Nia Routines I’ve Learned
Posted by terrepruitt on May 9, 2013
I teach Nia. I actually like to say I lead Nia because to me teaching a dance is more instructive. What I think of as teaching is the type of class where the instructor demonstrates a step or two then the students do the steps a few times, then the instructor demonstrates more steps and the students practice them. Eventually the steps are strung together in a dance. But in my Nia cardio classes it is just lead follow. I do – you follow. I give verbal instructions and/or verbal guides but it is not the type of instructional class where I show you, then you do, then we practice and then we string all the steps together. So I guess it is not an “instructional” or “instructed” dance class. But I do teach by example. You follow my lead. In order to be a Nia teacher I had to take the Nia White Belt Intensive. I have talked about this before, but to review the White Belt is the first level of Nia. The White Belt Intensive is over 50 hours of instruction and is open to anyone. Individuals do not have to have the intent to teach. The Nia White Belt Intensive is about the body so anyone is welcome to join and learn. In order to be a Nia teacher there is an additional licensing fee. The fee is due annually and it includes four routines that we, as teachers, agree to learn per year. I was just looking at my DVDs. I have two routines that I have not learned. I have 19 that I have learned. I have been teaching almost four and half years so I am keeping up with the four per year schedule.
Now, I want to clarify that I have learned 19 routines. That means that I basically did the bars and have shared 19 routines with my students. That means I roughly know those 19 routines. I could stand up right now and lead you through some of them, but some of them I would have to look at my bars, and some of them I would have to study my bars. But I also feel I am better at just doing. While I want to do the routine as per the choreography, I am not as afraid as I once was to just DO the routine.
When I am preparing to do a different routine for my class sometimes I have a chance to practice and sometimes I don’t. I will look at my bars for each song. Sometimes I look at the first few lines and think, “Oh yeah, I know this one.” Then when I am leading it my body and my mind don’t remember it as well as I thought and I just dance through it, but then when I get home I look more closely at my bars or re-watch the DVD. It really is about moving and having fun. As long as we are moving and we are doing it close enough then it is good. Then, like I said, I come home to get the choreography better established in my head and body!
The routines I have learned are:
Alive – Carlos AyaRosas
Amethyst – Debbie Rosas
Aya – Carlos Rosas
Beyond – Debbie Rosas and Ann Christiansen
Birth – Debbie Rosas and Collaborators
Canta – Carlos Rosas
Clarity – Carlos Rosas
White Belt Dream Walker – Carlos Rosas
Earthsong – Carlos Rosas
Global Unity
Humanity – Carlos AyaRosas
Miracle – Carlos Rosas
Opal – Debbie Rosas
Passion – Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas
Sanjana – Debbie Rosas
San Medusa – Helen Terry
Sexi – Carlos Rosas
Velvet – Debbie Rosas
Vibe – Debbie Rosas
The names of the routines that I have on my shelf that I need to learn are Butterfly and Oshun. I just renewed so I have four routines that I need to pick out as my new routines. Picking routines is always a challenge because everyone has such different tastes. Some people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE some of the routines I have and I don’t love them. So for me it is a difficult decision. I try to pick routines that I think my students will like, but then that is just a guess. I know which ones they like out of the ones I teach because they request them often.
If you were just picking a routine from the name which one would you pick? As a Nia student which one out of this list is your favorite? What about Nia teachers, which is your favorite out of this list?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 
Michele said
So great Terre!! I would pick Oshun because I love the Ocean!
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terrepruitt said
Hey YOU!
I am just learning that one. It is interesting. Some of the music is odd. The FIRST song the woman is just making noises. And it is catchy so I find myself walking around making weird noises. I just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoHmq9J0aiU Cracks me up this song. Nia uses this woman’s music a lot (she is a Nia teacher, a singer, actress, and I think she works at HQ). She sings a lot of songs that are not words!
Thanks for stopping by! Did you see my bean posts? I soaked ’em AND “Quick” Soaked ’em!
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Michele said
Very interesting song and video…by the end of the song I could see what you mean by it being catchy 🙂 I just read your bean post, and I am intending on making hummus this weekend and will probably do the long soak overnight – I can’t wait to get a bigger kitchen!!
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terrepruitt said
Ok, yeah. Sorry. I forgot that upon the first few “listens” that song is annoying. I am past that point and onto “singing” it myself.
Yeah, I never thought of that (big kitchen). The bowl I used is pretty huge and without the counter space to put it on out of the way, I would have drove me bonkers. Plus I would imagine a smaller kitchen would smell worse because “gas” would be trapped! Ha, ha, ha, ha! I think the long soak is EASIER. To me anyway!
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Janice Rounds said
So when you get the routines. what do you get? Do you get a class dvd with Debbie teaching students?
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terrepruitt said
Janice – Thank you for being here! Thank you for your questions. I have a post that says a bit, but in it I say I am going to do another post explaining a more about the routines/training info we receive. I think I need to do that post! I am going to type that up right now and post is on Tuesday! You get a lot with the purchase of a routine.
Here is my current post: https://terrepruitt.com/2010/02/04/nia-routines/
Would you mind checking back on Tuesday to get the scoop? Sometimes I am challenged with coming up with ideas so I gotta save this “answer” and use it as a post! 🙂 Plus I am enticing you (hopefully) to come back! Thank you for the reminder!!! Tomorrow I am posting a “recipe”.
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terrepruitt said
Oops, I keep thinking today is Friday. Saturday is the recipe! I’m working on the post about the routines.
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terrepruitt said
Hello Janice,
I am answering your question regarding what you get when you get a routine in a series of posts. Today is the first one. Originally, I didn’t mean for the answer to be so many posts, but as I started typing it got really long. I wanted to share what you actually GET and not just say, “A CD, a DVD, and a pamphlet”. To me that answer was insufficient. So — three posts on the subject. The plan is to post today, Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday again. The fourth post is just a “map” for those who find these post after the fact.
I hope it helps.
Thank you.
First of three (four): https://terrepruitt.com/2013/05/28/nia-techniques-outstanding-routine-dvds/
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