Posted by terrepruitt on October 10, 2016
I know that I have written posts about how different people think of different things as exercise. I have written about how some people don’t think that a shimmy is exercise. Whether they don’t THINK of it as something that should be IN an exercise CLASS or they just don’t think they get any benefit from it. Some people just don’t think of dance as exercise. I know I even mentioned that TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance have changed the way some people think. Some people understand that dancing can be considered exercise. But I don’t think I have ever talked about how some people don’t consider all dance dancing. I might have but I don’t know that I have and it was something I was thinking about recently. I was thinking that not all “dancing” is considered dancing by everyone.
I was asked to substitute teach a class called Dance Fit. I had asked several times what “Dance Fit” was, but the response was that the students would be happy to just move to music. I had a feeling that the person answering just wanted to make sure that they had a teacher so that they would have a class. So I had been thinking about what I could do. Then I was also thinking about how I was recently at a festival where I overheard some people talking about a particular person there dancing. They were saying that he wasn’t really dancing. They were saying that they thought he wasn’t hearing the music. They just weren’t “getting” his movements. And I was looking at him and I thought it was fine. I could see how his movements fit with the music . . . to me. I thought that he looked as if he was completely dancing in a way that his body was responding to the music. He looked like he was in the moment. He looked as if he was having fun. It was fine to me.
But later I realized that not everyone thinks of all movement as dance. A ballerina might not consider clogging dancing. A ballroom dancer might not consider the pony (remember that move?) a dance. Someone used to doing Latin motion with their hips might not consider a chorus line kick part of a dance. So perhaps those women had specific ideas of what dance is and so they didn’t consider his body movements dance at all.
I think that might happen when it comes to Nia. Some people might not consider a front kick or an upward block a dance movement. People that are accustomed to all the Latin dance steps that are in Zumba they might not consider a jazz square a dance move. Just like some people might not consider a shimmy something that should be in an “exercise class”, some people might think a move such as rock around the clock or a duck walk isn’t really dance and shouldn’t be in a dance exercise class. I think I have overlooked that fact. Hmmmm.
Well, I had decided to not try to create something or TRY to do something that the class MIGHT like – because I really had no idea. I decided to do something tried and true. I decided to do something I do best. I decided to teach Nia. And they loved it. The supervisor was totally correct in saying that the class just loved to dance and they want to move. They were fabulous. We had a lot of fun. Nia is a great “product”, it is a great technique. And when people who like to move get to experience we get to have fun. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks where I get to fill in as a sub. The students are all about movement of the body being dance and they do great. I was concerned about it for no reason.
What about you? Do you think of only certain moves as DANCE? Do you have a broad definition of dance?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: dance class, dance exercise, Dance Fit, dance teacher, Dancing with the stars, Duck Walk, exercise class, Nia Dance, Nia students, rock around the clock, shimmy as exercise, So You Think You Can Dance, Zumba | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 18, 2014
I know – well, I am pretty confident that I have mentioned before in a blog post that I don’t think of myself as teaching people Nia. Even though I say I teach Nia, I usually prefer to say I lead Nia. I wish I could find that post because I would like to check what I said exactly because I am feeling a bit different these days. Or maybe I have it clarified in my mind better. I believe I said that I don’t like to say I teach Nia because I feel that a dance teacher is one that demonstrates the steps and then has the student try to do them while the teacher watches. Then maybe the teacher demonstrates again and the student does it again and then maybe there is some adjusting done by the teacher. Or even in a group dance class setting the move is done over and over until it is somewhat learned and then the next move is added on. Sometimes there is a sequence of moves that is demonstrated then practiced over a few times and then a new sequence added on. That is what I think of as teaching dance. So in THAT way I don’t teach Nia, but I DO teach Nia.
I do not show the move then have the students practice it over and over before we dance it, but sometimes when the song allows we do a preview and practice. It could be that the song has a long introduction in which there is no specific choreography and in that time we demo a move. While I might not tell a participant in particular a way to tweak the move I will look out into my class and see something that could use tweaking so I might say or even do something that I hope will lead to a change. Say, we are doing a move using our toe and I look out and see someone using their heel, I might suggest using the toe like squashing a bug or testing the water (depends on what we are doing). So in essence I hope to teach the students that we are using our toe. I teach the move as we are doing it as opposed to the aforementioned way.
IN addition, I like to share things about Nia while we are dancing. Sometimes I talk about how Nia incorporates the BMES (Body, Mind, Emotion, and Spirit) I might explain Nia’s Five Sensations while we are moving on the floor. Allowing the Nia students to be reminded of them and possibly use them in the floorplay. I often remind the Nia class about Natural Time letting them know they are free to move through the movement/choreography in their body’s own natural way and timing. Sometimes this is actually part of the song and if not people are always encouraged to move in this way.
So, I take it back if I said — as I believe I did — I don’t like to say I teach Nia, because I do teach Nia. But I don’t teach it as if it were a dance, because it is not just a dance. While we do dance, Nia is so much more. Maybe I should say I lead people through Nia Routines and I teach Nia?
Have you ever taken a dance class like I describe – the demo-do-type? Do you see the difference between two?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: BMES, dance class, dance floor, dance teacher, floorplay, Natural Time, Nia, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia five sensations, Nia participants, Nia routines, Nia students, Nia teachers | 2 Comments »
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?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Ann Christiansen, Canta, cardio class, cardio dance exercise, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, dance exercise, dance instructor, dance teacher, Debbie Rosas, Dream Walker, Earthsong, Global Unity, Nia, Nia bars, Nia choreography, Nia Dance, Nia DVDs, Nia licensing, Nia Practice, Nia routines, Nia stuents, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Intensive, Opal, Sanjana, Sexi | 10 Comments »
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