Evolution Acro & Tumble
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
While there are other studios to learn dance and gymnastic skills and take part in fitness programs, the new Evolution Acro & Tumble in Yorktown has something the others do not have – a small space and personal attention.
The new roughly 1,000-square-foot business opened on Monday in the Underhill Plaza shopping center.
Acro has acrobatic arts that includes a dance element and there are Acro competitions.
The facility may be new, but the industry is not new to owner Sue Solazzo of Yorktown, who also owns the Epic Dance Center in Mahopac. Solazzo said she decided to open Evolution Acro “based upon on the needs that I see with my dancers and competitive dance teams.”
The manager of the new business is Putnam Valley resident Stephanie Bowe, a certified gymnastics coach. Bowe’s daughter, Kylee, has been a dancer and gymnast.
“We put our heads together and realized that there was really a lack of a couple of things locally,” Solazzo said. Some of the programs Evolution Acro offers that other similar facilities do not include small “Mommy and Me” classes for babies and their moms “in a nice contained space; nothing huge,” she said. “We wanted to find something a little more mom and pop, family-friendly, (and) small.”
The facility allows dancers to take classes on such skills as aerials and back handsprings without having to commit to a full gymnastics curriculum, Solazzo said. “My dancers are very busy, they take a lot of classes, but they want to improve their acrobatic technique. So this would be a facility they could come to and take shorter sessions,” she explained.
Evolution Acro provides programs for all ages, from as young as babies 18 months old taking classes with their mothers or care giver to learn basic tumbling skills and group activities, Bowe said. Aside from classes, the facility also offers open gym times for youths and there is yoga, fitness and other programs provided for adults.
Customers of the new business pay based on the number of classes or sessions they want, Solazzo said.
The size of the new facility allows for more individualized instruction, Solazzo stressed. “There’s a lot of interaction between the teacher and the students,” she said.
Solazzo said she wanted the public to become familiarized with her new business. “We are an option,” she said. “If you come to Evolution you’re going to see a lot of progress with your child.”
Solazzo said one of the reasons for the name of the new facility was in keeping with a major portion of its mission. “You would start as a crawler and go all the way to a teen or an adult who is basically perfecting these very, very intricate advanced moves. It’s an evolution.”
Evolution Acro & Tumble is located at 1877 Commerce St., in the Underhill Plaza shopping center in Yorktown. For more information, call 914-962-3220, send an e-mail to info@evolutionacro.com or visit evolutionacro.com.
