Registration Open Registration is open now and closes 12 noon, August 7 — join and get instant access to the full program. See the two ways in →
The Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance
Two Ways In · Certify In Your First Year
Self-paced or coached · Immediate access
For Dance Teachers Who Won't Cut Corners
The Professional Home For Acro Teachers

The Acro Circle™

Where acro teachers grow into a real career — and never teach alone.

The Acro Circle is the professional home where acro teachers keep growing. Inside, you work through the Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance — mastering each level as your students are ready for it, certifying level by level, with your first certification possible in your first year. It isn't a course you finish; it's a home you belong to, and you grow at the pace this work really takes — which is to say, yours.

Join the Acro Circle See the Pathway
Two ways in · Self-Guided $497/yr · Coaching & Certification $1,500/yr
or pay monthly · immediate access when you join
Acro dancer mid-aerial, background removed
Read This Slowly

If any of this sounds like you.

You teach skills you don't fully trust — and you've felt that exact moment, mid-spot, where you didn't quite know what to do next.
You've taken a course — maybe two — and Monday still feels like guessing. The certificate never actually taught you how to run the class.
You're the only one teaching acro at your studio, and when you're not sure a child is ready for the next skill, there's no one to ask.
Your class is half beginners and half kids who've been doing acro for years — and you're scrambling to make both groups feel like they're growing.
What The Acro Circle Actually Is

It's not a course you finish.
It's a home you belong to.

When you join, you're not signing up for a program — you're joining The Acro Circle. You move through three levels, Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced, at the pace your students actually progress. You study each level's theory ahead of time, then put it into practice when your students get there.

And here's what makes it a home and not a course: we don't leave. For as long as you're teaching acro, you'll have the system, the plans, your Acro family, and — if you want it — a coach in your corner. The kind of support that actually makes Monday's class run.

Your Acro family —
for as long as you teach.

Because rushing teachers is exactly how students get rushed through skills their bodies aren't ready for. We take the time to do it safely — foundations first, every time.

Welcome to the family.
What's Inside

Everything That Comes With Belonging.

The Acro Circle isn't a single course you complete — it's a fully stocked professional home. At the heart of it is the Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance: a complete teacher-training pathway across three levels — Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced — where each level gives you the full syllabus, the lesson plans, and the teacher-training lessons to teach it, and where you certify level by level. Around it sits everything else a working acro teacher needs.

The Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance™
The flagship at the heart of the Circle. Across three levels — Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced — the full syllabus, the complete lesson plans, and the teacher-training lessons that show you how to teach each one, with prerecorded walkthroughs of every progression. Your at-your-pace library, so you study ahead and teach the right thing at the right time.
The Acro Circle™ Community
Teachers walking the same road, right beside you — for belonging, accountability, and the answers that come from people who've been exactly where you are. Your Acro family.
Live Level Group Coaching Calls
Real group coaching and troubleshooting on your classes, with the coach for your level. Bring the thing you couldn't crack this week.
Coaching & Certification tier
Kinder Acro Program
A complete early-years acro program — from 18 months (assisted) through age 6 — across three stages: Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Pre-Juniors. Its own full syllabus and lesson plans, the same depth as the three main levels, so your littlest students start safely and properly from their very first class.
Your Certification Pathway
Certify at each level as you master it — finish the lesson plans, log your practical teaching hours, then apply and sit the exam. Your first certification can come as soon as your first year.
Coaching & Certification tier
The Testing Day Exam Kit
Rubrics, certificates, and parent materials to host your own student evaluation days in your studio — like a karate belt test, with no outside examiner required.
The Associate Training Program
An assistant-teacher training program you run yourself, in-house, to bring your junior staff up to the ADTA standard — on your timeline, not someone else's.
Clear Milestones & Hours
Clear milestones at every level, with your practical teaching hours counting toward each certification — so your progress is recognized as you go, not just at the end.
Coaching & Certification tier
The Quarterly President's Workshop
Four times a year with Melissa Klassen — Kinder Acro implementation, Testing Day strategy, how to implement the Associate Training Program, and the advanced topics that only come from decades in the studio.
Coaching & Certification tier

Everything here comes with The Acro Circle. The items marked Coaching & Certification tier live in that tier; everything else is in every membership. The two ways in are just below.

Join the Acro Circle
The Pathway

Three Levels · One Standard · Your Pace.

The Premiere pathway runs across three levels — Junior, Intermediate, and Advanced — each taught online and put into practice in your own studio, with a real class at that level. You certify at each level as you master it, so your first certification can come as soon as your first year. From there you grow at the pace this work really takes: for some that's a few years, for others six or seven, and either way is exactly right. Advanced is the summit, not a finish line — most teachers thrive at Junior and Intermediate for years, exactly where their students are.

Phase One
The Junior Level
You teach a beginner acro class · ages 7+
What's Inside This Level
Three Technique Warm-Ups
Building the strength, flexibility, and prerequisites every trick stands on.
Examples of Skills Taught
Teddy bear stands, headstands, rolling, cartwheels, chest stands, bridge kick-overs, walkovers, and one-arm cartwheels.
Partnering Skills
Introductory partner work — counterbalances, supported balances, and learning to safely connect, support, and trust a partner.
Across-the-Floor Acro Dance Combinations
Traveling combinations that link this level's skills with simple dance steps across the floor — teaching acro as dance from the very first class, not just isolated tricks.
Milestone Check-Offs
Recognized progress markers as you move through the level.
Where it leads → Junior ADTA Certified
Phase Two
The Intermediate Level
You teach an intermediate acro class
What's Inside This Level
Three Technique Warm-Ups
Deepening core and upper-body strength, developing the back flexibility and active splits the bigger skills demand, and conditioning the body for controlled inversions and aerial and back handspring work — so the harder tricks are built on a body that's ready for them.
Examples of Skills Taught
Foundational illusions, aerial preparation, continuous aerials, back handsprings, and centre floor work.
Partnering Skills
More dynamic partner work — bigger counterbalances, supported inversions, intermediate lifts, and partner-assisted skills where two dancers learn to move as one.
Across-the-Floor Acro Dance Combinations
Across-the-floor sequences that weave the intermediate skills together with dance steps, turns, and transitions — building the musicality, phrasing, and flow that make acro read as genuine dance.
Milestone Check-Offs
Recognized progress markers as you move through the level.
Where it leads → Intermediate ADTA Certified
Phase Three · The Pinnacle
The Advanced Level
You teach an advanced acro class
What's Inside This Level
Three Technique Warm-Ups
Building peak strength, power, and explosive control — the advanced flexibility, dynamic conditioning, and body preparation behind safe front aerials, back tuck/pike layouts, and the highest-level tumbling in the syllabus.
Examples of Skills Taught
Front aerial preparation, back handspring combinations, standing back tuck foundations, full front aerials, back layouts, and the highest-level tricks in the syllabus.
Partnering Skills
Advanced partner work — complex lifts, dynamic transitions, partner-assisted aerials, and the high-level supported skills that define a polished acro-dance duet or group routine.
Across-the-Floor Acro Dance Combinations
Full across-the-floor acro-dance combinations that blend the hardest skills with advanced choreography, dynamics, and performance quality — where the technique disappears into the dance and the audience simply sees artistry.
The Senior Male Acrobat
An additional skill set built for your senior male acrobats.
Mental Game for Advanced Acrobats
Working through fear, mental blocks, and the head-game behind the biggest skills.
Milestone Check-Offs
Recognized progress markers as you move through the level.
Where it leads → Advanced ADTA Certified
The Safety Gate
Every milestone is earned through real practical teaching hours in your own studio — not cramming, not a video binge. The hours can't be rushed, which is exactly the point.
Recognition Along The Way
Junior alone can take a year or two, so you don't wait until the very end for a win. You hit recognized milestones as you go, and your progress is acknowledged the whole way through.
Advanced Is The Pinnacle
The top of the pathway — and worth every year it takes to reach. Many teachers spend years mastering Junior and Intermediate first, exactly where their students are, and grow toward Advanced as their students do.
Join the Acro Circle
How Certification Works

How You Earn Your Certification.

Here's how certification works for teachers in the Coaching & Certification tier.

Self-Guided is self-study — all the programming and the community, with no coaching and no certification.
50 practical teaching hours per level
Counted as you teach real students. Each level: 50 hours. That's roughly one dance season of a 1-hour-per-week class — if you're teaching one acro class at that level through the school year, you'll likely hit your hours naturally as you teach.
An implementation class in your studio
Junior requires a beginner acro class — recommended ages 7+, no more than 10 students. Intermediate requires an intermediate class; Advanced an advanced class. The certification is in the teaching.
Live group coaching on your classes
Bring the trick that isn't clicking or the student you can't quite read to the live calls, and work through it with the coach for your level.
Milestone check-ins along the way
Each level includes milestones that confirm you're on track as you progress through the level.
A level exam · 80% to pass
Score 80% or higher to certify. If you don't pass, you can retake as many times as you need — your coach gives you a study guide and prepares you first. There's no rush.
A pace that's genuinely yours
You certify per level, as you master it. Experienced teachers with students at multiple levels can work two levels at once — just talk to us first. More than two at once isn't recommended. Mastery takes time, and we honor that.
Two Ways In

Choose How Much Support You Want Beside You.

Whichever door you walk through, you're in The Acro Circle — everyone is. What you're choosing is how much support you want and need — and you can start in either tier and upgrade to Coaching & Certification whenever you're ready. The annual price is the better value — one investment in your year rather than another monthly bill — and monthly is always there if you'd rather start smaller.

Self-Guided
The whole program and the community — walked at your own pace.
$497/ year · USD
or $49 / month
What you get
  • The full Premiere curriculum — all three levels' syllabus, lesson plans, and teacher-training lessons, as an at-your-pace library
  • Prerecorded walkthroughs of every progression, so you can study ahead before your students get there
  • Kinder Acro Program — a full early-years curriculum, 18 months (assisted) to age 6: Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Pre-Juniors
  • The Associate Training Program — train your assistant teachers in-house
  • The Testing Day Exam Kit — rubrics, certificates, and parent materials to evaluate your own students in-house
  • The Acro Circle community — teachers walking the same road, right beside you
  • Self-paced. No live coaching, no certification.
Join Self-Guided
★ Most Teachers Choose This
Coaching & Certification
Everything in Self-Guided — plus a coach in your corner, and your path to certified.
$1,500/ year · USD
or $149 / month
What you get
  • Everything in Self-Guided, plus —
  • Live Level Group Coaching Calls — real group coaching and troubleshooting on your classes, from someone who's been exactly where you are
  • Your path to certification — certify at each level as you master it; your first as soon as your first year
  • Quarterly President's Workshop with Melissa Klassen
  • Clear milestones with your practical teaching hours counting toward each certification
Join Coaching & Certification
And for the teachers who already know this is their life's work, there's a Lifetime option — one payment, in for good. Just ask, and we'll tell you about it.
Join with a 7-day money-back guarantee. Come in, look around the whole Circle, and if it's not the right home for you, just tell us within 7 days for a full refund.
How It Works

Built Around Your Studio.

01
Register & Join The Acro Circle
Choose Self-Guided or Coaching & Certification, and you get immediate access the moment you join — start diving in right away.
02
Study the Level Ahead
Learn each level's theory from the at-your-pace library before your students get there, so you're always ready.
03
Teach In Your Own Studio
Put it into practice with your real class, at the level your students are ready for. The work happens in your classroom, not just online.
04
Certify As You Master It
In Coaching & Certification, log your hours, apply, and sit your exam — your first certification can come in your first year, then on to the next, at your pace.
A Letter From the Founder

Why The Long Road.

Melissa Klassen spotting a student through an arch at the barre

I've been teaching acro for over thirty years and teaching acro teachers for fifteen of those years. I've watched the industry rush. I've watched studios hire teachers off the back of a weekend certificate and put them in front of children. I've watched students get hurt — sometimes seriously — by teachers who were told they were ready when they weren't.

I built the Acro Dance Teachers Association because I refuse to be part of that. There is no shortcut to teaching this work safely. There just isn't. You can learn the syllabus in a few months. You cannot learn to teach the syllabus in a few months. That takes hours in the studio with real students, real progressions, real mistakes, real corrections.

A teacher came to me eight years ago. She was twenty-eight, ran her own studio, and was terrified of teaching acro — qualified to teach jazz and ballet, standing at the edge of acro like it was a cliff. She wasn't sure she could do it — she didn't have a background in acro. I gave her the curriculum, the methodology, and my coaching. She put in the years. She's still with me. She's since moved into a new building and doubled the size of her studio, with four acro teachers on her staff now — one of whom used to be a parent watching from the lobby.

That's the work. Not a syllabus, not a chart — a real road, walked over years, with someone who will still be there in year seven when you're hiring your fourth teacher and bringing her into the program the way you came into it. And this place stays. I built it, I still run it, and I'm still teaching — the home you join is the home that'll be here.

The Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance is the home I wish had existed when I started. It's structured but flexible. It's serious but supportive. It honors how long this actually takes — and it gives you a credential that means something, to you, to your studio, to the parents who trust you with their kids. You don't wait years to feel the value. You teach better next week. The years are simply how long we stay in your corner.

And there's one more thing I wish I'd had: my people. When I started, I was the only one in my area — in my whole part of the country — who knew how to teach acro. It's hard, and so few people do it well, that I spent years figuring it out alone, with no one to call when I got stuck. What I needed back then was an Acro family — a community who understood, who had my back, who could help me as I learned, grew, and worked toward mastery. That's the part I'm proudest of now, and it's the part you'll never have to go without. You won't be doing this alone the way I did.

If that's the kind of teacher you want to be, I'd love to have you in the family.

Miss Melissa
Melissa Klassen · Founder & President · ADTA
There's a place for you in the Circle.
Join the Acro Circle
From The Family

Teachers Walking The Same Road.

I had no experience teaching or doing acro myself. I needed a program that could give me proper support and break things down for someone without a bunch of experience. It's been worth every penny. My students have developed beautiful technique that looks very safe and strong.
Alison Rutz
Studio Owner · AMR Dance Studio · Drumheller, Canada
What I love about ADTA is it's so focused on building strength for the skills versus just trick training. The syllabus guides us through what drills to use and how to progress skills carefully, and it empowers us to say, "we need to go slow to get the strength for the skills." We've grown from 20 dancers when I started to 65 now. I'm seeing more confidence in our dancers, and acro skills showing up safely in their jazz and hip hop choreography too.
Michelle Rogers
PT & Acro Dept Head · Maddox Dance Studio · Oregon, USA
Having people teach you how to spot your children safely — it's so helpful to have teachers really give you the confidence to be confident for your students. With the tricks my dancers are learning now, the technique is already there from the foundation, so the next skill just looks better the first few times they try it — rather than the ones who come in saying "hey, I learned this in my backyard," and it looks kinda scary. Now that I've had enough time to see my little ones become my big ones, it's really cool to see them take that foundation forward.
Courtney Smith
Studio Owner · Standout Dance Collective · Unity, Canada
Come walk the same road.
Join the Acro Circle
Questions Worth Asking

Frequently Asked.

When does it start, and how soon can I dive in?
The moment you join, you get immediate access to the full program and can start right away — study ahead, plan your classes, and move at your own pace from day one. The program is yours as soon as you're in.
What's the difference between the two tiers?
Self-Guided gives you the whole program and the community, self-paced — every level's syllabus, lesson plans, and progressions, plus Kinder Acro, the Associate Training Program, and the Testing Day Exam Kit for evaluating your own students. Coaching & Certification adds the human layer: live group coaching on your real classes, the quarterly President's Workshop, and your path to certification. Certification lives only in the Coaching & Certification tier.
Is the program online or in person?
Both, in the way that matters. The full system — curriculum, lesson plans, progressions, and the live group coaching — is online, so you study at your own pace from anywhere. The teaching itself, and your practical hours, happen in your own studio with your real students. What earns your certification is real classroom teaching, not screen time.
Should I pay annually or monthly?
The bigger decision isn't annual vs monthly — it's how much support you want beside you, which is the tier you choose. Once you've picked Self-Guided or Coaching & Certification, the billing is simple: the annual price is the better value — one investment in your year rather than another monthly bill — and monthly is there if you'd rather start smaller and see how it fits. You can be in either tier on either plan.
How long does the whole thing take?
The Acro Circle is your home for as long as you're teaching. You complete each level as you and your students are ready, then keep growing — staying as long as you need, always moving at the pace your students set. If you're working toward certification, here's what's typical, depending on your experience and how quickly your students progress: Junior usually takes six to eighteen months, Intermediate about one to two years, and Advanced generally around a year. You certify each level as you master it — never racing a clock.
How fast can I actually get certified?
Everyone starts at Junior. How fast you certify depends on your experience and how quickly your students progress — most teachers complete Junior somewhere between six and eighteen months. Certification is mastery-based: finish the level's lesson plans, log your 50 practical teaching hours, then apply and sit the exam. You certify each level as you master it, never racing a clock. (Certification is part of the Coaching & Certification tier.)
What if I'm new to teaching acro?
The Junior level is designed exactly for you. Many of our teachers came in from a ballet, jazz, or contemporary background with little to no acro experience. You'll work through every progression with prerecorded walkthroughs, and — in Coaching & Certification — lean on the calls and the President's Workshop when you get stuck. You don't need to be an acrobat to teach acro safely. You need a system, support, and time.
What if I'm a gymnastics, cheer, baton, or figure skating coach?
You're welcome here, and you wouldn't be the first — many of our teachers come to us from adjacent fields like gymnastics, cheer, baton, and figure skating. The strength, flexibility, and skill drills built into the work carry over to every sport, so whatever else your students do, this work makes them stronger, safer athletes. And in addition to learning all the acro skills, the biggest benefit across the board is the body conditioning. Your background gives you a real head start on technique and spotting — we teach you the rest.
What is the Associate Training Program?
It's a whole program inside The Acro Circle for once you're established and starting to need student helpers. The Associate Training Program is a plug-and-play "train your student teachers" program you run yourself, in-house — your assistants work through it and earn a certificate at the end, brought up to the ADTA standard on your timeline. Most Premiere teachers introduce it after about a year of teacher training, once they're ready to grow their staff. We also have options for whole studio teams — reach out and we'll work out what fits.
How do the practical teaching hours work?
Each level requires 50 hours of practical teaching, counted as you teach a real implementation class at that level. 50 hours is roughly one dance season of a 1-hour-per-week class, so if you're teaching one acro class through the school year, your hours add up naturally. They can't be rushed or faked — that's the point, and it's what makes the ability they build real.
Can I work on more than one level at once?
If you're experienced and have students at multiple levels, yes — with our okay and a little notice. The most common pattern is teachers doing Junior and Intermediate back-to-back, then taking time to let their students catch up before the Advanced level. More than two at once isn't recommended. Talk to us first so we can plan it with you.
What if I need more time on a level?
Take it. The library is at-your-pace, and your membership stays with you for as long as you're teaching. You learn the big picture in theory, and if your students need more time in practical hours, you simply stay on that level longer. There's no penalty and no rush — your students set the pace.
What's the level exam like, and what if I don't pass?
You need 80% or higher to certify. You receive a study guide inside the program, so you know exactly what to study for the exam. If you don't pass, you can retake as many times as you need — the goal is mastery, not a single-attempt pass/fail.
Is there a Lifetime option?
Yes. For the teachers who already know this is their life's work, there's a one-time Lifetime option, in for good. For more information, reach out to us and we'll get you set up.
What if I'm not sure it's the right fit?
Then join and see for yourself — you're covered by a 7-day money-back guarantee. Come in, look around the whole Circle, study the program, and if it's not the right home for you, just let us know within 7 days and we'll refund you in full — no hard feelings. And if you'd rather ask before you join, please do: we'd much rather answer your real questions than have you wondering. Send us a note and we'll get on the phone with you.
One Last Thing

Somewhere right now, a teacher is teaching acro to a child.

She should know the progressions, the spotting cues, the readiness signals — the long arc of how a young body learns to invert safely. She should have earned that, not bought it. And she shouldn't be doing it alone.

That teacher can be you. The Acro Circle is where you become her — and it's still here in year seven, when you're the one training the next one. The door's open. Come in.

Join the Acro Circle
Miss Melissa
Acro Dance Teachers Association Certification is earned, not bought.

The Acro Circle is the professional home for acro teachers, from the Acro Dance Teachers Association — the global hub for Acro dance teachers. Inside, the Premiere Comprehensive Program for Acro Dance is the certification pathway you work through. Two ways in: Self-Guided ($497/year or $49/month) and Coaching & Certification ($1,500/year or $149/month). A one-time Lifetime option is available on request. You get immediate access to the full program the moment you join. Certification is earned through real teaching — finish the level's lesson plans, log your practical hours, then apply and sit the exam — and lives in the Coaching & Certification tier. Prices shown are current and may change for new members — but once you join, your price is locked for life, for as long as you stay.