Licensed Teacher Content | October 2006
Special Feature
By Ann Christiansen, Nia Trainer
The feet and your foot technique are the foundation of your Nia practice.
Take good care of your feet — massage them, give yourself pedicures, footbaths and an overnight foot treatment each week with nourishing creams. Treat your feet like they are the most important tools you have.
Your students will look at your feet as they watch you move, so pay great attention to putting your feet in the right positions. In clock-steps, kicks, and stances your feet will get the class going, connected to the rhythm of the music, the choreography, and will show the way into Freedance segments of the class.
Practice the Nia foot motions on a daily basis. Arrive early before class and do some warm-up moves for your own feet. When dancing the routines at home, before you begin go through duck-walk, squish-walk and the stances. Roll through the whole of both of your feet to get the circulation going before you begin asking more from them!
Dance a Nia song with no music playing. Listen to how you place your feet — go for no “sandpaper” or sloppy placement. Also, do kicks and blocks and make sure you are gentle on your feet even when things get moving.
Establish a loving, romantic relationship to your feet. Wear well-fitting shoes. Use toe-spreading exercises if your foot is too tight, use agility and strength exercises if your foot has lack of tone.
Blindfold yourself and practice sense of measure in your feet doing the six stances and the classic clock-steps. Create innate wisdom and trust this way in the inner eye of your feet.
Imagine pushing the whole planet when you push down to rise from the earth, with your power pushed through the feet.
Use the Focus of Feet often. Add on aspects of weight shift, balance steps, stances, rhythm, ankles, arches, toes, heels, the whole foot, and more!