From Our Teacher Mailbag

By Being Themselves, New Nia Teachers Alter Writer’s Opinion About Nia

Hi everyone! I just wanted to crow about our NYC chickees, a group of new teachers-in-training.

Kevin VerEcke (Blue Belt) and I meet every Wednesday, where we teach a class together (which is outrageously fun and such a workout) then we lead a workshop for the teachers on learning the routines. We use the triad of Laugh, Listen and Learn to guide us. We have been working with the Alpha and Omega (AO) routine and our teachers-in-training are doing fantastic.

Last night we had two of the teachers-in-training agree to teach songs 1 and 2 of AO. What we didn’t tell them was that a member of the press, a writer from Dance Teacher Magazine, was coming to class. She called at the last minute and this was the only class she could come to, so Kevin and I just decided she would see us as we really are. We used the focus of the AO routine Mobility and Stability in the class. The teachers-in-training taught the first two songs and rocked the house!

From being in the class the writer’s idea of Nia completely changed. She walked in – a lovely ballet dancer – with a colored view of Nia, having had one class in her past where her experience had been so “anything goes” that she felt a little uncomfortable about Nia. She was open; however, she was worried that Nia was too freeform and loud, and was unresolved about it.

She walked out loving everything about the class. She loved that the new teachers had a place to teach where the ante was up (the room was packed – it’s a popular class) and that they were so well supported. She loved that everyone was having such a good time, she loved that people of all abilities, sizes and ages were making discoveries and adjusting the movements to their own bodies, she loved that we didn’t always face front, that we did floor play, that there were 7 Cycles and 5 Sensations — that there was so much form in our freedom. She could see the form. Yahoo! I invited her to the teacher’s workshop and she only stayed for a little bit, but she got that this is really a technique, a practice.

In other words, we hit a bulls-eye by just being ourselves – by doing the work. It always feels good to me when Nia is recognized and seen by someone in the dance world as the movement education/personal growth program that it is.

So, I just had to crow. I’m so proud of our chickees. They make me want to smile, laugh, and play the Nia way all day long.

Huge Hugs To All,

Caroline Kohles
Trainer, NYC

We are always looking for writing submissions from the Nia community. If you have an article, commentary, poem, or any other piece of writing you would like to submit, please send it our way. We want to know how Nia is working in your life, and we want to share your thoughts with all of our community.

Please send all submissions to editor@nianow.com

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