Stepping Back Onto The Ball Of Your Foot – One Of Nia’s 52 Moves
Posted by terrepruitt on June 27, 2013
Stepping Back Onto The Ball Of Your Foot is certainly not unique to Nia. Many dance modalities incorporate this move. In fact this move is incorporated into every day life. How often are you moving forward only have to stop and move back? You could be in line at the store or anywhere when the person in front of you moves back towards you so you take a step back. While you might not “hang” out on the ball of your foot as we do in Nia you more than likely don’t take a step backwards heel first. 
So, yes, Nia has taken moves that might be done in other dance practices, martial arts, and even everyday life and put them in their list of Nia’s 52 Moves. Nia then weaves the moves into the Nia Routine choreography. This move Stepping Back Onto The Ball Of Your Foot is part of our Base Moves. It is done with the feet and legs and they are a part of the base.
This move is described on page 123 of the Nia Technique book written by Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas and you can purchase it from Amazon.
As I have said many times there is a proper way to do all moves and while you are practicing them and learning them you do it the proper way. Then as you come across it in a Nia class while doing a Nia routines your body will know the proper way yet be able to adapt to the choreography that you are dancing at the moment.
So to practice this move you can start in Open Stance. Then with one leg step back onto the ball of foot. When stepping back pull the leg straight behind not to either side. Keep the foot parallel to the stationary foot, don’t turn the heel. As is indicated step back onto the ball of the foot. Keep the spine up and the heel high off of the earth. Then shift your weight onto the foot of which you just stepped back on and take the other foot off the ground. 
Your torso is upright, pelvis, chest, shoulders, chin, eyes facing forward. Do the same movement with the other foot. You don’t necessarily always have to start in open stance.
After you are comfortable with the stationary start, walk around and stop and step into the move.
This move helps with the mobility and flexibility in the foot. It also helps create or improve stability in the ankle. It helps with balance, especially if you hang out for a measured amount of time on the ball of your foot!
At the moment I can think of one routine in which we step back onto the ball of foot as a large portion of one of the dances. I know we step back all the time, but in this routine I think of one of the songs as “showcasing” this move. The choreography calls for lifting the leg of the foot that is off the ground. Or doing a knee lift. So that is a good example of the variations that Nia choreography uses with its 52 Moves.
Well, what do you think about this move? Can you see how it helps with mobility and flexibility in the foot?
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