers how to do it all the right way and how to get their dancers to make sure that they know what they're doing.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that way they can do it for an entire lifetime, not just for, you know, the competition season, if you will, or their competition career, and then they're done because they've done five million front aerials only on the right side and they can't do a one-arm front walkov on their left, you know.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: That balance always has to be there.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that way they can keep working for Cirque du Soleil until they're 40, you know?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I understand the teaching technique of, like, you know, let's give them a goal and they'll work towards it.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_03: And this will really, you know, light a fire under them to work hard and really try.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, that sometimes does work.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: You're right.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm sure you've noticed this, Drew, is sometimes I'll have a student who will start to be on the cusp of an aerial and then start to throw aerials, and then all of a sudden they'll lose it.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then what happens is it's a mental game.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: More so than any other genre.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_03: I believe that acro has a mental element that goes with it.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: And if that child is not mentally prepared to execute said trick, it becomes a big problem.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: 100%, Marissa, I totally agree.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Visualization is a huge aspect, especially as you reach higher level acrobatics.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be able to envision yourself doing it perfectly in order for your body to actually do it.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have to see zero errors in it and be able to picture yourself doing it.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: And just like a perfect triple pirouette, the same thing applies to being able to doing to being able to do a perfect front aerial walkov.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: All of those things build up and they you're what you are right.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is a mental game.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: And some dancers get in a mental block about going backwards.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: They don't like to, like some acrobats will not will not tumble backwards because they had a rough experience, or they had one teacher at one point in their lives that wasn't there for them, that one shot that they were doing it, and it's kind of messed with their heads.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll only tumble or they'll only move forwards and sideways.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to deal with that.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have some kids who are very fearless.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: I find that the younger they are, the better it is in general, with the inverting, the going upside down, the bending, if you will.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's easier at a younger age for sure.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely true.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I find that exactly the same.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: The younger students, they are fearless, and I can get them to do much more than when they, you know, hit 12 and 13, and then they start to rethink what they're about to do.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, my head is going backwards and I'm about to touch the floor.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: Oh God.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it is so much easier when you start young and then grow from there.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how it is with all dance right now.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you think about it, dance in general, it's like technology.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Every six months, the stakes get higher.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is upgraded to a younger age.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's now very it's becoming more and more common to see those hot shot junior kids doing triple and quadruple pirouettes or even more at a at this young, crazy age.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then into an aerial right out of the pirouette.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: You guys, I literally saw that this weekend.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think it might still be on my Instagram story.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that little girl.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I saw a dancer this weekend who was, I think, like Miss World of Dance or something.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think she was like petite Miss World of Dance.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: She did nine pirouettes with a suspension out of it.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was dad! I was like, oh my gosh, you're not like you're nine years old.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, like you just said, I mean, it keeps getting younger and younger and younger.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't know how they do it.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: And she probably has a beautiful triple pirouette on the left, too.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the other thing.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: She probably if she's that good at that age, she's probably doing it on both sides.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because if she wasn't good at the other side, her other side probably wouldn't be that strong.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you know that she is probably pretty well balanced if she's able to do that at such a young age.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was exciting.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: So since we have talked about competition so much and how great competition is, and we love acro and we love competition, I'd love to talk about the professional world of acro.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about circ a lot, but other elements as to how our acro training growing up in the competitive world has helped us in our dance careers in the professional setting, you know, and a handful of things to say about this.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that Drew, you said you worked for some Cirque style shows.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: And Marissa, I know that you've probably utilized your tumbling in acro in any.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: So do you want to share any career experiences?
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, Courtney, I don't know if you remember this, but the contract that we were on together, I got cast in this one part only because I could do a front hand spring step out.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_03: And a front handspring step out is not like that hard of a skill.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: So like I was like, okay, like it's in heels.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: I will definitely do it, raise my hand.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: But it got me into that one section.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: And Drew, I mean, I don't, I don't know if you have you've done Cirque, but like I have more of like that, like the I went sort of more in my dance direction as soon as I graduated college.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I ended up tumbling in that show with Courtney.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: I ended up tumbling in my Royal Caribbean show.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: I've tumbled in countless auditions in New York.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I would say that it has definitely helped me get jobs and or and or achieve like certain featured parts in a show.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: So not just with Cirque du Soleil, I have not personally worked for Cirque du Soleil, but I've worked for a lot of companies that have hired Cirque du Soleil performers, and then we just have them do their act to different music.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, long and short, I've worked with Cirque level like people for a lot of my life and a lot of my performance career.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I first started touring with Il Circo when I was 14 and a half.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that whole acro side of thing has been a huge part of my life with Cirque, but you there's cruise ships and theme parks that are tending to hire dancers and acrobats more and more and training them for aerialist positions.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Music, concert, and arena tours, acro dancers are now transitioning to stunt work too.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're really good at taking a fall, at knowing how to roll out of something.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, and they have that strength, they have that innate ability to be able to hold on to something, or they have really great timing, or because they know they can pick up choreography, they know how to time something with music as well.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a whole corporate and industrial side to all of this cirque stuff, all of this hand balancing, all the contortion work, all the aerialist stuff.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there's tons of opportunity in just that aspect alone, with production companies sending people out on cruise ships, obviously, theme parks, etc.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: But also the aspect of being a being a teacher or a trainer or a coach for any type of yoga, Pilates, aerial circus work, gymnastics, like sports acro, kinesiologists.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the list goes on, if you will.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: People who are who get really into anatomy and get really inspired by human kinetics, they love acro because it's it's a combination of everything.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or oftentimes the dance people or dance humans don't always grow up to be dancers, but they come up, they grow up to be dance patrons or patrons of the arts.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what's really important.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: They're the people that are buying tickets to all of this stuff and giving everybody jobs.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to make sure that we're supporting everybody in all this.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a huge, huge factor of career work to be built off of any acro skill at all.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's important for I think wants and needs as a professional dancer are really interesting because if you want to dance in the professional world or dance in the entertainment industry, you need every single aspect of training to help you along the way.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if you if you don't want to take ballet class, but you kind of need to take ballet class in order to like get a job, like you need ballet class in order to dance in heels.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: You want to dance on Broadway, you need to take a tap class.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same concept with everything.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like you need every aspect of training.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to make sure that, especially as teachers and as choreographers and educators, we're trying to give all of our dancers the the most employment opportunity available.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, I want to spare no expense and I wanna I wanna leave no stone unturned when it comes to training my dancers and making sure that they're employable.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think there's one one thing to mention about that, like back in audition days for me, you know, there would be many times where you're you finish your audition and they have you all stand in a line.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: And they just go down the line and they ask you, Do you have any gymnastics?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have any acro?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, the amount of people who just say I can do a cartwheel, it's like that's just kind of no.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's not what's not what they're looking for.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: But all of my friends who do have a strong gymnastics and acro background have always said to me, I pick and choose who I tell what I can do.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_02: There's that, there's that safety element of it that, like, okay, am I gonna go on a non-union tour where I'm sleeping on a bus for 24 days in a row and I'm doing a show at some, you know, Podunk High School gym where I don't actually know what the stage is gonna be, and I have to do this round off back tuck every single night in you know, not nice shoes and like no PT and So, like, you know, you get take for people who do do acro and you know have that skill set under their belt, like be a smart dancer, be a smart employee, and know who needs to know this, because not everybody needs to know what you can do.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: I totally agree with that.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like you it's use it, use it sparingly and be smart with it.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like you need to make sure that you are asking for hazard pay or you are asking for higher pay.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you know that you're kind of going into a tumble heavy track, or if you're going into something as a little bit more than a dance, just a regular dancer, like your track is heavier with aerial work or with a lot, a lot of partnering, like a lot of overhead lifts.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like you need to be smart and be aware of that that factor when it comes into things because safety is vital, and you are right.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like what we said earlier, you only have one body.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if it if something doesn't go right, it may not just affect you, it could affect somebody else too.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's even you know more scary.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to factor that into everything as well.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we've talked about everything accro today, and I've loved everything about this conversation.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to kind of wrap it up with you two and let you have any final thoughts that you'd like to share to lead us out.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: I think the number one thing is safety.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_03: Just make sure that the tricks that you are performing on stage that you can execute them safely, that they look excellent because the stakes are higher when your hands are leaving the floor, when your feet are leaving the floor and your body is airborne.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_03: Just make sure that you're safe and you're comfortable.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: As far as taking acro as sort of an extracurricular, I highly recommend it.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think that the stakes are just higher in the industry if you would like to advance to the professional level.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I think having an acro background will only help you in the end.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree with that.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that acro skills in general, when it's relating to dance competition or dance routines that are for the competition stage, it should enhance the aesthetic of the choreography and the dancers more than anything.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: It shouldn't uh be it shouldn't take away from anything that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it shouldn't detract from any any of the routine that's going on, and it should only add that element of surprise.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel that a lot of good acro to me, or good, well-trained acrobats, they're strong and they're quiet.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're not loud.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I would like to emphasize that, I think, before I like sign off too.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: All of these tricks should be incorporated and it it should usually be quieter than your music, especially unless you're wearing tap shoes, right?
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that applies to not just acro though.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think that applies to good dancing in general.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Use your feet well and use your hands well, especially when you're doing floor work or anything like that.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't want to dance louder than your music.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode All About Acro.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: Head over to Instagram now to follow our guests, Drew at Drew Dances and Marissa at Marissa Stanic Dance.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have a dance competition question you've been dying to ask a judge?
• 47:54
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• 47:55
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• 48:00
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• 48:09
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• 48:13
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• 48:16
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• 48:20
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• 48:23
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• 48:29
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• 48:40
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• 48:44
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• 48:52
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• 48:57
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• 49:03
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• 49:10
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• 49:16
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• 49:20
  SPEAKER_02: Coming up in the next few weeks, we've got some fun topics, including social media in the dance world, performance anxiety, and the March edition of QA with Courtney.
• 49:28
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• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: As always, we're so happy you joined us for this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, keep dancing.