Wow. We are already on Principle 6 of the Nia White Belt Principles in the first ever Nia White Belt Training Online. Remember this is somatic training so it is about the body. For people that have not taken any type of anatomy training or exercise training the information might be new, but since Nia is based on the body a lot of it is not new because we pretty much have had the same number of bones in our feet since they have been able to count all the bones in the feet (26 in each foot). Nia is based on science but the way Debbie relates it to your everyday life is what makes it fun and amazing. Nia White Belt P6 Base. It is about the base, our foundation, from our feet to our hip joint. The triad consists of feet, legs, hip joints.
I love to remind my students that feet need to be flexible in order to provide the shock absorption we need with each step. Also, in order to help with the entire health of the body they need to be strong, and also allow the energy to flow through. Nia refers to the feet as the Hands that touch the Earth. Feet like hands relay a lot of information to the body. In Nia we dance barefoot to not only receive that information through the hundreds of thousands of nerve endings in each foot, but to help with the health of our feet. Nia has 52 Moves the routines focus on. Twenty seven of them are associated with the base and each move can help keep feet flexible, strong, and allow energy to flow up to the body.
There are four categories associated with the base. The “Feet” category has 8 moves, the “Stances” category has 6 moves, the “Steps” category 9 moves, and the “Kicks” category has 4 moves. Below is the list of “base” moves and links to my posts about them, except the Cha-Cha-Cha.
Foot Moves (8)
1. Heel Lead
2. Whole Foot
3. Ball of the Foot
4. Relevé
5. Rock Around the Clock
6. Squish Walk
7. Duck Walk
8. Toes In, Out, Parallel
Stances (6)
9. Closed Stance
10. Open Stance
11. “A” Stance
12. Riding (Sumo) Stance
13. Bow Stance
14. Cat Stance
Steps (9)
15. Sink and Pivot Table Wipe
16. Stepping Back onto the Ball of Your Foot
17. Cross Front
18. Cross Behind
19. Traveling in Directions
20. Lateral Traveling
21. Cha-Cha-Cha
22. Slow Clock
23. Fast Clock
Kicks (4)
24. Front Kick
25. Side Kick
26. Back Kick
27. Knee Sweep
If you have never been to a Nia class you might be amazed at how many ways you can do each of these moves. There are many ways . . . you could shift your intention, you could shift your energy, you could shift your focus, you could shift your weight . . . . all of these things would allow you to sense the move differently. And the great thing about them is you don’t even have to be in a dance class to practice them.
Can you spot one you might call a favorite?
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