By popular demand, this one's back. Sandra Elliott, Acrobatic Arts Principal and the eye behind our syllabus, joins Loren to answer a question every dance teacher needs to ask: are your dancers developing evenly on both sides?

One sided training doesn't stay small. It builds into twisted bridges, unstable landings, and injuries that follow a dancer for life. Sandra breaks down how it happens and what to do about it, starting in your very next class.

If you teach dance, don't miss this one.

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About Sandra

With over 35 years teaching experience, Sandra has also been enjoying her role as a course conductor and examiner with Acrobatic Arts since its inception in 2012. She assisted in developing the Module 1 Teacher’s Certification Course. In addition, she developed the Graduate Student Teacher’s Certification course, the Adjudicator Certification for AcroDance course and the Pin Examiner Certification course. Sandra is currently the Principal of Acrobatic Arts responsible for administering aspects of different courses along with ongoing training of new and existing examiners with the company.

Sandra is a registered teacher with the Royal Academy of Dance and has her Bachelor of Education Degree, with a major in dance. Throughout her teaching career, she has successfully prepared students for all levels of RAD exams. One of her students achieved her Royal Academy of Dance Solo Seal while another student participated in the RAD’s Margot Fonteyn International Ballet Competition (formerly ‘The Genee’) who later became a member of the Citie Ballet Company as well as Ballet Kelowna. Sandra has also been closely involved in the training of many students who have gone on to dance in professional shows including The Music Man (Broadway), Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, Movin’ Out (Canadian Tour), Cirque Du Soleil (Las Vegas), So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Celine Dion and Taylor Swift. One of those students was the 2013 winner of UK’s Got To Dance and a competitor in World of Dance Season 2. He is currently running his own contemporary company ‘Untitled’ out of the UK.

Sandra’s choreography has won many overall, title and choreography awards. She is passionate about not only developing artistic dancers that have excellent technique but she also loves helping dancers to understand how the things they learn in dance can translate into their personal lives helping them to push themselves to be the best they can be.

Previous Episodes featuring Sandra Elliott

Ep. 118 – Assistant Teachers: The Secret to Studio Growth with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/t0a3urn5Ti8
Ep. 106 – Advanced Acro: Tumbling Unlocked with Sandra Elliott & Vicki Fletcher - https://youtu.be/Y519uEvllz8
Ep. 104 – Acro Exam Ready: Examiner's Top Tips (3-5) with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/iq1xj2rplf0
Ep. 77 – Adjudicator Certification for AcroDance with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/MreAM8Ys5fo
Ep. 57 – Exploring the Acrobatic Arts Pin Program with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/a9T7V_dEaWA
Ep. 37 – One-sided Dancers: Is it a Concern? with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/IpFzA0hAzSY
Ep. 32 – Common Corrections in Exams Primary to Level 3 with Sandra Elliott - https://youtu.be/JlUoYpgRYrc

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Loren  0:00  
Hey everyone! Welcome to the Acrobatic Arts Podcast!

Loren  0:05  
I'm Loren, and I will be interviewing some of the top leaders and innovators from the dance and acrobatic industry. If you are a teacher, performer, student, or a lifelong learner like myself, you are sure to find these episodes intriguing and full of inspiration.

Loren  0:22  
Acrobatic Arts is passionate about providing current and relevant information for everyone. So please sit back and enjoy as we share our passion with you and the world. Today's episode is part of our spotlight series, where we revisit conversations that continue to resonate across the dance community.

Loren  0:46  
What happens when dancers consistently train one side more than the other? It can show up in ways you might not expect, from twisted bridges and unstable landings to movement compensations that can contribute to injury. We're bringing back episode 37, where I sat down with Acrobatic Arts principal Sandra Elliott to talk about something every dance teacher should be thinking about: Are your dancers developing evenly on both sides? It's easy to fall into the habit of always teaching a skill the same way, favouring the same side, or allowing dancers to naturally choose their stronger side. Sandra breaks down why bilateral training matters, how these imbalances develop, what teachers should be looking for, and simple ways to incorporate more balanced training into your classes. So whether you're a dance teacher, acro teacher, studio owner, or simply passionate about helping dancers build strong, sustainable technique, this is definitely an episode worth revisiting. Now it's time to shine the spotlight on today's guest.

Loren  1:51  
Sandra Elliott. Hello, and welcome to the Acrobatic Arts Podcast.

Sandra  1:55  
Hi, Loren. Thanks for having me.

Loren  1:58  
I actually can't believe it's taken so long to have you on as a guest. You have been one of my closest and dearest friends for as long as I can remember. And within the dance and acrobatic world, you are definitely considered as someone who has a keen eye for not only the technical aspects of these art forms, but also someone who understands how the little details make a huge difference in a performing artist's career. So I'm super excited to have you on today, and I'm going to start off with the big question right off the top: one-sided dancers. Is it a concern?

Sandra  2:36  
Absolutely, it is. As teachers, we should always be cognizant of ensuring balance development in our dancers, there are several reasons why, and the most important one is safety.

Loren  2:46  
If safety is a concern, which I think it is for all of us, why would balance skill development be so important?

Sandra  2:55  
Well, when dancers only work their favorite side, they create an imbalance in their musculature. A dancer with an imbalance in the muscles of the back, for example, they'll pull to the side when going down to a bridge, and if we continue that repetition over time, it can cause damage to the joints, creating a chronic injury that could last a lifetime. While this deviation may seem insignificant at a lower skill level, and they might not even complain about any pain or anything like that. It will magnify in higher progressions like back layouts or back handsprings. So, due to the kinetic chain, this imbalance could cause twisting, resulting in acute knee injury if landed incorrectly. So, because they have a twisted bridge going back, when they do that back handspring or that back layout, the whole skill is going to twist, and they might not land securely, causing a knee injury. Like everything in our body is linked, so addressing these deviations that are noticed in higher progressions, we can go back to the most basic progression, and then slowly build back up to the more advanced progressions. We want to make sure that when they are through with their dance education or through with their dance career, that they are still going to have healthy bodies as they lead into their senior years. It's just really important to have them be able to have that balance and be able to execute things on both sides whenever they may be asked.

Loren  4:23  
I remember one of our fellow course conductors with Acrobatic Arts, Janae Corbett, telling a story about a race horse that they had purchased, and because this race horse is trained to run around the track the same way, the horse had some major imbalances, and they had to spend time rehabbing the horse just so it would be able to stand properly. So, what are some real-life examples that you've noticed of how imbalance can impact a dancer?

Sandra  4:53  
Well, that's a really great story, and I just happened to be at one of our local rodeos last weekend, and I was talking with a horse owner. And they said yes. That's a trouble within their industry, and it it is a trouble in our industry as well. Over time, you can start to notice that dancers are having troubles with their bodies, and not being able to execute things the way they technically should be able to. And again, it comes back to that safety, right? So even if you look at other sports over time, baseball pitchers or golfers, you know, executing the exact same skill the exact same way, time and time and time again over years, they end up having these breakdowns in their anatomy, and we've seen that in dance as well, where they end up having to have perhaps even surgery, so we want to make sure that we not necessarily delay it, but we avoid that as much as possible.

Sandra  5:48  
And we do know that when skills get to be really advanced, so if you're you know looking at a back layout, or if you're looking at even in gymnastics and twisting elements, that the dancer is going to want to do those skills on their dominant side, just for that foundation of coordination and comfort and confidence. But in class, we still want to really see them developing both sides of their bodies, and especially at the younger levels and lower levels, where they're learning the foundations of those skills, really up through back handsprings and roundoffs. We want to see them working on them on both sides, so that they can ensure that longevity and that safety through time, and not end up with those chronic injuries where they have to go to a chiropractor every month, or they maybe they end up going to physio, you know, for regular occurrences over time, or gosh forbid, having to have surgery on some part of their body.

Loren  6:46  
And something that's been coming up a lot on the podcast with a few of the guests that I've had on is how cross training is so important. And I think we can help these dancers by introducing them to both sides right away, as you said, when they're younger, so to give them sort of a healthier start on their career and their path.

Sandra  7:08  
That's a great point. The cross training. So whether you're cross training, you know, ballet, and I think you just had Mark on recently talking about this, but having ballet and acrobatics working together in a turned-out way in ballet and in a parallel way, it helps to create that muscular balance and it helps to avoid some of those injuries. You're certainly right on that.

Loren  7:31  
Do you think that the emphasis on the competition routine, which tends to show off the dancer's best skills, does that continue to reinforce imbalances, as it typically favors one side over the other.

Sandra  7:46  
Well, I think it sort of depends on how you approach and how you see choreography as as a role within a dancer's development. So, what I mean by that is, is that if choreography is more of the byproduct of the training rather than the the vehicle for the training, so they should still be training in their weekly classes on both sides and doing their proper warm up and their strength and their conditioning and their flexibility and all of that training on a weekly basis or even twice a week, depending on the level. But then choosing those skills that complement the choreography or make sense within the choreography, or like you say, you know, is their more dominant side, so they feel comfortable more doing that skill on that side. But if you use choreography as the vehicle for the training, and you start your choreography, say in September, and that's really what they work on for their entire season, as far as working on, say, a side aerial, then that is where the issue comes in. Whereas you could really, if the training in their classrooms are at a proficiency level, you could create the choreography if the choreographer has the time. You know, in the in the four weeks leading up to the first competition, and the choreography will still be beautiful and be presented with lots of polish and artistry because all of those foundational skills are there and have been developed through their class training.

Loren  9:13  
We both enter students in exams, and I think we understand how important that is and how exams, no matter what type of exam, can really help with this concern that we're having with the imbalance in dancers. And so, why would you say that acro exams are good to offset this trend?

Sandra  9:33  
Well, you're absolutely right. They're they're really great in the way that they keep the dancer accountable. So, in basically all of the levels, the the skills are required to be seen on both sides. So there are a few levels where a dancer will get to choose one or the other side, right side or left side. But then in the very following level, they will have to present that skill on both sides. So the dancer and the teacher knows that it's a. Really important to make sure that both sides are developing equally because if they have one side that is far superior technically to the other side, their mark will reflect that, and then they will really try to hone in on trying to make hopefully hone in on trying to make both of those sides more equal, thinking of the tangible result of that, but really the positive result is that they will have a more healthy body and a much more safe way of executing their skills and longevity, as I mentioned before.

Loren  10:34  
What would you do in a situation with a student who has progressed with an imbalance, maybe in a specific skill, or it might be in all of their skills, but how should we approach that situation with that student?

Sandra  10:49  
I am guessing that the student perhaps is a little bit older, so the biggest takeaway I would say for teachers, hopefully, is to make sure right from the get go that you're starting your young and low-level dancers on both sides, so don't give them an option when they're in the primary level one, level two, level three levels. Make sure they're doing everything on both sides, and then they really, honestly, won't even notice which side is better or more dominant. But if you do have a dancer that comes to you or is an older beginning and has, you know a very exaggerated difference between their dominant side and their opposite side. I would try to encourage them to go back and continue to rebuild that less dominant side. So doing many more repetitions on the weaker side than on the dominant side.

Sandra  11:39  
So let's say we're working on a cartwheel, always do 3, 4, 5, repetitions on the left if that's the less dominant side, and do one or two repetitions on the right. Continue to build strength on things that work equally. So, for example, our upper body lifts for bridge technique, making sure that when they do their upper body lifts, that they're tracking very squarely up and down through that range of motion. It may also be a great idea to encourage them to ask other professionals. So perhaps going to a chiropractor might help facilitate, you know, regaining some of that equal mobility. Or a physiotherapist. With physiotherapists, I would, you know, really encourage a sports physiotherapist if there are any in the area, and just continue even with those types of professionals to get even more ideas on how to rebalance the body.

Loren  12:36  
I think that's what it's all about: either starting fresh and balancing the body, and starting on that path, or trying to rebalance the body by working on certain elements.

Sandra  12:50  
And even making it fun because they won't they won't like to do the weaker side, right? So having like a left side day. So you know, generally as dancers, we tend to learn everything on the right first, and the left seems to be less dominant. For some individual dancers, that could be different. But on every odd day that you have acro dance, then do the odd date is what I'm talking about, like June 13th. Do the left side for the whole class, or always start on the left side if you're teaching jazz or something like that, where they can have sort of a more of a fun approach to it and keeping track with stickers and all those kinds of things that we have in our acrobatics resource center that is going to allow you to get them to promote and get a little bit excited about trying things on their less dominant side.

Loren  13:41  
That's fun. I like that left day, right day, pajama day. You can just tie it, tie it all in. That's great. I'm going to ask you this, but I already know the answer because I am finding this out as I get older. But does this get harder to change with age?

Sandra  14:03  
Yes, we all get set in our ways, don't we? Yeah. Yeah. The longer you wait to be more focused on balancing the body in that muscular or you know dynamic way, it's going to be harder. The dancers are going to be more and more resistant, so that's why I said earlier about you know when they're younger, especially when they're young. You know, even even an older dancer that starts acro later in life, they may be at a level one level, but they still are going to have that tendency to want to be doing things on their favorite side or their dominant side. Whereas young children really don't have a concept of that. So being able to do things right away and presenting, like even don't even wait for the next week.

Sandra  14:50  
So, you know, for example, if you're going to do gallops on the right in today's lesson, make sure you do gallops on the left right away. You know. They may struggle and they may end up galloping on the right again, but just keep introducing it every time you do a skill. Do it on both sides, and you'll start to see them evening out. But the later you leave it, it's definitely they're going to become resistant and they will balk at you and not want to do it. So it's going to be a real struggle, and you'll have to find creative ways to try and engage them and try to get them to buy into the program of how important it is to be balanced on both sides for their own safety and their own body health and their own longevity. What teenager thinks about what am I going to be like when I'm 60? But let me tell you, when you're 50 and 60, you think back and you go, "Dang, I should have listened to my teacher.

Loren  15:47  
Right, and that's that's another thing. As a teacher, we can only teach, you know, the way we were taught, or the more information that we get, then we can start to implement that in our teaching. So, what would you say to a teacher who maybe hasn't been teaching with balance in mind? How can they start to change that philosophy in their classroom or in their studios?

Sandra  16:12  
Great question. So again, with the little ones, when you're starting out a new season with your new crop of dancers that are coming in just automatically start. They won't know the difference, and you'll need to do that at all levels. However, the more experienced dancers are going to not want to. They won't be as open to receiving that that request or that you know that plan to do things on both sides. So just keep plugging away, and again, as we mentioned, finding creative ways to to do it, and maybe even making it a bit of a competition. Like let's all do our cartwheels on our least favorite side, and let's see who can do the most going down the mat. And you will notice that I'm not saying weak side, strong side. So I'm saying favorite, least favorite, dominant, less dominant. So try to get out of the mindset that you've got a good side and a bad side, or a strong side and a weak side. You want to have the idea that both sides have the potential to be equally as quote good or strong. It's okay to acknowledge that you might have a favorite side, but we're going to make sure that we work on our least favorite side as well.

Loren  17:33  
You already touched on acro exams, but I think as teachers learn more and are given more information that it really is the teacher's responsibility to start implementing these changes, and I think Acrobatic Arts does have a great way or system that the teachers can use with the progressions and creating balanced bodies. So, could you just explain a little bit about the Acrobatic Arts syllabus and how that would help a teacher implement these changes.

Sandra  18:06  
Absolutely. So the Acrobatic Arts syllabus is really well thought out. In the creating of the syllabus, we asked so many professionals within the industry. So whether that is nutritionists or Chiro or physiotherapy or people from the circus industry, like anybody we could talk to, we asked and continue to ask to make sure that we have the most current research. You're an example of that, Loren, with our flexibility and making sure you're on the cutting edge of all of that, and bringing that into our syllabus as well. We really do take on that responsibility of making sure that we have the most current information and that our syllabus reflects that. As you look through our syllabus from primary through pre-professional three, you can see how a single element in primary actually links up to a skill that will happen in pre-pro three, and you might think of that as our hollow with our arms down, right? So we introduce that right in primary, knowing that by the time we get to pre-pro three, it has to be super solid so that we can do those higher level tumbling skills that are going to be expected, and we also make sure, as we mentioned, that things are going to be seen on both sides.

Sandra  19:22  
So while in primary the pre-cartwheel they get to choose or the teacher chooses for them right or left when they get into level one they must show it on both sides and the one mark for that pre cartwheel is reflective of both of those sides together so they're not getting a mark for the right side and the left side, but the single mark reflects both of those sides. Again, encouraging that equal development on both sides, and that just continues throughout the entire syllabus. The skills also interlink and rely upon and build upon each other, not only just through the time. Category, but also through strength, flexibility, balancing, limbering, and tumbling, and you'll see skills within those five categories building up and progressing into skills in other categories within our exam syllabus. So it is a it's a beautiful complete puzzle that works so well together, and I'm personally super proud of it. Really, it's an amazing syllabus or tool that a teacher can follow step by step and be confident that they aren't missing any of those important steps along the way that could create some of these issues that we're talking about today.

Loren  20:36  
And it sounds like you would definitely suggest one of these courses for teachers to continue their professional development.

Sandra  20:44  
Absolutely.!So, if you're not certified at all yet, module one is a great place to start and is our first teacher training course for teachers that are 18 and older, and it is a great introduction to our syllabus from primary through level six, and then you would go on to the aerial back handspring course, which is a four-hour intensive on how to train with drills, as well as spotting the side aerial and the back handspring with a little on the front aerial, and then that will lead you beautifully into the module two course, which is for teachers that are already certified in the module one and have taken the aerial back handspring course, and now we are going to introduce the skills from level seven through pre-professional three, along with so many other topics that relate to the syllabus. So we'll do a more intensive look into flexibility, and we look again at choreography, and we look again at anatomy and hyperextension, and lots of other topics that will interest you.

Loren  21:49  
Those of us that are Canadian, I think the summer is a perfect time to plan maybe an Acrobatic Arts road trip to get your training done before the next dance season starts. And if anyone is interested, you can find out more at acrobatic arts.com. I would really suggest that you book now, as many courses are either sold out or in the process of selling out. So make sure to keep your eyes open for that. Sandra, thank you so much for being my guest today. It was wonderful talking to you, and I hope everyone is beginning to realize how important it is to stay balanced and that they will do everything in their power to help the young dancers that and older dancers that we have coming into our studios.

Sandra  22:33  
I thank you, Loren, and I just think you're doing such an amazing job on this podcast, just opening up our minds beyond the you know the normal what's in our box, you just have a beautiful creative mind, and I just love listening to you.

Loren  22:53  
If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe and follow so you never miss an episode. And if you know a dance teacher, student, or parent who would love to hear this discussion, send it their way. Sharing the show is one of the best ways to support the podcast.

Loren  23:11  
Until next time, find power in your strength, freedom in your flexibility, and know that we are here to support you on your acro journey.

Loren  23:23  
Thanks for listening everyone, and have a great day!