Hawaiʻi AcroFest instructors Steve Cummings and Gina Shiotani, of San Diego, demonstrate a move for their Saturday morning class. The acroyoga festival attracted participants and practitioners from nearby Haleʻiwa all the way to Australia, Costa Rica and Omaha, Nebraska. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
Merging acrobatics and yoga, the partner-based practice of acroyoga on display at Hawaiʻi AcroFest last weekend features dynamic poses and moves between the “base” on the ground and the “flyer” above.
Katie Pritchett, left, and Lucia Carbines begin their practice with a mindful moment. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
Similar to traditional yoga, the activities begin with breathing and being present. But by partnering with groups of up to three people, acroyoga practitioners must trust and rely on others.
Hawaiʻi AcroFest participants warm up Saturday. The festival was held at YMCA Camp Erdman in Waialua. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)Participants warm up their arms, chest, cores and legs before moving on to challenging poses and movements. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
Phi Do, left, and Chloe Bee laugh during a name-association game of various poses similar to the traditional children’s game of Simon Says. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
Hawaiʻi AcroFest instructor Amy Bell, left, of San Diego, works with flyer Rainelle Lushina and base Kaio Cardoza in the intermediate group. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
Bell focuses on foot placement with Lushina and Cardoza. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
This is the third year Hawaiʻi Acrofest founder Catherine Ritter has organized a festival here. She planned to start in 2020, but Covid shelved that idea for a while. Ritter, more commonly known as “Critter,” hopes to continue bringing the islands’ premier acroyoga instructors together and supplementing the workshop with teachers from the mainland and abroad.
Festival instructor Lauren Dubois, right, spots flyer Abby Austin while base Maksium Z holds her aloft in the beginner class. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
“I didn’t realize how much of the sport relies on balance and placement rather than sheer strength,” Abby Austin of Honolulu says after participating in the beginner class. “I was able to base and fly with people of all different sizes.”
Austin spots her friend Kayla Yee above Maksium Z. “It can be really disorienting the first time you fly with your head upside down,” Dubois says. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)Dubois, of Haʻikū, talks about feet placement and pressure in the beginner class Saturday. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)Yee pauses for a photo with Maksium Z in the beginner class. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025)
“Even though you have similar foundational poses in acro like tabletop, plank, side plank, it feels much different to trust another person and actively find the right counterbalance forces with them,” Austin says. “One of the lessons at the Acrofest had us switching partners five or six times and even the same pose can feel really different depending on the partner.”
“There is a free acroyoga class at Magic Island on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. that I plan to check out,” Austin says. “I’ve heard there are lots of other meet-up options too. But the free class sounds like a good first step as a beginner. I’m definitely hooked and excited to keep practicing.”
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