VIVAcroyoga began as Fête Nationale in 2015. That was the inception year and it was very casual. We had a fully packed day with 10 short-format classes. Folks came from Ottawa, Quebec City, and Burlington and we had many participants from the Montreal area.

The next year it was two days at the park and as the years passed, we decided to formalize the event with ticket pre-sales and an actual venue in case of rain! We also added pre and post-fest daylongs.

VIVAcroyoga continues to grow. 2022’s festival was a smaller version focused on the reconnection of our Montreal community post-pandemic. We featured local teachers and a smaller group size. In 2023 we dreamed big and changed venues to the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique et de la Musique as well as expanding our reach to invite international talent and participants for a full week of exciting sessions, all the while staying focused on what’s important: building and nurturing our local community!

This year’s event adds an extra daylong for healing arts recovery on June 17th, making it an 8-day event! This feels huge and aligns with our commitment to take care of participants, teachers, and community members. 

VIVA grows every year in its dedication to holding a space that fosters diversity, equity, and communication. We keep adding value to our gathering and are pleased to continue with humanity skills as part of our programming. Every class taught will have a physical theme paired with a humanity skill, which can include communication topics, self-assessment, cooperation techniques, adaptation for inclusion, holding space for rejection, consent, and beyond. The humanities are all of the tools we can use to make our acroyoga practice functional, enjoyable, and respectful and lead us into a more heightened awareness of our practice and those practicing with us. We also are committed to hosting AcroChats during the festival so people can get informed about, and discuss topics of social justice, allyship, and communication in acro spaces. These chats are moderated by leaders in our community who hold both wisdom in sharing these topics as well as lived experience. An AcroChat is far more than a chat, it is often a deep dive into our humanity and how we can show up better for ourselves and others.

In addition to these actions, VIVAcroyoga is committed to :

• Limiting the number of participants to foster Quality over Quantity of Connections during the event
• Stellar, Experienced Teachers who represent our incredible practice and who are also great humans
• The VIVAvalues, a list of Guidelines to foster a Safe and Inclusive Training environment
• An emotional support team available to all participants and instructors
• Skills and Tricks to challenge every level of Practitioner, from newbies to veterans
• A Top-Notch First Aid Team
• Discussions to raise our awareness about how Social Justice, Allyship, Diversity, Equity, and Power Dynamics function within our community
• A Fun and Focused Atmosphere with Room to Grow!
• An affordable experience through sliding scale pricing, volunteer and scholarship opportunities, a location with easy public transit access, community lodging and accommodation, and easy access to food nearby.

We are happy to be building this one-of-a-kind event in the Acroyoga and Acro World. Come be a part of it with us. We hope that you feel welcomed, engaged, and seen, and have a deep sense of belonging at VIVA!

Welcome home!