At the end of March (2015) there were two Special Nia Events in Campbell, California. They were special for a lot of reasons. One reason being is because a visiting teacher was going to be doing them. It is always special when someone who does not live in the area comes and shares their talents. Another reason is because the Nia Class is a one-of-a-kind-creation. The visiting teacher created the routine and was going to lead us through it. ANOTHER reason, they were special, was that one of the classes was a workshop or a playshop as we like to call them in Nia. And it was also, the creation of the visiting teacher and it was something that I think anyone that dances Nia can benefit from. Another reason they special was they were the first Nia Events that I produced. Produced meaning, when I heard that the Nia Teacher who created the Playshop was coming to my area I contacted him to invite him to do these events. I secured the location, I created marketing material, I promoted the events (as I am sure you have seen, I posted about them often), I worked to get participants to the events, and I worried about how it would all turn out. So, two special Nia Events. I have posted two separate posts (What Did Frankie Say? and Dancing, Learning, Posting, Editing) about the Nia Class that was held on Friday, March 27, 2015. This post is about the Playshop.
The Playshop on Saturday, March 28, 2015 was a playshop regarding Nia FreeDance. In a Nia class, there is normally choreography. Nia Headquarters and the training staff create Nia Routines. There are Nia Routine DVDs that Nia Teachers purchase. We learn the routines and lead our students through them. We have a lot of freedom with our classes. We can follow the routines “exactly” or we can play with them. We can create our own routines from a mix of Nia Routines or we can take the Nia choreography and add it to other music. Or we can create our own routines with other non-Nia music. But with almost every routine there is FreeDance.
FreeDance is where there is not specific choreography. You are not told exactly how to move. Now, I have heard the creators of Nia express very different opinions on FreeDance. I heard one of them say in the past that FreeDance should ALWAYS be guided and the other one say that FreeDance can just be free. So . . . there are different opinions on the matter. I think that in keeping with the Nia White Belt Principle #4, Nia FreeDance does not need to be guided because “Anything Goes . . . movement-wise”. But FreeDance in an exercise class is a challenge to many people. There are many reasons as to why people cannot or will not just move their bodies in their own way in an exercise class.
This playshop was brought here to help people with that. Many of the tools (ideas) Jason shared were covered in the Nia Intensives. So if you have not attended a Nia White Belt Intensive or Nia Blue Belt Intensive, they would be new to you. They are GREAT! And they were the reminder and push I needed to pull them out to use them. The most valuable things he shared with me though were not necessarily the guiding ideas, but more about how the individuals in class can be left to be.
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When I see people in my class not moving or seeming to struggle with FreeDance, I take responsibility and blame myself for not getting them to move with my suggestions and guidance. But he brought up some very good points that I will now take to class and practice just letting those people be where they are, at that moment, in class.
Although I will still strive for the “When Harry Met Sally Moment” of wanting people to look at us and say, “I’ll have what SHE’S having.” I will also take into consideration that they could very well be doing my suggestion, but it looks different to me than I would do it. Or that they are just not in a place to FreeDance. Could be a case of Natural Time.
I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun. I am excited for Jason to come back again! This video and the video on my website are the same song. As I only stopped participating one time to video. The videos are at different times so they are a little different. Also shown here are a few of the pictures I took during the Playshop. I took more pictures during the hour Frankie Say Nia class than I did during the 3.75 hours of the Nia FreeDance Playshop.
There might be one more blog post about this, but we will see. These are the extent of pictures and videos. Enjoy!
Please share your comments. Please ask if you have any questions!
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Nia has been a cardio-dance workout since 1983. It is not as well known as some other cardio dance exercises. So when we have events, such as Nia Jams, Playshops, Plearns, Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes in addition to attending and enjoying these events I ALWAYS think of those things as opportunities to take pictures and videos. I always think that the pictures and videos can be posted on social media so that we can “get Nia out there” so it becomes more well known. The videos and pictures are meant to show people how fun it is. The pictures and videos are to show that it is a workout. The videos and pictures are meant to show people how anyone can do Nia. I was so caught up in getting people signed in and getting things ready to go for the Nia Class that I recently produced, I neglected to ask permission to take and post pictures and videos. But . . . I also had it in my head that it is well known that while we do our Nia events we want to have pictures of them to promote our Nia events. Well . . . . this is the result of me not doing due diligence and gaining permission BEFORE taking the pictures and the videos. These are some of the pictures and videos from the Nia Class on Friday, March 27, 2015. I have posted other pictures where I had to block someone out, but never videos. It takes a long time, so this is the end result of a non-professional video editor (me).
As I stated in my post, What Did Frankie Say?, on Saturday after the Nia Class, Jason Alan Griffin, a First Degree Nia Black Belt is travel the United States presenting his Nia routine he calls Frankie Say Nia. I didn’t do well, at all, with the dressing in the 80’s style, but I did think the animal print would work. My little head top pony-tail was supposed to be a tribute to the “BIG HAIR” of the 80’s. I didn’t bother actually doing my hair up in that BIG way because after the first song it would have just been flat.
Nia IS a cardio-dance WORKOUT and the routine followed the classic Nia style with all seven cycles of a Nia workout. And in keeping with the seven cycles this routine has a focus and an intent. The focus being the Creative Hand and Arm Expressions. The intent is to allow us to relax into personal power.
The routine is full of fun and familiar songs, except the last three. There were three songs in the Floorplay section and the first one just struck me as odd. I don’t mind dancing to odd music. Dancing to odd music is fun. And, in fact, part of the Nia White Belt Training gets us to dance to music that might be considered undanceable by many. I have yet to come across music that is undanceable, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think some of it is odd. And it wasn’t so much that it was odd, it was that I couldn’t remember ever hearing it before. Jason, kindly reminded me again (because I asked him at least three times and couldn’t remember still) that it was Ghost Town by the Specials. I was also trying to follow the moves and allow myself to dance, so I didn’t even listen to all the words. It is a very varied song. I am listening to it now as I type and it is making me laugh!
Regardless of my error in not getting permission beforehand and regardless of the less-than-professional job of “editing”, I believe it is still obvious that fun was had by all. It was a great time. I still have the Playshop to post about. I will get to that eventually. So stay tuned! We can’t wait to have Jason back for more Nia. I will keep you posted so next time you can join us!
There are a lot of different aspects of yoga. Just like there are a lot of different aspects of Nia. As I have said before you can do Nia without getting involved in all of the principles and aspects of it. You can treat it like a workout and not take it any further. The same goes for yoga. That is why I always compare the two. You can go to a yoga class and go through the poses without giving any of the other aspects a second thought. I believe that both Nia and yoga can be more beneficial, more satisfying when you do think about the other parts of it . . . but we all have different goals and different ideas. One of the “aspects” of yoga or limbs of yoga – is pranayama. There are different pranayamas. A common one – Ujjayi is typically done while doing the yoga poses, and it might be helpful in reducing or stopping snoring.
So, pranayama is the practice of controlling one’s prana (life force) through breath or the practice of controlling one’s breath. There are many forms of this type of practice and many ways in which to perform them. But as I said, a common one is ujjayi breathing. It is what many recommend be done while doing the asanas. Some call it the Victory Breath, the Warming Breath, the Ocean Breath, Snake-breathing, throat breathing, or even the Darth Vadar Breath. It is done through the nose, both the inhale and the exhale. Some of the names stem from the fact that when you do it you may sound like the ocean, a snake, or Darth Vadar.
This breath “exercise” is done by closing the glottis partially on the exhale. This post is not to get into the mechanic of how to do ujjayi breathing. But a quick way to give you an IDEA of how to do it, is to think Felix Unger. Remember him? Remember that annoying noise he used to make? Well, that is a lot more sound than you want, but that gives you an idea of what needs to be going on in your throat / nasal area.
I am excited by the prospect that this type of breathing could help stop snoring or even more importantly sleep apnea. The idea behind this thought process is that the muscles need toning. People snore because stuff in there gets to relaxed and it makes noise as the person breathes. So, it kind of makes sense that if it can be toned or trained then it could help stop the snoring or the life threatening sleep apnea.
Yoga Therapy.com says: “In fact, this snoring is the sound that occurs when air passes through stenosed nasopharynx, caused by vibration in the air flow of compliant structures of the pharynx (tongue, soft palate, etc.). The main reason that causes vibration of the said formations is impairment of muscle tone of the pharynx and soft palate, structural anomalies and functional abnormalities of the pharynx and soft palate.” Like I said the stuff in there makes noise.
Again, as I said, this makes sense to me . . . as in, why not try it, it can’t really hurt, but if it did help . . . Oh man, for some it would be a life saver. I think it is worth a try. Just another reason to practice pranayama.
Do you think a breathing practice is worth trying if it would stop snoring and/or sleep apnea? Do you know anyone that snores? Do you know anyone with sleep apnea?
In March of 2010 I wrote a post about Daylight Saving Time. First, as a reminder it is Daylight Saving(no s) Time. You can check out that post by clicking HERE. It just has some facts I gathered from the internet about Daylight Saving Time. Basically it hasn’t always been around, it went away, it came back, then after 21 years the government extended it in 2007. The government made it start sooner and end later. Instead of starting the first Sunday of April and ending the last Sunday of October, it now starts the second weekend of March and ends the first Sunday of November. I am not a fan. I do not like to lose an hour of sleep. If you read my blog at all, you pretty much know I am a “night person” so when it is DAYLIGHT at 9:00 AT NIGHT, it is really difficult for me to even think about going to bed at a decent hour. IT IS STILL LIGHT OUT! So . . . it is daytime. So . . . whatever . . . I don’t like a lot of things, I just live with them. But what I don’t understand is I hear so many other people voice their dislike for it, too. Why do we still do it? What is up with Daylight Saving Time?
If you are looking for answers you won’t find them there. I wasn’t even planning on bringing this up but someone posted a funny video to my Facebook Timeline this morning and I remembered I had saved a link to an article about it. Before my Nia and yoga class today I watched the video. Even though I watched the video I didn’t think about the lost hour or the DAYLIGHT at night. I laughed it off. But then on my way to my Nia class, as I was stopped at a stop light, the bank clock said 7:32. REALLY? UGH! Then when I looked up at the dance studio clock IT said 7:42. Sigh. Seems as if I was not going to be able to forget that it was AN HOUR earlier. And the funny thing is — all of a sudden, I felt tired. I yawned.
So, needing something to post on my blog today, I read the article (the one I save the linked for) “5 myths about daylight saving time”. Click here to go there. MORE information regarding the absurdity of Daylight Saving Time. Really . . . WHY DO WE HAVE IT STILL? Are you of the belief it is or was for the farmers? Well both the video I saw this morning (although it was a comedy video) and the post on the Washington Post said it was not for the farmers. In fact, the article claims that farmers were AGAINST it. They don’t like it.
The article is about 5 Myths of DST. The first one was the farmers theory. The second one is that it makes us healthier having that extra daylight when actually the sleep disruption and the changing of the time makes us more prone to automobile accidents. Some data has indicated that male suicide increases and the change has an adverse affect on people with mental health problems. Some physicians even think it can trigger cluster headaches.
The third one is the energy myth. That was the reason for its extension. (The article says it was extending in 2005. That was when the act was passed. We didn’t actually put the extension into practice until 2007.) The article also sites a study where Indiana’s government thought the residents would save $7 million in electricity costs, but it ended up costing the residents $9 million MORE. So not only was there no savings it cost MORE!
The fourth one is it increases revenue for businesses. Well, that is why I thought “they” (the government) did it. More sales. And while that sounds true – from the article – it also state that not ALL businesses benefit. The Air Transport Association estimated that the change for the extension would cost $147 million (holy carp!) because of the extra scheduling that has to be done to keep the flights all running smoothly with the rest of the world.
And the last myth is an argument about “Standard Time” not being actually “standard” because it is for less months out of the year than Daylight Saving Time.
So what do YOU think? Like it? Hate it? Love the light later? Don’t like it being so dark in the morning? Miss the lost hour of sleep? Feeling sick? Feeling disoriented?
I have been having this icky feeling in my chest. I don’t have a cough – really, but sometimes a tickle. I don’t FEEL sick, but this icky, burning type feeling. It is kinda making me grumpy. Short-tempered is more accurate. I think I have mentioned how when I don’t feel good, before I even realize I don’t feel well, I get grumpy. I think it makes sense for people to be grumpy when they don’t feel well. I am trying not to ACT grumpy, of course, but I feel a bit grumpy/short-tempered. I know that I have also mentioned that I have not been sick since last year, so I am fighting this with vitamins, sleep, and tea. I have been drinking a lot of tea. My hubby and I will drink tea at night to warm us up when we are cold. But I don’t usually drink tea during the day unless I am cold. I do drink Chai Tea Lattes, in place of my coffee sometimes in the morning. I have some days where I have a Nia class in the morning and a yoga class right after so I get home later in the day than I want to be drinking coffee so I drink the Chai Tea Latte (recipe here). But the thing that makes my chest feel better is HOT liquid so I have been drinking tea. I like those Yogi teas. I have posted about them before. I am drinking two that are supposedly to help support your immune system. But, ya know what else they actually do? They make me happy. I love the little sayings on the tea bag tags.
Most of them make me smile. “Be proud of who you are.” That is a great saying. Something many of us could use to be reminded of. Something that not everyone has someone tell them. So why not be reminded via a lovely tea bag. Enjoy a nice cup of yummy tea and a nice reminder.
Many, many, many people believe that “Gratitude is the open door to abundance.” First of all if you are grateful for what you have you have many wonderful things in abundance. And if you think in the positive you attract the positive. Having gratitude will attract more things to be grateful for. Ahhhhh . . . and a lovely cup of tea to go with that awesome perspective.
“Life is a flow of love; your participation is requested.” WOW! Life is a flow of love. That alone is a great saying. Just thinking of life as one big flow of love. My cup of tea tasted better with just THAT part alone. Then the request for participation. That really made this saying go over the top (in a good way) for me. I love that. Participate in the love that is life. Let love flow. Grab your raft and jump on the flowing river that is love and that is life.
I really love my Echinacea Immune Support Yogi Tea. It smells great. It smells of fragrant flowers. I can just breathe in the aroma from the bags and be calmed. It tastes just as good. Then the little sayings on the bags — just make me smile. I don’t love all of them . . . but they make me smile. And then some of them I love. Like these ones mentioned here.
Do you drink Yogi tea? Do you have any favorite sayings that they have on their tea bags?
I love being a Nia teacher and teaching Nia classes, however, it nets more of a “cosmic salary” than one that allows for vacations. The last time we went on vacation was before I lost my corporate job. We took a BIG vacation in 2006 and 2007. We have been to my father’s house, which is pretty close to a vacation because we don’t do any household chores and we just relax in a BEAUTIFUL lake community. But I still work. Since I only teach six classes a week, it might appear as if I only work six hours a week, but I am always writing a blog post or learning a routine, checking e-mails and creating flyers and marketing material. So when the idea to go away for a weekend to celebrate my husband’s birthday was suggested it sounded intriguing. We thought about Napa. We like bed and breakfasts. I found one for less than the cost of many hotels in that area. So we decided to go! For my hubby’s birthday we spent a wonderful weekend in Napa. We had such a good time I wanted to share a story or two and few pictures. It has been a long time since we vacationed!
My hubby gave himself a birthday present of taking three days off from work! Good boy. Did I catch him working during the weekend? Well, I shouldn’t be a tattler. His first day off was Friday. I taught my Nia class in the morning then at 1:30 we were off to the land of the vines! We arrived about 3:30 and were able to check in. It was a cute little room. Which I did not think to take pictures of until we were on our way out so . . . the room is not as spiffy in these shots as it is when you first arrive. It was a perfectly fine room for the price. It even had a little fridge! I love that because we always have leftovers.
We didn’t make reservations for dinner on any night so John looked at Yelp for places that were closest to the place we were staying. We like to be able to walk to downtown Napa. The very closest place was Tarla. I would DRIVE from home to eat there. It was that good. We called first but we were told that a party of two did not need reservations. So when we walked in and he asked I said we were told we didn’t need any. But then I also said that if it would get us in faster we would be a party of four and I patted the arm of the man standing next to me. 🙂 So that couple was whisked off to there seats. As the host was telling us how long our wait would be (10 to 15 minutes — no biggie!), the man came back out and told the host that we could sit with them! How FUN! We ended up having a great time with a great couple. It was really nice. The man owns Wine Country Helicopters. I would have loved to book a tour, but I didn’t think my hubby would do that. But now that he knows the owner he said he might. So next time! Dinner was really yummy and the company was great.
Saturday was our wine shuttle tour. Where we were surprised to be with ten other people. But they were all great so we had a really nice time. We met three young attorneys, a mother-son-daughter trio, and a foursome of “mom friends”. It was really nice. The weather was perfect. We actually didn’t end up with a lot of wine because three out of the five stops we had made we had said seven years ago that we never needed to visit them again. And we were right! We didn’t actually get to the ONE winery that we wanted to go to.
So that was the trip we made on Saturday. We drove out to the winery we (I) wanted to visit. Then we dropped off the car and headed back to town to hit a restaurant and some of the wine rooms. The first “room” we came to was Prime Cellars tasting room. We had a GREAT time with the young woman (Christine) pouring the wine. She poured, we purchased . . . it was a nice visit. We ate at the Bounty Hunter – the only place I will order a pulled pork sandwich. Although it is in a different location than when we last visited, it is still a nice place to eat with great food.
We stopped at Tarla on our way back to the room. The bartender made me one of her own concoctions — which tasted a bit like a Moscow Mule with out the heat. We had a snack then headed back to our room.
The weather was GREAT all weekend. A bit windy on Sunday, but that is ok. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. It was fantastic. I am going to sub as much as I can so that I can get us back up there before 2021! It is such a great place to visit! My hubby said he had a GREAT birthday weekend and that is what is most important.
Happy Birthday, Hubby!
Have you ever been to Napa? Do you have wine tasting in your area? Do you go?
I have been teaching Nia since 2009. Just now, this year, this month, I decided to send a monthly e-mail. I HAVE sent e-mails in the past, but I have never done it on a schedule. I have never sent an e-mail on a MONTHLY basis. In the past I have sent e-mails when I had an announcement or when I wanted to wish my students a happy holiday or when I felt I needed to remind them of something. But I just decided in the middle of last month that I was going to send a monthly e-mail. It somewhat came about when I wanted to promote the Nia Class and Playshop I am producing in March. It also came about when a group of us were talking about people that we have not seen in a long time. I was asking the group of Nia participants if they saw so-and-so. Because sometimes the people could stop coming to the Nia classes but still attend other classes. The people I was asking about, I was told, had not been seen at other classes either. So then we started talking about being able to contact them. It has been suggested in the past that the venues should give me people’s information. I am not comfortable with third party hand-offs. Of course, no one is under any type of obligation whatsoever to tell me where they are and what they are doing when they stop coming to a class. But I – we, the other students and I would like to let people know that they are missed. So I decided to ask for people’s e-mail address so I could have a way to contact them. The classes for which I rent the studio, I have always requested a e-mail addresses. But requesting them in this type of setting is new for me.
There are a lot of reasons someone might stop attending a class. And honestly, it is not necessarily my business, I don’t need to know why you stopped coming. But I really do have a desire to let you know that we noticed and we miss you. When someone lets me know they are thinking about me, it makes me happy. So I think it would be nice to let someone know that we are still holding class and we miss their energy or style they used to bring.
I asked my students what they wanted to received: monthly e-mails, special e-mails, love notes. They all said, “What are love notes?” And I replied, “E-mails tell you I love you.” Some of them had quizzical looks in response. Some were completely ok with that. I did explain that sometimes I just wanted to say thank you or let them know I was thinking about them. Or sometimes I might inquire as to their status. And I mentioned some of our fellow participants that are no longer here and they nodded. The monthly e-mails are going to consist of announcements, tidbits, and links to my blog posts.
This monthly e-mail format is flexible, it might change. I might not have anything to announce one month so I might use that space as a reminder. The tidbits will be little bits about Nia, exercising, nutrition, a quote, etc. It will be a short e-mail and it will be skimmable. Recipients will be able to skim it quickly. There will be links to information in case you want more.
I am so blessed to have such great students. We have fun.
I am excited about this new thing. I know that many people send out monthly e-mails, I get them. I know this is something I probably should have been doing since the beginning, but I didn’t, I am doing it NOW.
Would you like to receive the monthly e-mail? If so indicate that in the comment. You enter your e-mail address when leaving a comment. So that is the one I will use if you ask to be added. No one else sees that information. Do you receive any e-mails monthly?
I have mentioned that my husband and I have purchased a portion of a cow. My friend that has done all the work in regards to researching grass-fed beef and the procurement of the cow is a chef. When we talk about the beef – she forgets she no longer has to “sell” me on it – she says it is so nice to know she has meat in the freezer for dinner and she loves that she doesn’t have to go to the store for dinner. I am unfamiliar with that feeling because 1) I primarily cook what I have. Unlike her I just look at what I have, then I decide what to cook. It is not often I think, “Oh I want this (this, specific thing that requires specific meat) today” and go about making it. But such is the creative life of a talented chef (my friend). 2) I forget to take it out to defrost. THAT is my problem. I forget to take the meat out. I don’t always wake up thinking, “What should I make for dinner?” And even when or if I do, by the time I get out of bed and make my way downstairs, I forget to go directly to the freezer to take out for defrosting, whatever I was thinking I could make for dinner. My friend suggested a method that works and speeds up the process.
As we were talking I shared with her my preferred method and she did not like it. She expressed concern over the safety of it, but it works for me except when I forget to take whatever I am defrosting out of the oven before I turn it on. I usually think of taking something out of the freezer to thaw after my Nia classes, in the middle of any work I am doing . . . so about 2:00 or 3:00 pm.
In her infinite knowledge my friend told me to put the meat on metal. I am sure many of you know that and might even employ the method. I know that metal conducts cold but I never thought about it defrosting meat.
It works VERY well. I can take some meat out in the afternoon and cook it in the evening. That same evening. One thing I do, is I switch metal. So if I need it to defrost faster I switch the metal the meat is on. So I put the meat on a metal pan, then when the pan is cold, I switch to a new pan. Works fast. I have not tried BIG cuts of meat, because a big cut takes more planning to cook for me than taking it out in the afternoon for cooking that same evening. I bet it would work, but take a long time. I am sure it will help make the process happen faster, but not as fast as I need.
So, I understand that this might not be new to a lot of people, but I thought I would share for those that hadn’t thought about it. This has made my life a lot easier. I hope that it can help ease your dinner “pain” and make your life easier.
Did you know about the metal method? How do you defrost your meat?
I am looking through my drafts in WordPress to see if there is anything I started to write that I can finish up and use as a post. I went to a Nia class this morning and spent the day visiting with a friend, so I am trying to post at the last minute (again). I am very confused it is showing I have 26 drafts. That seems like an awful lot because I don’t type my posts in the WordPress editor. I typed them in Notepad. Sometimes I type them in the WordPress editor, but not often. I am confused because I also take copies of my posts after I post them and I am seeing copies of the post in my folder and I am seeing comments on them. But they are showing as drafts. WordPress has been changing so much with the admin portion of the site I am surprised crazy stuff doesn’t happen all the time. As things grow often times the simplicity of things get taken away and now what was one click to the admin page I have to click at least four things to get to where I am going. “Improvements” is a word they should use loosely. So I discovered the weirdest things while looking in my drafts. So far, I have discovered two posts that had been posted in August 2013 that are now showing in draft and are no longer on the calendar. One had 14 comments on it, so I know that it was posted at one time.
So I thought I would point them out in case they really weren’t posted in the first place. Which would mean that saminaiqbal27 of Samina’s Forum for police support never had that conversation. The first one I discovered I reposted as of the date of the original post. In the admin screen it had showed that there were six likes. When I reposted it they reappeared so hopefully Samina’s and my conversation will come back. (It did!)
The first post that I discovered was no longer on the blog was posted on Tuesday, August 13, 2013. It was a silly post about a silly subject. It was one of the things I hesitated posted about because it was so silly. But I remember now that at the time I was really appreciating my husband helping out with the cat’s liter box and I thought it was funny that he was making it funny. But then as time went on it turned out to be a really good thing. The post that was gone and is now back is S For Spa, Serene, Spot.
For A Taller You was the second post that was showing in drafts and NOT on my blog, but now it is back, with comments and all. Strange.
I just found another one, I Smell Something. Unfortunately I thought I had seen it on the blog still so I deleted the one that was showing up in the drafts, but it turns out that was the one that had been posted. Good thing I keep copies of all my posts. I just copied and pasted it into a new post, but with the original post date. But any likes were lost. I hesitated reposting this one because that diffuser died shortly after. They kindly offered to send me a replacement. And they did. It lasted for about 5 minutes. I gave up on that.
Well, at this time, it is late and I want to go visit with my hubby so I will go through all the “drafts” at a later time . . . because I have nothing else to do . . . I’ll probably share again if any others have become drafts. So weird.
Any of you on WordPress having weird stuff happen? If you have a different blog platform do you like it?
What is going on with you? Here? Me? Well, I mentioned that Nia released four new routines at the end of the year. I mentioned I ordered three. Well, I received them and I listened to the music for the one I had planned to learn first and just as I expected. The music for the entire routine is from ONE artist. When I originally noticed that, I thought that might be an issue for me. I thought that it would all sound the same and I wasn’t too excited about that prospect. But the music from the routine I didn’t order was even less appealing. Now, let me explain that we are able to listen to snippets of the songs. Like on iTunes. It only plays for a moment. As you may have found out from listening to snippets on iTunes some times what you hear is not exactly what you get. I mean sometimes a song can change dramatically. The Nia website used to allow us to listen to the entire song, but now we only get a short preview. So . . . having listened to the previews of all the songs for all the routines, I “didn’t like” the music of one routine. That is why I didn’t order it. But I was leery of the “One artist” routine. But the snippets sounded different enough, I thought it would be ok. Turns out . . . not so much. But . . . often times the first “listen through” of a routine’s music reveals an instant “I don’t like”, but that fades or disappears entirely sometimes. So, I have faith it will be fine, but . . . it caused me to decide to work on learning a different routine. So I am in the process of learning a new routine.
I always look at them for the first time and think, “Oh cool. That’s not too hard. I can learn it quick.” But then . . . for me that is not the case. It is one thing to be able to dance to a routine, but it is another to be able to lead it. I could just take it to class and we could play with it, but I like to have a really good handle on it first.
But . . . . somewhat exciting news . . . as is always happening at places that have exercise classes, it seems as if there is going to be a change in the schedule at one of the facilities where I teach. So they are looking to fill a spot, but they don’t really think they want another cardio class, but . . . . I know that it takes time to find the right class and a teacher that can do it, so I offered to do Nia in the meantime. Well, much to my surprise the supervisor took me up on that deal. As in starting next week. The odd thing is – I was already set to sub the class one day, so it is basically like I am taking it over tomorrow.
Another exciting thing is the response I have received from the Nia students that currently attend the other classes I teach. They are excited to have an additional Nia class. Many of them said they would take the class. So . . . we will see. I am secretly –ok, so it is not a secret (!!) hoping that the class will do well and the center will let me keep it. With Group Ex classes we know that nothing is permanent because things sometimes need to change, but there is the “permanent” and we like that. So it could be that I end up taking routines into the classroom sooner than normal if I get to teach four classes a week, regularly!
I am going to go be a student on Saturday. One of the Nia students that used to attend my classes moved to a different area. I am going to visit her. We are going to go to a Nia class she now regularly attends. I think being a student will be a great energizer. I don’t take the time out to be a student as much as I would like. Seems like I am always trying to learn a routine so I don’t take time out from that. But this was planned in advance and it will be perfect.
My hubby and I are still adding to our Goodie Jar. It is looking quite festive with all of the Christmas wrapping paper scraps we are using.
Did I mentioned the Nia Events I have on the calendar for March? There is going to be a Friday evening class and a Saturday playshop? The evening class will be a routine done to 80’s music and the playshop is all about Free Dance. The Nia Teacher that is going to do both is Jason Alan Griffin. I wrote a post about him, First Degree Nia Black Belt Guest Teacher because he brought his Goldfinger routine to the East Bay Area last year.
Whew! So that is what is up with me. Do tell, what is up with you?
At the end of March (2015) there were two Special Nia Events in Campbell, California. They were special for a lot of reasons. One reason being is because a visiting teacher was going to be doing them. It is always special when someone who does not live in the area comes and shares their talents. Another reason is because the Nia Class is a one-of-a-kind-creation. The visiting teacher created the routine and was going to lead us through it. ANOTHER reason, they were special, was that one of the classes was a workshop or a playshop as we like to call them in Nia. And it was also, the creation of the visiting teacher and it was something that I think anyone that dances Nia can benefit from. Another reason they special was they were the first Nia Events that I produced. Produced meaning, when I heard that the Nia Teacher who created the Playshop was coming to my area I contacted him to invite him to do these events. I secured the location, I created marketing material, I promoted the events (as I am sure you have seen, I posted about them often), I worked to get participants to the events, and I worried about how it would all turn out. So, two special Nia Events. I have posted two separate posts (What Did Frankie Say? and Dancing, Learning, Posting, Editing) about the Nia Class that was held on Friday, March 27, 2015. This post is about the Playshop.
The Playshop on Saturday, March 28, 2015 was a playshop regarding Nia FreeDance. In a Nia class, there is normally choreography. Nia Headquarters and the training staff create Nia Routines. There are Nia Routine DVDs that Nia Teachers purchase. We learn the routines and lead our students through them. We have a lot of freedom with our classes. We can follow the routines “exactly” or we can play with them. We can create our own routines from a mix of Nia Routines or we can take the Nia choreography and add it to other music. Or we can create our own routines with other non-Nia music. But with almost every routine there is FreeDance.
I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun. I am excited for Jason to come back again! This video and the video on my website are the same song. As I only stopped participating one time to video. The videos are at different times so they are a little different. Also shown here are a few of the pictures I took during the Playshop. I took more pictures during the hour Frankie Say Nia class than I did during the 3.75 hours of the Nia FreeDance Playshop.
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