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Taking care of your mental health has always been an important part of self care, but during a pandemic it is imperative that you focus on and preserve your physical and emotional wellbeing. Listen as Dr. Leisha Strachan provides us with a few useful tools and activities that we can use to protect our own mental health. Dr. Leisha Strachan is a professor at the University of Manitoba with a research focus on positive youth development through sport. She is also interested in research with coaches and parents in the deliberate delivery of positive sport experiences for children and youth. Research Areas Positive youth development Sport participation Children Youth Sport psychology Education Doctor of Philosopy - Sport Psychology, Queen's University (2008) Master of Human Kinetics - Sport Psychology, University of Windsor (2004) Bachelor of Education, University of Manitoba (1999) Bachelor of Physical Education, University of Manitoba (1997) Leisha has been involved in sport and dance her whole life. She began baton twirling at Crestview Community Club in Winnipeg at the age of 5 and continued for 18 years. She is a former Canadian Senior Freestyle Champion (1994), Grand National Solo and 2-Baton champion (1994), CBTF Senior Athlete and Overall Athlete of the Year (1994), and a 7-time Canadian Contingent member competing in freestyle (highest placing - 6th in 1994) and pair events garnering 2 world bronze medals for her efforts (with Kristin Macaraeg). In her time on the national team, she traveled to France, Japan, Holland, Italy, and Hawaii. Leisha is one of the founding coaches of Aerial Fusion Baton, which has been in existence for 25 years. In addition to being a Level 3 certified coach, she is also certified as a Module 1 teacher in Acrobatic Arts. She is also a certified M1, M2, M3, and Masters judge. She has had the opportunity to coach provincial and national team members and continues to choreograph for different athletes across Canada, England, and Scotland. www.projectscore.ca www.sportpsychologyforcoaches.ca www.theplayerstribune.com https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/kinrec/about/strachan.html www.leaguelineup.com/afbaton IG @drls250

The founder of acrobatic arts Mandy Yip interviews certified teacher Kelly Peterson. Kelly shares her struggles as well as her successes with teaching acro online. Learn how she survived teaching during the first lockdown and actually increased her class sizes! Kelly Peterson is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of guiDANCE experience. guiDANCE is the only YPAD certified dance competition in the world. It is more than a competition it is an educational experience. She is an Acrobatic Arts Module One certified teacher, and certified to teach Rhythm Works Integrative Dance. Recently she received her Module One certification from Alixa Flexibilty. Kelly is an office manager, Wingman for Dance mentor, and fundraiser coordinator for Dancer's Studio in Clarion, PA. She is YPAD (Youth Protection Advocates of Dance) certified, is a mandated reporter, healthcare CPR and first aid certified and has all clearances. Safety is one of Kelly's top priorities with students. Kelly has worked in tabulation and the administrative side of many dance competitions over the years. One of her many goals is to give dancers the opportunity regardless of financial situation and to educate dancers about compassion, kindness, resilience, internet & social media safety, and confidence. Kelly helps with many nonprofit organizations in her community. She is continuing her education to help ensure the physical safety and psychological and emotional health of each dancer. During 2020 my goal was not only to bring in revenue but to keep our kids happy, healthy and safe. Not just physically but mentally as well. I took my business background and my nursing degree along with the tools that acrobatic arts provides to create “Acro punch cards” and “4 Week Online Acro Training” 4-Week online Acro training required each student to purchase their level of my Acro app and four 30 minute zoom private lessons. Acro punch cards started when one on one instruction was permitted. From June till December we sold over 500 one hour private sessions. If you charged $20 and hour thats $10,000 $30X500=$15,000 $40x500=$20,000 I can't express how much the acrobatic arts app is an essential tool for instructors and students. Dancer's Studio is owned by A-Jo Gallagher, also an acrobatic arts certified teacher. Because of the Acro punch cards we have increased our Acro class enrolment to 65% of all our students. We added another Acro class this past fall and they are now all completely full. Acro Island has been implemented in some of the classes as needed. In addition to these punch cards I did a special Black Friday card for younger students or students that never have taken Acro classes. These sold out in 5 minutes. All of my punch cards were created using Adobe Spark. www.guidanceexperience.com Acrobatic Arts

Have you ever wondered how to leave a good impression during an audition? Do you struggle to find the words to say to your student after an emotional audition? What about video auditioning? Video auditioning is quickly becoming even more necessary during these crazy times! Rick Tjia's inspirational talk about auditioning is something you definitely won't want to miss! He provides us with an insight into what casting directors are looking for, a healthy way to accept audition set backs and gives us his top tips for producing a successful audition video. Rick's early training years began with tap dancing, eventually branching out into professional studies of classical ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance (training with teachers like David Howard, Finis Jhung, Christine Busch, Bruce Marks, Laura Young and Geri Houlihan). He also trained in other disciplines (trumpet, physics, and later on, guitar studies and various studies in business). After an extensive career in dance and acting that includes performances with Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet and Delta Festival Ballet, as well as three years of work in film and television in Los Angeles doing hip-hop, jazz, and ballet (with choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Joe Layton, and with film directors like Mark Rydell, and James Brooks), Rick joined La La La Human Steps in Montreal in 1993, with whom he danced and toured the world for 8 years. As with many dancers and musicians, Rick is also a composer, a dance and acrobatic choreographer, and judges dance competitions, and teaches various workshops around the globe. For the last 16 years he has been a Talent Scout specializing in dance at Cirque du Soleil. Rick's contributions to the Casting Department has extended itself to contributing to and drawing up new operational and business strategies, as well as contributing to creative and innovative internal and external strategies of various types. Rick also works closely with International Performing Arts & Theatre (I-PATH) through leading dance education in the 21st Century. He is a member of Phoenix Associates in the UK, an organization that offers opportunities and masterclasses to students aged from 6 right through to professional dancers. In 2016, he joined the creative team of the Cirque du Soleil Big Top touring show Volta as an acrobatic choreographer, and In 2018, he started up the online choreography market Choreography Online with two partners, which had its official public launch in September, 2019. www.ricktjia.com https://choreography.online https://www.iodc.online Acrobatic Arts