Join Acro Umbrella for acroyoga, partner acrobatics, and circus-style movement training in an inclusive community in Vancouver
Meet our Acroyoga Teachers at Acro Umbrella
Meet Our Acroyoga Teachers
There isn’t one way to do acro, and we don’t think there should be one way to teach it either.
Acro Umbrella brings together acroyoga teachers with backgrounds that stretch well beyond acroyoga. Circus artists train alongside dancers. Hand balancers share ideas with Icarian practitioners. Coaches bring experience from standing acro, martial arts, diving, partner acrobatics and the stage. Sometimes two teachers will approach the same skill completely differently, and that’s part of the point.
Our team includes people who have been part of Vancouver’s acro community since its early days, alongside high-level practitioners who have trained, taught and performed around the world. Every teacher brings something back with them: a technique picked up from another acro community, experience from another movement practice, lessons learned from performing, or simply a different way of explaining something that suddenly makes it click.
20 Acroyoga Teachers. A Lot of Ways to Move.
With 20 acroyoga teachers under one umbrella, acro becomes a language with a lot of different accents. Every teacher brings their own rhythm, perspective, and way of moving. Learn from all of them, then find your own voice.
Learn solid foundations. Try different techniques. Get thrown in the air. Stand on someone. Put someone on your shoulders. Steal a little inspiration from circus, dance or wherever our teachers have wandered off to train. Then figure out what kind of acro feels like yours.
Find a Teacher by Discipline:
Acroyoga Flow & Transitions: Acroyoga Teachers
Lucas | Acroyoga Teacher and Board Member
What’s a completely unnecessary acro hill you’re willing to die on?
Lucas: My hill I’ll die on is that icarian is overrated and flow is underrated. COME AT ME.
What’s the best thing you’ve gained from acro that has nothing to do with doing tricks?
Lucas: The best thing is that acro made me much better at picking up on body language when people might be uncomfortable, need a little encouragement, or need a little break. I feel like this has seriously leveled up the safety of my practice, and it’s made it easier for me to speak up when I need some extra clarity or encouragement too!
What acro skill would you teach your worst enemy?
Lucas: Star. Because that was the pose that got me hooked on acro; therefore, they would be hooked on acro too, and all of a sudden, instead of being enemies, we would have an excuse to be friends.
Erica | Acroyoga Teacher
I fell in love with acro from the blend of physical challenge and community. A core value of mine is curiosity, and I bring that to my practice and teaching by experimenting with unique movements and encouraging others to also do so in their own way. As an instructor, I focus on creating a safe, engaging environment where students can challenge themselves, connect with others, and discover the joy of acro.
What’s your favorite thing to do under an umbrella, other than acro?
Umbrella: Who needs em? I dance in the rain 🌧
Nicole | Acroyoga instructor
Nicole is a full-time movement and wellness professional, teaching yoga, pilates, group fitness, massage, and acroyoga. She loves creating spaces where people can connect, play, learn, and build community together.
She is a co-organizer of Flipside AcroYoga Festival and loves bringing people together through workshops, events, and jams. Acro has also become a fun way for Nicole to explore new places and communities. She loves travelling to different countries to practise, learn from other teachers, and meet fellow practitioners along the way.
Stephanie Houlberg | Acroyoga Teacher
Steph was introduced to Acro at a climbing gym in 2017 in Kitchener, Ontario, and has been hooked since! When she found a community that routinely lifts people up, she knew it was a group she wanted to join! She loves the combination of strength, playfulness, and connection in Acro.
She did her acro teacher training with VanCity Acro in 2020, started teaching in Kamloops, and taught weekly in Vancouver in 2023-early 2026 before lifting up a tiny human (she had a baby).
She finds joy in basing, flying, and spotting equally. She particularly enjoys L-basing flow while dabbling in standing, dance lifts, and pops. She is known for a thorough warm-up, base-flyer hybrid, encouragement, and joy.
Handbalancing and Mobility: Acro Umbrella Teachers Vancouver
Josh | Handbalancing and Acroyoga Teacher
Joshua has been flipping, flying, and falling (gracefully, mostly) for years, with a background in acrobatics, circus, and comedy. His classes are built on one simple idea: everyone belongs on the mat. Whether it’s your first bird or your hundredth hand-to-hand attempt, you’ll find a space where you can try new things and celebrate every win, big or tiny.
Expect good spotting, bad puns, and a lot of high fives.
Devon French | Handbalancing and Mobility Instructor
Devon has dedicated his life to movement, starting with children’s sports, boxing, and yoga before becoming a certified trainer at 21. By 24, he immersed himself in yoga, deepening his understanding of body awareness and control. His passion for movement led him to AcroYoga, where he honed his skills in balance, strength, and partner work.
Over the past 13 years, Devon has collaborated with Slava Goloubov, training in circus arts for over a decade and refining acrobatics, tumbling, and dynamic movement. His mission is to help others discover their potential through the power of AcroYoga and movement-based education.
Slava | Acroyoga and Flow Movement
Slava has always been driven by the limitless possibilities of the human body. From training with Brazilian Capoeira masters to studying acrobatics across Europe and learning from Shaolin monks in China, his journey has been one of deep exploration.
Drawing from the wisdom of various disciplines, he co-founded the Movement Flow System, blending principles from AcroYoga, acrobatics, and movement training to make physical education accessible to all. For the past 13 years, Slava and Devon have worked side by side, training in circus arts for over a decade and pushing the boundaries of AcroYoga and partner acrobatics.
Icarian Pops: Acroyoga Teachers Vancouver
Matt L | Acroyoga Teacher
Matt has been practicing Acro for almost 10 years, and while he originally used Acro as cross-training for other hobbies, it has since grown to consume a large part of his life. Matt is drawn to Acro for the community, sense of play, and all the varieties of Acro that are out there.
Matt tries to stay well-rounded in all Acro modalities but finds himself more and more specializing in Icarian and Whips.
Matt moved to Vancouver specifically for the large Acro community there, and he gets a lot of fulfillment supporting the community in any way he can.
Lily | Acroyoga teacher
My name is Lily, and I’m excited to share my love of acro and all things Icarian with you. I found acro after 15 years of diving experience and discovered that flips on other people (thank you, dear bases) are even more fun than flips in a pool. As well as Icarian, I love nerding out about Whip-pops, exploring standing dynamic skills, and thinking up silly flows.
I have 10+ years of coaching experience. When I’m teaching acro, I’m focused on sharing the enthusiasm and excitement for both the skills and the process. Nothing makes me happier than sharing in and celebrating the wins, missteps, silly progressions, and excellent spotting saves. My goal is for all students to leave class with the amazing feeling of having faced a fear, learned a new trick, discovered a refinement on a tried-and-true skill, or strengthened a training partnership.
Kierra | Acroyoga Teacher
Kierra has been practicing Acroyoga for 6+ years and other forms of acrobatics for much longer. She loves dynamic skills and weird flows that offer the space to get creative and playful.
Her other major hobby is travel—she’s hit 50+ countries so far!
(Pop Master) Moody | Acroyoga Teacher
What began as a hobby has grown into a deep passion and a meaningful way to connect with other people. I have traveled across Canada, the United States, and overseas to train, teach, and connect with a diverse array of communities. The exposure has made me adaptive as a teacher, offering classes that suit the needs and vibes of a community while embracing the ways I teach best.
Standing Acro and Dance Lifts: Acro Umbrella Teachers Vancouver
Angie Nguyen | Vancouver Acroyoga Teacher
Angie found partner acrobatics while competing in team sports, so trust, communication, and hyping up the people around her have always shaped how she moves and teaches.
After more than a decade of acro, she loves playing with the places different movement worlds collide, from Luchador-Mania-inspired acro slams to lion dance movements that look like acro dance lifts. Her classes are less about flowing or landing the biggest trick and more about creating a space where people feel safe enough to experiment, get creative, and surprise themselves.
If you hear a loud “LET’S GOOOO!” across the gym, there’s a good chance it’s Angie.
Marissa | Standing and Flow Acro Teacher
Marissa Wong is a Chinese-Canadian dance artist whose work spans acrobatics, contemporary dance, aerial arts, and interdisciplinary collaborations. She has performed aerial works with Corporeal Imago and presented her choreography ‘Veils’ at TEDxSoma. As Artistic Director of The Falling Company, she creates, mentors, and develops works that blend her distinct physicality with a commitment to inclusive storytelling. Find out more at www.thefallingcompany.com
Finish this sentence: You might be an acro person if…
Marissa: You play board games, rock climb, are polyamorous, or are a chaos gremlin!
Eric | Standing and Flow Acro Teacher
Eric McKeethen is a movement practitioner who has trained in many different styles such as parkour, gymnastics, obstacle training, calisthenics, and circus acrobatics. He has traveled the world and performed in shows with Acrobatic Conundrum, Lone Star Circus, and Tempos Circus. Even though he may not be the flashiest performer, Eric breaks down movement into detailed, understandable ways for himself and others.
Eric has used this mindset to expand his skill with AcroYoga and find ease with many of the difficult skills within partner acrobatics. When you want to learn a new technique or add new tricks to your repertoire, Eric will walk you through the things that will allow you to perform the moves safely and with power so that you can do it for years.
Amy | Acroyoga instructor
What’s the most ridiculous thing acro has convinced you is normal?
Amy: walking all over your friends (only literally)
What’s the best thing you’ve gained from acro that has nothing to do with doing tricks?
Amy: community and friendship
Danny | Acroyoga Teacher
Danny is part of Acro Umbrella’s rotating teaching team, bringing his own approach to partner movement, technique and play. Full bio coming soon.
Drew | Acroyoga Teacher
Drew is part of Acro Umbrella’s rotating teaching team, bringing his own approach to partner movement, technique and play. Full bio coming soon.
Roberto | Acroyoga Teacher/Class clown
Roberto is part of Acro Umbrella’s rotating teaching team, bringing his own approach to partner movement, technique, and play. Full bio coming soon.
Joe | Acroyoga Teacher
I was introduced to acro in 2012 and have been on and off since then, with a primary focus on L-basing flow, and lately exploring dance lifts.
I am inspired by connection with my acro partners and bring that to the skills I share, with a focus on being stable and safe, and ensuring the movements we make feel good.
You’ll find Joe at a jam sharing a new idea for a funky pose, building a human tower or passing flyers with group acro, or collapsed into a cuddle puddle.
Come Learn With Us
You don’t need to choose a teacher before you start. Join an All Levels Acro class, meet whoever is teaching that week, and get a feel for the Acro Umbrella community.
Why Does Acro Umbrella Have So Many Teachers?
Vancouver has a deep and wonderfully interconnected acroyoga and circus community, and Acro Umbrella is built around sharing that knowledge.
Our classes don’t belong to any one teacher. We take turns teaching, share classes, trade techniques and bring different movement backgrounds into the room. You might learn a skill one way one week, then have another teacher offer a completely different approach the next. That’s part of the fun.
It also means our schedule is always evolving. Alongside our regular acroyoga teachers, we can welcome travelling acrobats, circus artists and visiting instructors to teach classes and workshops while they’re in Vancouver.
So, Who’s Teaching This Week?
Our teaching roster rotates, and so do the skills, themes and occasionally the wonderfully weird things we’re experimenting with.
Check Feather for the current class schedule and who’s teaching.
Follow us on Instagram for classes, workshops and community happenings.
Ask to Join our WhatsApp group for weekly updates, including who’s teaching and a sneak peek at the skills or themes coming up.
That way, instead of needing to pick your teacher, you get to learn from a community of them.
FAQ about Acro Umbrella Acroyoga Teachers
Can I choose which acroyoga teacher I train with?
Yes. Our schedule lists the instructors for upcoming classes, so you can use our feather app to follow your favourites. But we also encourage students to try different teachers. Part of the Acro Umbrella experience is getting to learn from a rotating group of people rather than having to choose a single teaching style.
Do you have guest acroyoga and circus teachers?
Yes. Our rotating teaching model makes it easy to welcome travelling acrobats, circus artists and other movement practitioners to Vancouver. Guest teachers may join regular classes or offer special workshops, giving our community opportunities to learn techniques and perspectives from outside our usual roster.
I am a traveling circus performer and would like to teach a workshop while I’m in town, how do I get involved?
We love welcoming visiting circus artists and acro teachers into our community. Reach out to us with a little about yourself, what you teach, and when you’ll be in Vancouver, and we can chat about whether there’s an opportunity for a class or workshop while you’re here.
What if I want to learn a skill that isn’t currently on the schedule?
Tell us! Our classes change with our teachers, students and whatever the community is excited about learning. You can reach out to us or join our WhatsApp group to ask about a particular skill, and keep an eye out for visiting teachers and specialty workshops too.
I’ve taken acroyoga classes somewhere else. How do I know which Vancouver class to join?
Start with our All Levels Acro class. It’s an easy way to meet our teachers, get a feel for how we train, and ask in person which classes might be the best fit for your experience and interests. We also offer drop-in options, so you can check out the community without making a big commitment.