Acro dance is an exciting style of dance that combines ballet and jazz dance technique with acrobatic movements to create beautiful dances with beautiful and seamless transitions between acrobatic skills. Having come from vaudeville traditions, acro dance has evolved into a true art form that is very popular among dance students.
As a style that is a bit of a departure from more conventional dance school classes such as ballet and jazz, acro follows its own guidelines when it comes to what to wear for acro class.
Acro is very different from other dance styles because its dancers will commonly find themselves upside down. Because of this, acro dancers are recommended to wear form-fitting dance clothing such as a leotard. This type of dance clothing will stay in place in any position, giving the dancer confidence that it won’t need to be adjusted during dance class.
Baggy clothes or loose shirts should be avoided. These types of clothes can fall over the student’s face or hinder their movements, making them a safety hazard.
Acceptable clothing for acro dance include:
For Acrodance exams, dancers are required to wear black spaghetti strap bodysuits, black shorts, and beige stirrup tights. Stirrup tights allow the dancer to maintain contact with the floor by leaving the ball of the foot and heel exposed.
The best shoes for acro class are no shoes at all. Much like gymnastics, acro dancers perform in bare feet in order to provide the grip they need to execute certain movements.
This makes acro very different from jazz and ballet classes that have special shoe requirements. For these classes, shoes reduce friction between the dancers’ feet and floor; however, if used for acro class, these could lead to unwanted slipping.
Just as with loose clothing, acro dancers are required to have long hair pulled back so that it won’t get in the way during dancing. Longer hair may require tying in a bun, while not as long hair may find using a ponytail is adequate. A ponytail must not touch the floor when in a handstand to avoid accidentally landing on your hair when performing skills.
Jewelry of any kind isn’t recommended to be worn during acro class, but this is particularly the case when it comes to loose-fitting jewelry such as necklaces and bracelets. This type of jewelry may pose a danger, and should be left at home instead of being worn to acro class.
CDM Dance & Music offers a variety of acro classes for students that start at age 7. We also offer a Primary Jazz & Acro preparatory class for students aged 5-6 to help children get ready for the strength and flexibility required for this dance style..
Are you or your young one interested in taking Acro classes? CDM Dance & Music has just the one for you:
Find more dance classes on our dance schedule webpage!
