Releve
Posted by terrepruitt on August 22, 2009
This is one of Nia’s 52 Moves. The Releve. First you touch your heel to the ground.
Then you weight on one foot.
Then you come up on what we usually call your toe, but is really the ball of your foot.
Usually this is done in a quick step like motion. During a workout routine we usually step to a releve then move on. Sometime though we do stay on the balls of our feet in releve and walk. It all depends on the workout and routine and if that will even work for you and your body. It is great for the ankles and the lower leg. It also strengthens your foot.
You can see a list of Nia’s 52 Moves on my site or in the Nia Technique book.
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
niachick said
OMG! You have beautiful feet!!! I just love how you accompany your blog about a Nia move with a photo or photos of the move. Very nice Terre!!!
Several years ago, I became aware that although I thought I was doing the releve properly, I was actually really missing the “end point” of it. I absolutely love the end photo you’ve provided, high onto the toes and the upper ball of the foot. When I used to do them, because it is a quick move usually (not a move that is held for any length of time normally) I would find myself more on the lower ball of the foot which would put pressure on my ankle and knee. I find many of my students do this, too.
And this may sound kind of weird, but when I first started taking Nia classes, I had no flexibility in my toes. One does not necessarily think of toes being flexible, but when I think back 9 years ago, I could not perform the end move shown in your photos. Now I Am able to do that effectively. Releves are so beautiful!
Thank you, as always, for your posts Terre.
Love,
Jill
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terrepruitt said
Ha. Thank you, but I don’t know that I would say I have beautiful feet. They are not ugly and the most beautiful part is they work . . . . and they carry me through my life and allow me to workout and dance. Ahhhh THAT is beautiful.
I love the photos that they have in the Nia Technique book. And mine don’t compare, but, I don’t want to take everything from the book. I do want to add a bit of my own stuff. So I am trying to do my own pictures. I would like to continue to encourage people to buy the book though. It is a great book. (As I know you know because you said you have a couple of copies and they are “well loved”.)
I have experienced a lot of people that don’t know what the Releve is. It would be because I don’t know how to add that accent on it so they don’t realize what the word is. I don’t know. So I thought I would put it in a post to help. Of course a still photo of each portion of still might make it a challenge for people to know how to do it, but maybe now they have an idea. Oooo, maybe I should do a video too, so people can see that it is usually done rather quickly.
I am so glad that you mentioned inflexibility of your toes because a lot of people don’t even realize that your toes need to flex. Kind of like you are saying. And that is why Nia is so awesome because of our “barefootedness” which allows our feet to bend and flex. I think that because my foot looks like one limb (like an forearm) I forget that it is really made up of a bunch of bones and joints and then need to move and flex to be healthy. So barefeet is so great because a shoe is not holding my foot ridged and all the moves we do really get our feet moving and grooving and flexing and bending.
So now that you can execute a releve do you think your foot is more healthy?
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judy said
Even the picture looks like it will feel good. I’m going to try it!
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terrepruitt said
Its good for you! You can do it anytime you are walking. Take two steps,then on your third step releve. Take another step, releve, take three steps releve. Just do it as you walk, good for ya!
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